Imagine! Imagine!
the long and wondrous journey
still to be ours.
Mary Oliver
The slow fire of the impossible is lit by the imagination.
Emily Dickinson
Imagination is the “human power that opens us up to possibility and promise, the not-yet of the future”.
Kathleen Fischer
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Our future is often more open than we even dare to imagine! Made in God’s image, we are image makers and image bearers. We form and are formed by images. We engage with reality through our imaginations.
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“Images are forms of transport. They get us going. They move us on.”
Anselm Gruen
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What images do you live by?
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What stories do you tell yourself?
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Are they healthy and hopeful, or negative, leading towards despair?
The imagination “is always slow to admit that all the facts are in, that all the doors have been tried, and that it is defeated. It is not so much that it has vision as that it is able to wait, to wait for a moment of vision which is not yet there…”
William Lynch
How patient are you?
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How willing are you to admit that all the facts are not yet in?
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How easily are you hijacked by a primary negative self-image or feeling?
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lmagine how attractive this alternative, hopeful way of being in the world could be.
Jesus taught primarily through image, metaphor, story. Think about some of the gospel stories – not leading to definition or doctrine – but as imaginative invitations into surprise, possibility and nope. Think about why you get out of bed each morning – and of all the many and diverse influences, people and images in your life which have helped form you into this hope-full person.
A vision of the world we want to build arises out of the world we know. It requires courage to expose ourselves to defeat and failure as well as what lies within our hearts, to be alive and passionate about what is possible.
Prayer, Scripture, our faith community , Eucharist (as sacraments of hope) – as well as film, poetry, novels and art – all keep us alive to value, purpose, meaning and hope.
As we listen to Gurrumul sing Jesu from his album of gospel songs, we come to the end of our meditation on Hope.
The next few weeks take us on a journey through Lent to the Holy Week of Easter. We will be posting a series of meditations from Fr Philip Carter called Learning Jesus. We wish you a blessed and peaceful Lent.
For a printable PDF of the text of this meditation click on the link below.
