3 January 2006

This week we continue looking at imagination and the faith with a connection to the preaching of Martin Luther King, Jr., in "Hopeful Imagination" by Walter Brueggemann.

In referring to King, Brueggemann writes:
...he had the tongue of a poet and the cadence of liberty in his speech. He was able to summon an exiled community out beyond the imperial definitions of the day which held his people in bondage. When he issued his famous poetic proposal, "I have a dream," that was just such a summons. He did not have a concrete notion of how to enact that dream, but it was a beginning point of energy. The dream functioned as an act of incredible hope, but it was also an act of heavy critique which asserted that the present social reality is not working. It was an announcement that things would not stay as they were.

The "dream" was the "beginning point of energy." Once the lives of the people can be redirected or merely turned to see another possibility for the way reality can operate, there is a wealth of gifts that are now opened up to be used for going in that new direction. Dreams and imagination work for the least among us and those who may have the greatest gifts. With each life that is pulled into the vision of the Reign of God more and more people begin to see a dream or a vision a bit more clearly because parts of it begin to take shape among us. Not all dreams are as big as the visions of second Isaiah or Martin Luther King, Jr. And yet, inspired by the Holy Spirit, even the little bits of imagination and hopefulness that help people see something beyond what is and begin to be able to be critical of what is, we are helping to life each others eyes and lives into other ways to take part in our world even if they appear a bit alien to the status quo.

Connection: There is no age limit on dreaming and there is no age limit on stepping into the actions brought forth from a dream. We each have a place - that's the beauty of the Reign of God. Within time, like today, we are given the opportunity to both dream and to act.

Sometimes we need to be shaken by your gift of new life, O God. Sometimes we settle into the way the world turns and we do not think that there can be other ways to live while all this turning is taking place. By the power of the Spirit of our Lord, Jesus, stir us in us faithful imagination that brings a critique of what is and also a hope for what can be. Amen.