Complicit in Imagination

Last night, as I was driving home from a rather lively and unorthodox memorial service I was struck by a statement made by someone on NPR. As he was describing what he views as the role of NPR in the greater world of mass communication and media reporting, he said that his goal is to foster an environment in which "listeners become complicit in the process of imagination."

What an amazing and beautiful statement. Language shapes our imagination. It transforms the ways in which we understand the world. Rhetoric fosters a rich environment for the imagination to engage the elements and nutrients of the soil of life and world events to construct and construe new and changed understandings of the world.

Imagine with me for a minute. What if, just what if, the language of faith, the ways in which we speak gospel into our world and into the life of current events and contemporary culture allowed those with whom we spoke to "become complicit in the process of imagination"? What if our preaching attempted to foster an environment that allowed the imaginations of the members of our churches to envision the ways in which gospel was breathing life into their everyday affairs?

May the Word that came into the world, allowing those who listened to become complicit in the process of imagining God's rule breaking into the world, come to us again and help open our imaginations again.