Called to Imagine
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Come just as you are, bringing whatever is on your heart today. Take a few moments and allow yourself to just be. Take a couple deep breaths, grab yourself a cup of coffee, light a candle, do something that brings you comfort. Allow yourself to be present in this moment.
Consider that you are a part of all that is, and that your part matters. You matter to the story, and are integral to the ongoing creation of our world.
“As a child, one has that magical capacity to move among the many eras of the earth; to see the land as an animal does; to experience the sky from the perspective of a flower or a bee; to feel the earth quiver and breathe beneath us; to know a hundred different smells of mud and listen unselfconsciously to the soughing of the trees.”
— Valerie Andrews
Genesis 1:1-4
When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the shadow.
Food for Thought
When we are younger, the world is our playground.
There is no limit to our imaginations. Every stick is a wizard’s wand, a drumstick, a snake; each car that passes is a secret agent spy or space invader; and trees are fairy worlds and forts.
When we are younger, it is much easier to exercise our imaginations and to find outlets for creativity. As our lives change, as we are affected by time and experience, as we grow older and accustomed to the way things are, we lose sight of that part of ourselves.
Our creativity is quieted by day jobs, hectic schedules, and a need to be productive. What is possible is limited by what is socially expected or acceptable. We spend more time inside away from nature. We become numb and stagnant — resistant to growth and change. And creativity and holy imagination is dulled within us. But it never goes away entirely; it is never wholly lost, because it is a part of who we are and whose we are. We are infused with the capacity for transformation, for imagination, for creativity, for new possibility, for all of these are a reflection of the God whose image we bear.
However we might grow or change, or however resistant we are to these things, there will always be something from within us and outside of ourselves that calls to our holy imagination, that calls us to create, to shape the world around us, to shift and change things toward a new potential.
If we are paying attention, there are myriad things that can spark our imaginations once more, drawing us out and into connection with something of the holy beyond us: gazing up to an evening sky as a once-in-a-lifetime comet blazes through the clouds; standing ankle deep in a clear blue ocean as the sun sets across the horizon; lying beneath the vast expanse of a pitch dark Wyoming sky; driving through the North Carolina mountains as the autumn colored leaves paint the distance; looking through a microscope at all the worlds within worlds we do not ordinarily see.
God’s creative narrative is an invitation to remember that the God of creation is still creating — steady, present, moving, making room, breathing life. And it is also an invitation to remember that we are a part of that ongoing work. Our creative gifts are entrusted to us, and we are responsible for using them in ways that bring forth life - whether cultivating the earth or creating art, whether inventing, teaching, engineering, or parenting — whatever we do, we are participating in the ongoing creation of our world. Even the simplest and smallest of gestures — a smile, a caring word — can change the world, shifting the course of a new day.
The world needs us to ask and to consider what in our communities needs to be reimagined? What’s possible that isn’t realized yet? What new horizons are yet to be explored, what boundaries to be blurred or set?
We are not merely passive observers of this marvelously created universe, but we are image-bearers of the Creator, called to embrace the holy imagination and curiosity within ourselves, called to bring life and hope into being, called to imagine toward beauty and healing, called to live out each day with courage and creativity. And as we create, we too must be open to how we will be changed and opened toward new possibility — painting our world into a new landscape of life-giving goodness in partnership with the One who made all things new and declared them good.
Take a moment to imagine your world as it is (you can draw a picture or paint one if it is helpful to you). Include yourself in the picture. What do you notice, what stands out to you? What needs healing in the picture? Pray for the things that need shifting toward life-giving possibility.
What is one small way you might participate in the realization of that vision? Paint or draw a new picture with yourself in it, bringing about a new possibility.
For a printable version of today's reflection Click Here!
Blessing
Creating God,
Inspire our hearts toward beauty and new possibility for all of creation, and toward all of the goodness there is for our world to know. Allow us the courage and the agency to participate in your holy vision, co-creators with you.
Amen.
A little Table Talk for your table...
What is one change you would like to see in your world? What is one small way you can begin to create toward that possibility?
What do you remember about your imagination as a child? Was pretending or imaginative play a part of your childhood story?
How does play allow us to see the world differently, in a new light?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Ask your children what they like to imagine or pretend?
Ask your kiddos to imagine how our world could be different. What would they like to see?
Talk with your child about how they can make a difference in the world, with a smile, a kind word, courageous act, etc.
Meet This week’s writer!
Lin Story-Bunce is a North Carolina native and lovingly calls Greensboro, NC home. She earned a Masters of Divinity from Wake Forest University and has served a wonderful and thoughtful congregation at College Park Baptist Church since 2009, pastoring to families and their faith development. Most of all, Lin loves the moments she gets to connect with her family, snowboarding with her wife and keeping up with their four kiddos and two energetic pups. Lin is a teacher, preacher, dreamer, and procrastinator who, if you ask her youth group, has a knack for trying to do way too many things in far too little time.
To hear more from Lin throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!
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