30 December 2005

Now in "Hopeful Imagination" Walter Brueggemann links the poetry of 2 Isaiah and that of Jesus.

Jesus' way of teaching through parables was such a pastoral act of prophetic imagination in which he invited his community of listeners out beyond the visible realities of Roman law and the ways in which Jewish law had grown restrictive in his time. Like 2 Isaiah Jesus does this precisely out of the tradition itself... (The parables) are specific, but they are open-ended... The stories intend to characterize an alternative society which he calls the "kingdom of God," but the stories do not offer blueprints, budgets, or programs. They only tease the listeners to begin to turn loose of the givens of the day and to live toward a new social possibility... Jesus invites his listeners to a homecoming,for he insists that this kingdom is in fact one's true home. Every other place no matter where, is a place of exile and alienation.

So is this vision or this community or this kingdom always just beyond us? Is it meant to keep pulling us from the places in which we find contentment and comfort into a greater vision of comfort in which we will find life that will always - without a doubt - surpass the life we presently live? In some ways I want to say "Yes." And yet, that can sound a bit hopeless. Can we not be there...yet? Well, yes...and no. Yes there will be comfort and new life and the forces and powers of oppression will not have the last word....but there is always that "meantime." It is like the green seasons of the church year. There are no festivals, as such, and yet it is the time when we move along and keep to the story and are forever telling the parables and other stories that point us beyond where we are even if it is a place we would like to reside forever. Truth is, our sight is limited and we need to change lenses now and again in order to more clearly see what God promises to us in each and every age. Yes, we are always welcome home and yet home has many faces to it as we expand our understanding of community and neighbor and resurrection.

Connection: Brueggemann notes that every other place outside of this promise of home is a place we know. It is that place and time of "restless hearts" and "social unrest." We would do well to be in touch with those times in our lives and to speak of them to others. For in the midst of others, we may begin to find rest and see new ways to peace.

Again and again, O God, you do not let us stay in the places of our liking for it is so easy for us to never see the worth of any other place. We give you thanks for setting our eyes on the domain of your love and peace that is not yet in place but always awaiting our arrival. Amen.