Out Our Way: Imagine

Out our way, imagination can be a wonderful thing. Riding up on the Tiger Ridge with Charley and looking out over the vast prairies, one can imagine what it was like hundreds of years ago when instead of angus cattle the land would be filled with millions of buffalo. Now and then one finds some teepee rings and imagines when the Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, and Blackfeet were setting up hunting lodges here as they followed the herds.

 On the other hand, imagnation can be a negative things as well. Consider that old culvert on the nature trail in Beaver Creek that Goliath imagines is some sort of snake or monster. Or the time Goliath and I were riding in the Bear Paws when we suddenly heard something in the heavy brush. It was probably just a mule deer, but our imaginations ran wild with the thought it might be another cougar, like the one we saw prowling just outside of town that time. But worst of all is when we imagine we are far wiser, intelligent or knowledgable than we actually are, "a legend in our own minds."

This week we are preparing for the third Sunday in Advent, I am preaching on "The Magnificat" - the "song of Mary" found in Luke. Most folks are familiar with it as Mary talks of how her soul will "magnify" - that is glorify and help focus our awareness of - the Lord. Indeed, Mary's life would prove to be a constant light of inspiration to those who pay attention to what God is doing in and through her. How sad some folks still miss it.

The other day I was listening to a fun game show on NPR in which the quiz master was testing the panel's knowledge of Christmas trivia. All fun and games and actually pretty amazing - until the master of ceremonies refered to the Christmas event as "a legend." A legend? Like Santa Claus and the North Pole? Like Atlantis or Bigfoot? Perhaps it was a slip of the tongue, but there are people today who still insist Christmas is merely a story - just as there are folks who still deny dinosaurs ever walked the earth or that men ever actually walked on the moon.

Perhaps it was my being taken aback by hearing Christmas called a "legend" that made this passage in Mary's song that jumped out at me, It's in verse 51 in which she speaks of God "scattering the proud in the imagination of their hearts." That is an image that really struck me as I pondered the text. Imagination can help us look beyond ourselves to new horizons - as it did Einstein, Shakespeare and Michaelangelo. But imagination, fueled by pride - can have the opposite effect - and blind us to possibilities beyond ourselves and thus limit our maturity and wisdom.

As you my recall, in the account of Adam and Eve - the serpent sought to defeat the humans and destroy them by turning their imaginations against them. The fruit of knowledge of good and evil - that is the ability to know everything and make ourselves into gods - is a deadly poison. No mere human can know everything and never make a mistake - but if we imagine we can or, even worse, that we already have - we are dooming ourselves to misery, ignorance and great sorrows.

Read your history and see that the serpent continued to whisper in the ears of the gullible the lie - and turned their proud imaginations into death traps. What destroyed the ancient empires one after another? What made Hitler think he could rule the world? What made Stalin think the same? The poison called pride. The "vain imaginings of the proud."

Well, the "thousand-ear reich" lasted less than 10 years. The Soviet Union lasted 70. And then, as in every other case where the proud lived in the imagination of their hearts, it all collapsed. Consider that moment in history when Mary spoke these words. Rome dominated the world, including Judah and Galilee. Who could ever stand against them? Well, as it happened, that little Child Mary was carrying would and did. Not with armies and navies, but the gospel message as the Son of God. In 300 years the good news of Jesus Christ had so spread across the empire that even mighty Caesar, the Emperor Constantine, bowed before Jesus and called Him Lord. And the Good News has never ceased to be preached and spread to every cornoer of the globe to this day.

Consider that fact this Chtristmas season - the message of the Risen Christ and the power of the gospel continues to challenge and transform despite the scoffing of the secularists and sneers of the cultural elite. Even nonreligious people are beginning to question the idea of the proud and mighty that they can be their own gods. In Hollywood and Washington, D.C., ordinary people are discovering that right is right and wrong is wrong no matter who you are. "No means no" even if you are a big shot and "important." Read your history - open the newspaper - listen to the news - then come back and read your Bible.  Indeed, as Mary prophesied so long ago,the proud will always end up being scattered in the imaginations of their hearts.

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Blessings from John Bruington and Goliath to one and all. May your Christmas be blessed and may you rejoice in this time of remembrance of the Gift God gave to the world and to you.