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Lost imagination

Shane Claiborne has not become famous for nothing. He's a great speaker, pulling together the best pithy quotes from MLK Jr., Mother Teresa, Karl Barth, and who knows who else.

He spoke a lot about the Amish tonight at Knox United's ecumenical event. Probably pandering to the crowd, knowing there were many Mennonites there. Whenever I hear a non-Mennonite speak about Anabaptists that way -- with admiration -- I think, boy, we have a lot to learn from ourselves! Which is not to say we don't have plenty to learn from other traditions, because we certainly do, but it seems we've lost as many good things as we've kept.

What captured me most from Shane's talk tonight was his line, "the church has lost its imagination." Referencing Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind," he urged us to recapture imagination, to find new ways of not conforming to the world's ways.

Creativity; a helpful tool -- in nonviolence, in evangelism, and in just plain living as a Christ-follower. Just imagine what we could do if we let our imaginations run. Imagine if we resisted empire with the creativity of children. Imagine if we lived out the Kingdom of God on earth like artists.

This isn't a message of browbeating, or guilt-mongering, hate or hypocrisy, but one of hope. And that is so encouraging, and brings us to the love and reconciliation that is at the heart of Christ's message.

So. Let's release our imaginations to the task of noncomformity!

Comments

Anonymous said…
but tell us what you really think :)
Good one, Karla
May 28, 2011 at 10:17 PM
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