A Holy Imagination

Psalm 77:11-12

I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

    yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

I will consider all your works

    and meditate on all your mighty deeds.

On a recent Sunday in August at St. Aldates Church, Oxford, teaching pastor Dan Kim spoke on Psalm 77 during a talk entitled “Redeeming Memories.” He acknowledged that memories can be painful, but they are also God's gift to us, and that memories of His faithfulness sustain us through life's toughest moments. Some of those memories are ours. They’re personal. Others are recorded in Scripture, and those belong to all of us.

As I listened to the message, I began to think beyond our memories and mused about the realm of imagination. We humans are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps 139:14). We are unique among God’s creatures in that we can explore our future selves and imagine a multiverse of worlds in which anything is possible. 

While memory helps us re-experience the past, creative imagination transports us into possible futures. 

Leaders call it vision. Seers call it prophecy. Name it whatever you like, but I prefer the phrase Holy Imagination. We see it in the writing prophets, who blend God’s promised blessings and curses with visions of a perilous but hope-filled future. Consider also Elijah, who declared a drought, called down fire from Heaven, and knew the restorative rains would come before any visible signs appeared.

And what did James write about that storied prophet? “Elijah was a human being, even as we are…” (James 5:17). Even. As. We. Are. To a greater or lesser extent, we all possess the capacity for Holy Imagination. We can conceive of a future that includes God's demonstrated faithfulness and His miraculous intervention. We can also imagine a future where He is absent, and darkness returns our gaze with a mocking grin.

This is where prayer enters the fray. It fixes our imagination above our circumstances. We move beyond what’s probable and into a land called Possible, the home country of a Holy Imagination. Doctors pronounce cancer incurable and set the possibility of a baby’s survival at zero. We’re tempted to think they’re always right. But prayer? It still believes. It stands on the knife’s edge between denial and the outlandish, pockmarked faith that’s lauded in Hebrews 11. It reaches into the future, knowing that the God who has done extraordinary things can do them again. Not always as we ask, but always in accordance with His good, pleasing, and perfect will (Rom 12:2).

So, in the Spirit of this week’s emphasis on freedom (from “We follow Jesus into hope, healing, freedom, and flourishing.”), let’s season our prayers with a little audacity.

Keep prayinig!

 Pastor Steve