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.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
29 December 2005
We continue with poetry and imagination in "Hopeful Imagination."
The poetry does not describe what is happening. Rather it evokes images and invites perceptions in Israel that were not available apart from the poetry. The poetry is not aimed first of all at external conduct, as though the poet expected people immediately to start packing for travel. Rather, the poetry cuts underneath behavior to begin to transform the self-image, communal image, and image of historical possibility. The rhetoric works to deabsolutize imperial modes of reality... The outcome of such poetry is hope. It is hope which makes community possible on the way out of the empire.
The poet from 2nd Isaiah through to poets today are quite like gardeners. They plant, they tend to the soil, they talk to the plants that cannot be seen, they add compost and mulch...they do whatever is necessary to provide a place for the future to blossom. This is so important when the present is oppressive and/or the people cannot see beyond the predicament in which they live. Hope is such a powerful force in life. Hope that comes from visions of what is not yet a reality can help us to make our way through the mire in which we may find ourselves. Hope can ease our anxiety and help us to begin imagining something more to life. Maybe that is why the prophet offers to the people those wonderful words: Comfort, Comfort, ye my people!
Connection: Do you have people in your life that serve as the poet for you when you are stuck? I could be that you do...but you have just not considered them as such. They may simply be friends, co-workers, neighbors...who knows! Listen.
You bring into our lives, O God, this comfort that penetrates the turmoil of the day to touch us and assure us of the life you still have in store for us. When we are anxious, help us to breath and wait and begin to listen to your word of hope that plays all around us. Amen.
The poetry does not describe what is happening. Rather it evokes images and invites perceptions in Israel that were not available apart from the poetry. The poetry is not aimed first of all at external conduct, as though the poet expected people immediately to start packing for travel. Rather, the poetry cuts underneath behavior to begin to transform the self-image, communal image, and image of historical possibility. The rhetoric works to deabsolutize imperial modes of reality... The outcome of such poetry is hope. It is hope which makes community possible on the way out of the empire.
The poet from 2nd Isaiah through to poets today are quite like gardeners. They plant, they tend to the soil, they talk to the plants that cannot be seen, they add compost and mulch...they do whatever is necessary to provide a place for the future to blossom. This is so important when the present is oppressive and/or the people cannot see beyond the predicament in which they live. Hope is such a powerful force in life. Hope that comes from visions of what is not yet a reality can help us to make our way through the mire in which we may find ourselves. Hope can ease our anxiety and help us to begin imagining something more to life. Maybe that is why the prophet offers to the people those wonderful words: Comfort, Comfort, ye my people!
Connection: Do you have people in your life that serve as the poet for you when you are stuck? I could be that you do...but you have just not considered them as such. They may simply be friends, co-workers, neighbors...who knows! Listen.
You bring into our lives, O God, this comfort that penetrates the turmoil of the day to touch us and assure us of the life you still have in store for us. When we are anxious, help us to breath and wait and begin to listen to your word of hope that plays all around us. Amen.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
28 December 2005
The poetic imagination of 2nd Isaiah is again before us with insights from Walter Brueggemann.
The poetry (of 2nd Isaiah) is not derived from external historical experience... Poetry here is not simply code language for political events. Rather, the poet appeals to the old memories and affirmations in an astonishing way to jar the perceptual field of Israel and to cause a wholly new discernment of reality. The poetry opens with a heavenly scenario in which the voices of members of the divine council fashion a new proclamation (40:1-8). This is immediately followed by a rhetorical act of enthronement (40:9) in which Yahweh, who had seemed weak, is now placed triumphantly at the head of a grand procession (40:10-11).
In some ways, it is like saying "This is the God we were told about...the God who is just as the poet announces." The poet is already making manifest what is not visible. It is like calling forth words like "all (men) are created equal..." and then, pressing forward as though that is what will indeed be the case among us. We pull it from words and images we know and yet the experience of those words has been lost or forgotten or overturned. Therefore, the words and images must be announced again as though it is a reality about to break in and a reality that cannot be stopped by any power. There is that imagination that does not let the world go on as it is. This is the kind of imagination we are missing within our own nation. We are afraid to imagine what we could be. Instead we settle for the easy road of empire building. This is a road that takes no imagination. It simply demands adherence to the ways of the biggest in the neighborhood. These have always been roads to destruction and ruin. Why can we not follow the ways of peace....is it too frightening...or are we simply ready to settle for immediate images and pictures that the poetry of a new world?
Connection: Even within our families and communities, we can benefit from stepping out beyond the rhetoric of what is and what we think we can handle. Living organisms, like groups of people, need something of substance to help us grow beyond ourselves.
Just as the prophet Isaiah announced the coming of the Lord to an oppressed people, O God, so do we need to hear how you will come to encourage us and lead us along pathways we have yet to walk...but we can be so slow to move and so unsure of the way ahead. Take us by the hand, O God, and deliver us. Amen.
The poetry (of 2nd Isaiah) is not derived from external historical experience... Poetry here is not simply code language for political events. Rather, the poet appeals to the old memories and affirmations in an astonishing way to jar the perceptual field of Israel and to cause a wholly new discernment of reality. The poetry opens with a heavenly scenario in which the voices of members of the divine council fashion a new proclamation (40:1-8). This is immediately followed by a rhetorical act of enthronement (40:9) in which Yahweh, who had seemed weak, is now placed triumphantly at the head of a grand procession (40:10-11).
In some ways, it is like saying "This is the God we were told about...the God who is just as the poet announces." The poet is already making manifest what is not visible. It is like calling forth words like "all (men) are created equal..." and then, pressing forward as though that is what will indeed be the case among us. We pull it from words and images we know and yet the experience of those words has been lost or forgotten or overturned. Therefore, the words and images must be announced again as though it is a reality about to break in and a reality that cannot be stopped by any power. There is that imagination that does not let the world go on as it is. This is the kind of imagination we are missing within our own nation. We are afraid to imagine what we could be. Instead we settle for the easy road of empire building. This is a road that takes no imagination. It simply demands adherence to the ways of the biggest in the neighborhood. These have always been roads to destruction and ruin. Why can we not follow the ways of peace....is it too frightening...or are we simply ready to settle for immediate images and pictures that the poetry of a new world?
Connection: Even within our families and communities, we can benefit from stepping out beyond the rhetoric of what is and what we think we can handle. Living organisms, like groups of people, need something of substance to help us grow beyond ourselves.
Just as the prophet Isaiah announced the coming of the Lord to an oppressed people, O God, so do we need to hear how you will come to encourage us and lead us along pathways we have yet to walk...but we can be so slow to move and so unsure of the way ahead. Take us by the hand, O God, and deliver us. Amen.
27 December 2005
Walter Brueggemann continues writing about imagination toward what will be in "Hopeful Imagination."
The practice of such poetic imagination is the most subversive redemptive act that a leader of a faith community can undertake in the midst of exiles. This work of poetic alternative in the long run is more crucial than one-to-one pastoral care or the careful implementation of institutional goals. That is because the work of poetic imagination holds the potential of unleashing a community of power and action that finally will not be contained by any imperial restrictions and definitions of reality.
I have a large piece of artwork in our living room on which I have written a number of quotes from a variety of people. It just so happens that when I stepped back from the piece years ago, I realized that all of the quotes dealt with hope. As I read this comment by Brueggemann, I thought that part of it would fit well on that piece of "hopeful" art. In some ways, I think it would be grand if within the one-to-one pastoral care or in the implementation of institutional goals there was always the presence of this kind of poetic imagination. For people in crisis, there can be nothing better than the ability to envision something beyond what it causing the tumble into crisis. This means that people must begin to re-define what is possible and attempt to see things as they cannot see them within the condition they now find themselves. There are so many ways that we are ruled by and run by "imperial restrictions and definitions of reality" that we do not let ourselves open our eyes to focus on that which is not a part of the world we have been handed or the world in which we have been nurtured to see. As is so often the case, I think some people have the gift of poetic imagination but most of all, I think that many people need this imagination to be created through the voice of a community - with a little help from my friends...and enemies.
Connection: If you have a tough time seeing beyond your world in which you are walking everyday, try to find others whose view is outside your daily patterns of life. There may be some conflict and there may also be some wonderful discovery.
Too often, O God, it takes more courage that we have to step into the images of life that are often spun from the pen and mouths of poets. But we trust that you give us that courage as you bring within our lives the people who help us to see new places to walk with you. Praise and thanks to your, O God. Amen.
The practice of such poetic imagination is the most subversive redemptive act that a leader of a faith community can undertake in the midst of exiles. This work of poetic alternative in the long run is more crucial than one-to-one pastoral care or the careful implementation of institutional goals. That is because the work of poetic imagination holds the potential of unleashing a community of power and action that finally will not be contained by any imperial restrictions and definitions of reality.
I have a large piece of artwork in our living room on which I have written a number of quotes from a variety of people. It just so happens that when I stepped back from the piece years ago, I realized that all of the quotes dealt with hope. As I read this comment by Brueggemann, I thought that part of it would fit well on that piece of "hopeful" art. In some ways, I think it would be grand if within the one-to-one pastoral care or in the implementation of institutional goals there was always the presence of this kind of poetic imagination. For people in crisis, there can be nothing better than the ability to envision something beyond what it causing the tumble into crisis. This means that people must begin to re-define what is possible and attempt to see things as they cannot see them within the condition they now find themselves. There are so many ways that we are ruled by and run by "imperial restrictions and definitions of reality" that we do not let ourselves open our eyes to focus on that which is not a part of the world we have been handed or the world in which we have been nurtured to see. As is so often the case, I think some people have the gift of poetic imagination but most of all, I think that many people need this imagination to be created through the voice of a community - with a little help from my friends...and enemies.
Connection: If you have a tough time seeing beyond your world in which you are walking everyday, try to find others whose view is outside your daily patterns of life. There may be some conflict and there may also be some wonderful discovery.
Too often, O God, it takes more courage that we have to step into the images of life that are often spun from the pen and mouths of poets. But we trust that you give us that courage as you bring within our lives the people who help us to see new places to walk with you. Praise and thanks to your, O God. Amen.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
23 December 2005
Another adventure in 2nd Isaiah with Walter Brueggemann in "Hopeful Imagination."
It was the peculiar vocation of 2 Isaiah to construct poetic scenarios of alternative reality outside the prosaic control of the empire. These fresh alternatives liberated Jewish exiles to think differently, act differently, speak differently, and sing differently. In the end Babylonian definitions of reality lost their absoluteness and their authority because this poetry served to subvert the absoluteness.
I read this piece again after I watched a brief segment on the national news about churches that are encouraging their people not to come to worship on Christmas Day. The focus was specifically on the "mega-churches." People could pick up videos or come to one of the shows (sorry) times of worship before Christmas so that they could stay at home with family. You remember, Christmas is all about family...no wait. That's not true. That's a part of the schmaltze that is too often cast as Christmas. Worship is at the center of the incarnation of our God - the nativity of our Lord. Worship is not a "family event," it is a community event. It is a counter-cultural event that is at the very heart of shaping the everyday lives of a counter-cultural people! It appears that - like business everywhere else in our consumer culture - numbers make up the bottom line. So, if it appears as though there may not be many folk taking the time to come to worship this Sunday (it happens to be Christmas Day) then let's cancel it. Let me get this right. If I (or let's say we as in family) have other things to do...that we think are family important...then, any Sunday...hell, every Sunday, is an opportunity to be with family. Isn't that what God would want - me and the family home making sure we are comfortable and having a special time with ourselves?!? The answer: No. Sunday we gather together with strangers, enemies, friends, neighbors, the good, the bad, and the ugly...and we praise our God...from whom all blessings flow. We have to sing differently than the culture even if the culture has come and bought up the soul of some of the places called "church" and turned them into feel-good places of individual piety. It is hard enough to build a community of love and mercy and kindness with a small bunch of people let alone have to deal with "church" being driven by the culture of numbers and money and empire...again.
Connection: Come and worship,come and worship, Worship Christ, the the new born king...this Sunday, December 25, 2005.
Now that you have called us to be set apart from the world, O God, give us the courage to live as though we have a different view of how we live and what bring life to the world in which we live as your saints. Amen.
It was the peculiar vocation of 2 Isaiah to construct poetic scenarios of alternative reality outside the prosaic control of the empire. These fresh alternatives liberated Jewish exiles to think differently, act differently, speak differently, and sing differently. In the end Babylonian definitions of reality lost their absoluteness and their authority because this poetry served to subvert the absoluteness.
I read this piece again after I watched a brief segment on the national news about churches that are encouraging their people not to come to worship on Christmas Day. The focus was specifically on the "mega-churches." People could pick up videos or come to one of the shows (sorry) times of worship before Christmas so that they could stay at home with family. You remember, Christmas is all about family...no wait. That's not true. That's a part of the schmaltze that is too often cast as Christmas. Worship is at the center of the incarnation of our God - the nativity of our Lord. Worship is not a "family event," it is a community event. It is a counter-cultural event that is at the very heart of shaping the everyday lives of a counter-cultural people! It appears that - like business everywhere else in our consumer culture - numbers make up the bottom line. So, if it appears as though there may not be many folk taking the time to come to worship this Sunday (it happens to be Christmas Day) then let's cancel it. Let me get this right. If I (or let's say we as in family) have other things to do...that we think are family important...then, any Sunday...hell, every Sunday, is an opportunity to be with family. Isn't that what God would want - me and the family home making sure we are comfortable and having a special time with ourselves?!? The answer: No. Sunday we gather together with strangers, enemies, friends, neighbors, the good, the bad, and the ugly...and we praise our God...from whom all blessings flow. We have to sing differently than the culture even if the culture has come and bought up the soul of some of the places called "church" and turned them into feel-good places of individual piety. It is hard enough to build a community of love and mercy and kindness with a small bunch of people let alone have to deal with "church" being driven by the culture of numbers and money and empire...again.
Connection: Come and worship,come and worship, Worship Christ, the the new born king...this Sunday, December 25, 2005.
Now that you have called us to be set apart from the world, O God, give us the courage to live as though we have a different view of how we live and what bring life to the world in which we live as your saints. Amen.
22 December 2005
More on being exiles from "Hopeful Imagination" by Walter Brueggeman.
The exiles were securely and perhaps despondently exiles. They could not imagine any other status. They accepted Babylonian definitions of reality, not because they were convinced, but because no alternatives were available... The exiled community was in despair because it accepted Babylonian definitions of reality and did not know any others were available. That is, they were hopeless. They did not believe Yahweh could counter Babylon.
Hopeless is not a good place to be. A person can be in a situation that appears to be hopeless, and indeed it is...and yet still not be hopeless. When we are faced with a living situation that is run by powers greater than us, it can become quite overwhelming. Rather than have a sense of worth and substance it is so easy to let the powers around us define us. When that is the case, if we do not follow the rule of the day or the patterns of the day, then we can be judge (by others and ourselves) as worthless and insignificant. What the prophet brings to the people of God who are in Babylon is a word that seems to have no visible reality. It is as Brueggemann has said, a poetic imagination that carries good news without having to be stamped with the approval of the reigning powers. This word is the beginning of the creation of an alternative reality. It is not merely imaginary. It begins with our imagination but it moves into concrete living that is not in step with what has appeared to be the power that dictates how life is to be lived. Alternative visions make for alternative communities with alternative values and practices and life patterns. It is not the goal of such a community of imagination to conquer the world. Rather this kind of imagination that counts on our God to rule among us begins to bring worth to all who come within its reach and hear its word...even the whole creation.
Connection: Do not be afraid of the sounds of a new world. Instead, listen for what it is saying about how God's gracious action will lift up the lowly and bring to the world the healing of all things. This may sound strange but it is never too strange to enter.
Come, O God, and lift us up so that our imaginations may be stirred up by your living presence among us. Amen.
The exiles were securely and perhaps despondently exiles. They could not imagine any other status. They accepted Babylonian definitions of reality, not because they were convinced, but because no alternatives were available... The exiled community was in despair because it accepted Babylonian definitions of reality and did not know any others were available. That is, they were hopeless. They did not believe Yahweh could counter Babylon.
Hopeless is not a good place to be. A person can be in a situation that appears to be hopeless, and indeed it is...and yet still not be hopeless. When we are faced with a living situation that is run by powers greater than us, it can become quite overwhelming. Rather than have a sense of worth and substance it is so easy to let the powers around us define us. When that is the case, if we do not follow the rule of the day or the patterns of the day, then we can be judge (by others and ourselves) as worthless and insignificant. What the prophet brings to the people of God who are in Babylon is a word that seems to have no visible reality. It is as Brueggemann has said, a poetic imagination that carries good news without having to be stamped with the approval of the reigning powers. This word is the beginning of the creation of an alternative reality. It is not merely imaginary. It begins with our imagination but it moves into concrete living that is not in step with what has appeared to be the power that dictates how life is to be lived. Alternative visions make for alternative communities with alternative values and practices and life patterns. It is not the goal of such a community of imagination to conquer the world. Rather this kind of imagination that counts on our God to rule among us begins to bring worth to all who come within its reach and hear its word...even the whole creation.
Connection: Do not be afraid of the sounds of a new world. Instead, listen for what it is saying about how God's gracious action will lift up the lowly and bring to the world the healing of all things. This may sound strange but it is never too strange to enter.
Come, O God, and lift us up so that our imaginations may be stirred up by your living presence among us. Amen.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
21 December 2005
Walter Brueggemann continues to discuss the poetry of 2nd Isaiah as he looks at exile and homecoming in "Hopeful Imagination."
(The poetry), as such, is not explained either by theological conviction or by political analysis, but by an inventive, creative act of poetry that means to speak this community out beyond present circumstance by the force of the poetic word, which is offered as the fresh decree of God's own mouth (46:11; 55:10-11). I am assuming that the power of language to shape reality and not just describe reality is true for us as well as for this poet. The poet does not only describe a new social reality but wills it. The very art of poetic speech establishes new reality. Public speech, the articulation of alternative scenarios of reality, is one of the key acts of ministry among exiles.
Wow. These words of the prophet and words of prophetic poets in every age can have that power "to speak this community out beyond present circumstance by the force of the poetic word." This is so vital for the community of faith to remember. It is also critical for the community of faith to return to the words of poets whenever we are in places of exile and need to return to home to a ground on which we will find new life and meaning to the work and life and play of this day. When the poet "wills" a new social reality, it is placed before us as a possibility. It may not be present in full form, but it is present in word. When it is present in word, it is present with a power that can see itself through defeat and exile and loss...because the word keeps painting that reality that is yet to be among us. Therefore, we can act now as though this new social reality is present. There may be reactions from others when we live in this new reality...people may not honor the truth and power of this new reality...but it is there for us to enter...and once it has been announced, there is no shutting it down.
Connection: We are invited to always begin the day by returning to this word of promise for new life. It may be easy to return to this word to hear it...but we are also invited to trust it as though it is the eternal truth. From there, the day can start from a whole new point of view.
By your Word, O God, you bring new seasons of life to us when we are facing times of utter brokenness. By your Word, you lift up our heads so that we are able to see what we so often forget is within the realm of this day. Abide with us, O God, and be our Word of life. Amen.
(The poetry), as such, is not explained either by theological conviction or by political analysis, but by an inventive, creative act of poetry that means to speak this community out beyond present circumstance by the force of the poetic word, which is offered as the fresh decree of God's own mouth (46:11; 55:10-11). I am assuming that the power of language to shape reality and not just describe reality is true for us as well as for this poet. The poet does not only describe a new social reality but wills it. The very art of poetic speech establishes new reality. Public speech, the articulation of alternative scenarios of reality, is one of the key acts of ministry among exiles.
Wow. These words of the prophet and words of prophetic poets in every age can have that power "to speak this community out beyond present circumstance by the force of the poetic word." This is so vital for the community of faith to remember. It is also critical for the community of faith to return to the words of poets whenever we are in places of exile and need to return to home to a ground on which we will find new life and meaning to the work and life and play of this day. When the poet "wills" a new social reality, it is placed before us as a possibility. It may not be present in full form, but it is present in word. When it is present in word, it is present with a power that can see itself through defeat and exile and loss...because the word keeps painting that reality that is yet to be among us. Therefore, we can act now as though this new social reality is present. There may be reactions from others when we live in this new reality...people may not honor the truth and power of this new reality...but it is there for us to enter...and once it has been announced, there is no shutting it down.
Connection: We are invited to always begin the day by returning to this word of promise for new life. It may be easy to return to this word to hear it...but we are also invited to trust it as though it is the eternal truth. From there, the day can start from a whole new point of view.
By your Word, O God, you bring new seasons of life to us when we are facing times of utter brokenness. By your Word, you lift up our heads so that we are able to see what we so often forget is within the realm of this day. Abide with us, O God, and be our Word of life. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)