6 January 2006

Today Walter Brueggemann writes of preaching and imagination.

...Consider the phrase, "freedom of the pulpit." ...it means that we are agreed that what is said here is to be said out of the power and freedom and affront of the gospel, without accommodating the conventions of the day... Such speech is not imperative or exhortative or coercive. It tells no one what to do, but it redescribes the world so that Babylon, which looked so benign, is now seen as exile, so that Palestine, which was loved and lost, now looks like home, so that we who looked like docile slaves are on our way rejoicing. The central task of ministry it the formation of a community with an alternative, liberated imagination that has the courage and the freedom to act in a different vision and a different perception of reality.

The good news must that news that grabs our hearts and begins to help us to see anew. That new vision may not be complete with a strategy and it may have no specific tactics in mind...but it moves us to redefine our lives and to look with new eyes at the things of our lives we have only been able to see in one way. Brueggemann speaks so clearly about the task of ministry as the formation of a community "with an alternative liberated imagination that has the courage and the freedom to act in a different vision and a different perception of reality." We are brought into a way of seeing all things and when we see things differently, we will need the courage to do more than write about it. We will need to be give the gift of courage that will cause us to act within the vision of this "liberated imagination." We are given the stories of those who have gone before us along faithful pathways of life so that we will be inspired to walk within this "perception of reality" that begins to transform all things.

Connection: It is always good to remind ourselves that the "comfort, comfort" spoken through the mouth of Isaiah was not to provide comfort in what was. It was a comfort that comes from knowing what will be as we begin to step into the promises of our God. What is helping you to see the God's future and to begin expecting its arrival....even now?

Call us out, O God, and move us expect to hear new stories of life that pull us beyond ourselves. Then, when those stories are told, guide us as we find ways to become a part of your gracious story for life. Amen.