Those of you at St. Gabriel's this last Sunday (March 18th) experienced an "imagination sermon." When I was explaining the concept of the imagination sermon to my husband (also a priest), he said, "I don't know.... sounds too much like, 'Imagine I had written a sermon this Sunday' to me."
The imagination sermon, however, is not the preacher's way of playing hookie (!), it is a way to experience corporately one aspect of the ancient method of lectio divina.... sitting with a piece of scripture and letting God speak to you through the text. We invite our God-given imaginations into the story as well, allowing Jesus to be alive to us, and the people of the story to speak to us.
After listening to the Gospel story of the Father who had two sons (a.k.a. The Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-32) members of the congregation imagined they were someone in the story, either someone explicitly mentioned (younger son, older son, father, etc.) or someone else who would have been present.
As people lived into the character the Holy Spirit brought to mind, several people stood up to share their thoughts. We heard from a few wayward prodigals, several angry and confused older brothers, a longing father, a bookie in the far off land, the boys' mother, and some others. There were a few quiet tears, nods of understanding and a fair amount of laughter. I felt we were on holy ground when some people shifted from the biblical story to their own stories as they identified with the characters and touched on the Father's presence in their own situations.
One thing I find fascinating about this method of engaging the Bible is that even folk who do not stand up to share are given a story. The Holy Spirit works in all the imaginations, giving some full-blown, fully-illustrated scenarios, and to others a flit across several characters as the camera of their mind pans the faces in the narrative.
I invite you, this week, to continue to live into the story of the loving, welcoming Father, and see how God speaks to you through it.
The imagination sermon, however, is not the preacher's way of playing hookie (!), it is a way to experience corporately one aspect of the ancient method of lectio divina.... sitting with a piece of scripture and letting God speak to you through the text. We invite our God-given imaginations into the story as well, allowing Jesus to be alive to us, and the people of the story to speak to us.
After listening to the Gospel story of the Father who had two sons (a.k.a. The Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-32) members of the congregation imagined they were someone in the story, either someone explicitly mentioned (younger son, older son, father, etc.) or someone else who would have been present.
As people lived into the character the Holy Spirit brought to mind, several people stood up to share their thoughts. We heard from a few wayward prodigals, several angry and confused older brothers, a longing father, a bookie in the far off land, the boys' mother, and some others. There were a few quiet tears, nods of understanding and a fair amount of laughter. I felt we were on holy ground when some people shifted from the biblical story to their own stories as they identified with the characters and touched on the Father's presence in their own situations.
One thing I find fascinating about this method of engaging the Bible is that even folk who do not stand up to share are given a story. The Holy Spirit works in all the imaginations, giving some full-blown, fully-illustrated scenarios, and to others a flit across several characters as the camera of their mind pans the faces in the narrative.
I invite you, this week, to continue to live into the story of the loving, welcoming Father, and see how God speaks to you through it.
