Alan Roxburgh is a mentor of missional leaders and church. He often in many venues, talks about cultivating missional imagination within a community. Of course behind this statement is his belief that the future of any church is already present within the people who are that church. I think Jesus was a cultivator of missional imagination. At least he seems to be here in the lectionary passage from Mark for this week. http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=101994614
Okay so you read it (hopefully) and maybe you are thinking okay what is he talking about missional imagination. They are coming down from the mountain from what sounds like a really weird event. Jesus is talking to Moses and Elijah (who is he right? ) or two folks from the Old Testament. Then Jesus turns bright white or he transfigures as we like to say. A cloud then envelopes them and a voice from within says, this is my son, the beloved, listen to him. Weird right? Then the cloud vanishes along with Moses, Elijah and the brightness of Jesus. All that is left is Jesus. What is the deal. I mean seriously if this were to happen to me I wouldn't tell a soul. If something like this happened, I may even try to explain it away. I may even think someone put something into my drink. It is weird. But enough on that. Jesus is on the way back down with the disciples who went with him and he says don't tell anyone about this weirdness until the Son of man has risen from the dead. More weirdness. Then they began wondering what did he mean by the rising of the dead.
As I have read Mark I see him in many places, telling of an action of Jesus where there is a response of people immediately following. Jesus casts out a demon, the people were amazed. Jesus heals a woman from fever and she gets up and serve. Jesus cleanses a leper and he goes and tells everyone. (All from Chapter 1) Now you have Jesus transfigured and tell the boys not to tell anyone until after the Son of Man is raised from the dead. Their response is to question what he means by rising from the dead. He stirs their missional imagination. He does not explain the funky mountain top event. He does not explain rising from the dead. He lets them imagine. Maybe he wants them to imagine. When Jesus uses parables, it seems he wants the hearer to be engaged and to enter deeper into what is happening. Jesus wants us to think and does not seem to have a problem with our questioning. Maybe we in the Western world like neat and clean answers a bit much.
How could a church help raise questioning and imagination within its people? How can we get folks to think? To dream? To imagine life together as God intends it? To wonder what Jesus meant by that? Is the sermon the best way? How could a sermon get a person to question, to ponder the deeper meaning?
I really do believe my questions are what lead me deeper into life. And if those questions are about God, they lead me deeper into life with God. Maybe by stimulating questions, Jesus gets us to wonder, pursue and seek what God is doing in our midst? Maybe this how we are formed and discover deeper faith. Like many people have asked me, why does Jesus keep on telling people to keep a lid on things he is doing? Maybe we could question that on Sunday.
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