If you’ve ever made yourself something to eat, you’ve probably used your imagination. Based on the urge to satisfy your hunger, your mind thought of the meal you wanted. Whether you boiled, stirred, spread, or mixed, the image in your mind, however imperfect, became a reality. In more ways than this, our imagination is a powerful force.
Our imagination can serve both our good and evil desires. It only takes a quick perusal through history to recognize dark minds in the service of evil people. For Christians, our imaginations are guided by the Scriptures, which provide both ethical boundaries and unseen spiritual realities. Scripture does not limit human potential but gives us new categories, images, and symbols with which to understand our lives in new and meaningful ways.
According to ancient biblical tradition, the apostle Paul encouraged believers to have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and exhorted Christians to follow the patterns of Jesus’s thinking (Philippians 2: 5-11). In fact, Christians have long believed that the Holy Spirit lives inside believers, not only sanctifying their deeds but their minds. Therefore, the Christian imagination is not stifled because of the Bible but expanded through an encounter with Christ in his Word. Christianity then ignites a studious desire to find truth in every arena of life. God as the ultimate creator, asks us to image him by creating new and beautiful ways to mediate his grace to others. In this holy calling, we have the collected saints, the Church, to help us participate in God’s kingdom here and now.
In order to cultivate a grace-filled imagination, let's examine three ways the Church kindles our sanctified imagining. First, the Church shapes our imagination by retelling the Gospel, or good news, of Jesus. In the four Gospels, God’s love is incarnated in Jesus. He made cosmic claims of kingship and divinity, he healed the sick, and eventually was killed on a cross. On the third day, his disciples saw him in the flesh, and forty days later, watched him ascend bodily to heaven. Jesus had ushered in a new age.
Through this story, we can begin to understand the world and God’s plan for its glorious renewal. Even the images: the cross, the tomb, the temple, the curtain torn in two, stoke our imagination by putting God’s love and justice on full display. In this way, the gospel accounts remind us of the major themes of the entire Bible, such as redemption, love, renewal, and judgment, but in a visceral and memorable form. Furthermore, Christ’s story reshapes our understanding of the ultimate human good that is found in Christ Jesus. As we begin to comprehend our ultimate aim and God’s own resurrection working, we can then recognize, however slightly, God’s moving in our midst. In the vein of theologian Kevin Vanhoozer, by letting the story of the Gospel shape our imagination, we can rightly participate in his unseen kingdom right now.
Second, the Church’s sacraments give us images and symbols that mold our imagination. For example, the Lord’s Supper, or Eucharist, was instituted by Jesus, before he died. He established the sacred supper by using everyday symbols, bread, and wine, to represent eternal realities. The wine symbolized the blood of Christ shed for humanity, and the bread his body, broken for us.
These symbols provide us with sacred and tangible imagery for the death of Christ. Every time we come to the table, powerful truth is communicated that stirs our hearts and minds. By the mercy of God, our imaginations are cultivated to see the worthy in the ordinary, the beauty in the mundane.
Third, the Church proclaims the resurrection power through Jesus. Christ’s bodily resurrection fundamentally alters our understanding of life and human flourishing. This truth of resurrection informs our minds that nothing is past repair. No relationship, pain, suffering, or death is beyond God’s resurrection power. Every spring, we are reminded again of the continued renewal of God’s amazing grace. The resurrection gives us new categories for imagining God’s overwhelming power to save, revive, and renew. With Christ, even in death, there is new life.
These examples are only a smattering of how the Church cultivates our minds and imaginations through Christ. In Christ, we are called to participate in the kingdom of God by actualizing God’s grace to others. Even offering a cup of cold water is infused with kingdom meaning. In the Church, Christ gives us his story, his supper, and his empowerment to feed our imaginations so that we may creatively participate in his kingdom.
Published in the Edmond Sun: Sunday Sermon 5/4/19