December 5, 2020
Micah 5:2-5a—Zechariah & Elizabeth/The Prophets
“And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth; and he shall be the one of peace.” Micah 5:4-5a
Recently, I took an online course exploring spiritual practices. One week revolved around the practice of imagination and creativity. While those may not seem like spiritual practices, we remember that we are made in the image of our Creator God, so we are creative beings by nature. During Jesus’ entire ministry, he invited his disciples to imagine a world where God’s kingdom was here on earth now, a kingdom that turns the “normal” way of doing things upside down – the blind can see, the lame can walk, the hungry are filled.
Reading this text from Micah reminded me of an article I read for my class. The author writes, “When the prophets looked around them, they too saw injustice, sin, and unrighteousness. The rational response to this sort of experience is despair. But the prophets called the people—and us—to hope. A constant refrain of the prophets is a summons to imagine a godly future. ‘The day is coming,’ they said again and again, a day when injustice will be judged, when evil will be put right, when exploitation will cease, when God’s faithful people will experience the deliverance they have hoped for—hoped against experience. This is a radical message… The prophets call us to share this vision…”1 of a baby born in a stable in a tiny town to lowly parents, but who will one day “stand and feed his flock” and there will be peace on earth. Can you imagine it?
Prayer: Creator God who has imagined a world where hope, peace, love and joy are the ways of the world, help us to live as if we can imagine it as well. And may it be so. Amen.
Kathryn McGregor
1“Can You Imagine?” by Brandon J. O’Brien