May 14, 2023. Texts: Acts 17:22-31; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21.
Before there were graphics, before there was virtual reality, the human imagination did the work of supplying images for unseen things. It can be totally amazing to see a digitally constructed world come alive on the theatre screen or on a video game. But am I alone in feeling uneasy with how virtual imagery is a perfectly acceptable expression of reality while things of the imagination are regarded as fanciful, unbelievable, and even childish?
Counselors and other mental health workers know that one of the ways of helping people through their psychological wounds is visualization. By imagining a different response to a consistently troubling situation and acting on it, it is possible to change the outcome to something different and better. There’s nothing fanciful or childish about healing of the mind. Yet notice how we prefer the more clinical term visualization over imagination even though the mental processes are substantively consistent. In fact you’ll find that visualization and imagination are synonyms of one another in a thesaurus.
Imagination and visualization used to be the only way to stage dramatic events that were beyond the capacity of the stage, or considered too graphic to be portrayed outright. Perhaps you remember sight gags like that old one with a cartoon character or actor driving really dangerously. The car would disappear from sight and all you’d get was a screeching sound and a terrible bang. Next thing you’d see, would be a character staggering back in view looking pretty ragged and clutching a steering wheel. Your imagination would provide all the detail necessary to appreciate what was being presented whether it was serious drama or slapstick comedy.
Of course, it is possible for the imagination to fail at times. Paul makes this point in the Acts of the Apostles with reference to the idols made by the pagan believers of Athens. He spoke in a very conciliatory and respectful manner, but there is no doubt that he meant to get them thinking.
Paul’s implication was that their imaginations were so constrained that they could visualize God only in terms of the commonplace objects of their everyday world. Paul’s point might be misunderstood by us because of the translation of Acts 17:29, “…we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the imagination of mortals”. But here the word “imagination” is the Greek word meaning idea, thought, or inspiration. So Paul is saying, very reasonably, that God does not spring from human thought or inspiration. God is not a human creation; humans are God’s creation, God’s offspring.
Paul was saying that when it comes to thinking about God their imagination needed to be sent on even more far-reaching journeys than anything the Greeks had heard of. The same argument was made by J.B. Phillips in his classic 1952 book “Your God is Too Small.” Failure of the imagination when it comes to the being and presence of God is a consistent problem.
In the first letter of Peter and the Gospel of John, curiously enough, we can make a connection with the drama of that old car crash sight gag. After a cartoon crash the survivor would reappear holding on to the steering wheel because, one might surmise, it was all that was left of the car after the crash. In this case however, the dramatic scene is of the Christians as the ragged figures emerging back into view after the death and resurrection of their teacher and Messiah, Jesus. He came among them with the good news that he had destroyed the power of death and risen to new life. But having accomplished what he came to do he was now going to return to the Father. So after the calamity of seeing Jesus move on from their community, what did they have to hold on to from all that they had had before? The answer is: their faith.
When Jesus was with them his followers had a sense of well-being. Things were right in heaven and earth. Now the small Christian community had to put into practice the things that Jesus had preached and taught them. And they had to practice their faith in the midst of very difficult local conditions that included rejection of all kinds up to and including persecution and death.
The letter of Peter and the Gospel of John were invitations to proceed on the strength of their imaginations. This was not an invitation into a childish refusal to acknowledge that Jesus was no longer physically present or that their lives were hard and the world a violent and unpredictable place. It was a healing proposition for the people to experience Jesus Christ present with them and still leading and teaching them through a regular practice of visualization.
Peter said, imagine that you are blessed and visualize how the goodness of it will remain with you even in suffering. Imagine that you possess the gentleness and reverence of Christ and visualize how that will change the circumstances of every difficult encounter with other people.
Imagine how a clear conscience will help you retain your own sense of innocence when others make false accusations against you.
Imagine how powerful is water, and most especially the water of baptism which joins you to the innocence of Christ. When you once again fail by your own will or action to refuse temptation, visualize how the eternal waters of baptism carry the promise that each day is another chance to start over clean and refreshed.
John said: imagine yourself following the commandments of Christ. Visualize loving and being loved as Christ showed in his life and discovering that this is all it takes to make it through the most calamitous of times. Visualize the Spirit who speaks truth abiding in you.
This is as good a Word for today as it ever was, in a world in which is emphatically not safe on so many levels. It is a hopeful Word still in a world where the best response we seem to be able to make when other nations are defiant is to develop more strategies that evoke violent responses. It is an encouraging Word still in a world where the usual solution to a faltering economy, increasing household debt, and skyrocketing food and fuel costs is more consumer spending.
These are not simple problems, and there are no easy answers. There is only faith that Christ is present, faith that God made creation and still loves and redeems it, faith that any and all calamity can be lived through by people whose highest hope and imagination is in God. Amen.