Getting Into Character

After 9/11 the news outlets were filled with people offering explanations as to how this could have happened. The explanations were quite varied and often reflected an agenda of the one offering the opinion. However, one of the ideas that captured my attention attributed our lack of readiness to what the author called a failure of imagination. He pointed out that no one ever imagined that someone would actually do the kind of thing that was done on 9/11. He even went on to say he thought that in general evil has a more developed imagination than good.

This really stopped me in my tracks. I don’t know if it is true or not, but it was an interesting thought. Since then, I have often thought about this idea of what we imagine. By this I don’t mean the kind of imagining that is fanciful or unreal, nor am I talking about what is sometimes called positive or possibility thinking where we can will God to do something just by saying it. Rather I am talking about seeing possibilities, what might actually be within our reach if we stepped out in faith, believing that God is able to empower us and use us to do amazing things.

All of this is just another way of talking about vision. Andy Stanley, in his book “Visioneering” defines vision as “a clear mental picture of what could be, fueled by the conviction that it should be.” As we have been in the process of re-thinking what God has called us to be and do as a church we have begun the process of imagining what could and should be. Our new vision statement sums up how we are beginning to see this. “Joining God in transforming the world” reflects our desire to truly believe in God’s transformational love and to step out in faith into new arenas of ministry as he invites us to participate in what he is doing.

To be honest, it is far easier to imagine how much worse everything could get. There’s no question that things are a mess. I can sit here and think of enumerable reasons not to even try. But God calls us to have a different starting point. Rather than dwelling on how impossibly broken our world appears, we have to begin with God. It is God who is in the business of rescuing broken souls. It is God who is extending mercy to the fallen, love to the needy, comfort to the hurting, justice to the abused and neglected, new life to the soul dead captives of the evil one. And…he calls us to be his instruments in all this.

So, it is our challenge and privilege to trust God to work through us to see people cared for, children given hope, racial divides bridged, righteousness lived out in the face of evil, people brought into God’s family. It can happen and we can be a part.

Imagine that.