The Church lost a great teacher, author, biblical scholar, pastor, and man of faith this past June. For decades we have drawn upon the wisdom of Walter Brueggemann in understanding the gifts of the Hebrew Scriptures and their “ongoing relevance in illuminating and guiding Christian faith in light of contemporary culture”. He immersed himself so fully within the struggle to hear and follow the Word of God in both the ancient culture of Israel and our own contemporary culture, that he became a strong and sturdy bridge that connected us across the centuries.
He particularly brought to life what he called the “prophetic imagination”. He reminded the Church over and over that the role of the prophet- both ancient and contemporary- is to help us to re-imagine the world. The birthplace of hope lies in the ability to imagine something different than the pain and suffering and despair of the current moment. The prophet cries to us to “wake up!”, because things don’t have to be like this. The prophet speaks God’s dream of new creation into our midst in order that it might become our dream as well.
Often re-imagining the world requires remembering who we are and whose we are and how we are called to be. Jesus put it to us this way: follow me in imagining a world in which God reigns.
Dear Church: I think God is urgently calling to us these days to awaken our prophetic imagination.
How might we imagine a world of generosity when we are surrounded by greed?
How might we imagine a world of equity when the powerful 1% control most of the resources?
How might we imagine a world that celebrates diversity instead of generating fear of those who are different?
How might we imagine a world in which humanity lives in respectful harmony with creation?
How might we imagine a world in which we truly strive together to achieve liberty and justice for all?
It is well past time for us professed disciples of Jesus to begin anew in re-imagining a better kind of world.
Pastor Annette