From the Vicar: Imagine This

From the Vicar: Imagine This

From the Vicar: Imagine This

# From The... - Letters to the Congregation

From the Vicar: Imagine This

Dear Ones of St. Columba's,

This year as we move through the season of Advent we are meditating on Imagination. We know that a key part of making the changes we need to make in our lives and in our world is imagining that things could be different than they are. Make no mistake, this sort of creative imagination is work, and it takes time. But it is also fun and creative - or at least it can be.

In the past two years I have spent a good deal of time reading and meditating on the work of women academics, scholars, and artists who made the work of imagination the work of their lives. These women, most of them Black, Indigenous, or people of color, use imagination as a survival skill, a way of continuing to live and move forward in the face of a world that does not recognize their essential value and humanity. My guide for much of this work has been Dr. Kimberly George, a woman and scholar who some among us are familiar with. Dr. George uses an exercise in her classes that I want to share with you. It goes like this: Imagine that one day you wake up and the world is healed from patriarchy. But no one told you - it's just gone and all is well. How would you figure it out? What would the signs be to let you know that the wounds of patriarchy have been healed? 

I've had the privilege not only of participating in this exercise, but also of leading people through it - many of them other clergy. And I will tell you, it's amazing, how much can be imagined differently. Some people respond with very basic things - all women's clothing would have pockets, for example. Or, teachers and nurses would be fairly paid. Other people have taken large scale imaginings, wondering how architecture or global supply chains might be changed. 

I think that Advent is a time for this sort of imagination. Imagine that one day you wake up and the world is healed from all the ways we hurt each other. Imagine you wake up and the kingdom of God is here. How would you know? How would you live/eat/love/travel/share/shop/exist differently? 

It's not going to happen today or tomorrow, this healed world Advent invites us to imagine. But it is out there, in front of us, in a future that is held by the same God who holds the broken world we live in now. We can get ready for it. We can imagine it- together. 

No one I know is better at imagination than children. The gift of imagination is one they model for us daily as we share life with them. This Sunday we get to imagine together what a visit from St Nicholas might be like, and I want to make sure all our children (and children at heart) get a chance to be part of the fun. You don't want to miss it!

with care and gratitude,

Alissa

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