The Christian Imagination

It’s Wednesday evening, and I’m sitting at home in my office, staring at group of inspirational quotes on my wall. I’m not reading them, but instead looking at the collage of images that go along with them. I original put them up a few years ago as reminders to take risks and be confident. As much as I sit here, the words just stay on the wall, and out of my heart. Yet, if I were to read them now, they would resonate, because I feel inspiration inside, and a confidence that is not as easily shaken.

The temptation throughout life is to stop trying and give up. And each time I have given in to that temptation, life isn’t easier, but it is more miserable. Yet, God created me to be, and to overcome, and when I do, I find life. I watched Rescue Dawn last night with a friend, and I wondered as I watched, would I have that kind of will to live in those circumstances? Would I not let them beat me, or would I keep my head down so as not to attract attention? Hopefully I’ll never be in a situation like that, but life still gives me the opportunity to face those questions, and I can choose whether to be wholehearted or shut down. Right now, I happen to be inspired, and ready to take on the immense amount of ambiguity in my life right now. It’s not uncertainty. It’s opportunity.

A few quotes from my wall:
Nuture the dreams that inspire you to go beyond your limits.
Confidence is the inner voice that says you are becoming what you are capable of being.
Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir the blood. -Daniel Burnham
You know the rules. If you are falling, dive! -Joseph Campbell

I often seek theological insights in reading science fiction, because this is a genre eminently suited to explorations of the nature of the Creator and creation. I’m never surprised when I discover that one of my favourite science fiction writers is Christian, because to think about worlds in other galaxies, other modes of being, is a theological enterprise. (L’Engle, 134-135)

L’Engle was known as a children’s writer, with her best known novel, A Wrinkle in Time, essentially being science fiction. I’ve always liked science fiction, though for awhile I didn’t read much fiction, seeing it as a waste of time. In recent years I’ve discovered a real love for fiction and the truth it conveys. Perhaps it’s fitting that a genre like Science Fiction merges the rational and the romantic into a powerful whole that reflects reality back to us.

My favorite TV series of all time is the new Battlestar Galactica. The series is a dark portrayal of what it means to be human and survive. It doesn’t come from a Christian world view, but it gives one of the more positive representations of religion to be found in any TV series.

What I like though, are the questions. The most recent episode, Razors, asked what it means to be a leader and make hard decisions, and it did so without providing an easy answer. When do we love our humanity? When are we no better than the enemy? What level of compromise or violence is necessary to maintain order? When does the letter of the law need to be put aside and grace bestowed?

It’s truth in fiction that causes me to reflect on my own life and learn what it means to be human, and what it means to be a Christ-follower.

But the reality of the outcome of all annunciations is a reality which is scoffed at by most of the world. It is one of the greater triumphs of Lucifer that he has managed to make Christians (Christians!) believe that a story is a lie, that a myth should be outgrown with puberty, that to act in a play is inconsistent with true religion. (L’Engle, 84)

L’Engle, Madeleine. Walking on Water. New York: North Point Press. 1995.

Where is God in the midst of our pain?

It seems easier, if we can explain why, if others can feel our pain and perhaps understand.

God is there, but we don’t always feel His presence, or His comfort.

Instead of comfort and understanding from his friends, Job was put on the defensive, and it wore him down.

When nothing more could be said, Elihu thought he had insight into the situation. Elihu’s words are not without merit. He rightly rebukes Job’s friends, and rebukes Job for thinking he can ‘make his case’ before God. Who are we to say we have a superior moral standard to God?

Yet, in Elihu’s words in chapters 32-37, he repeatedly implores them to ‘here his words,’ and says things like:
“Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf. I will bring my knowledge from far away, and ascribe righteousness to my Maker. For truly my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.” — Job 36:2-4

It is Elihu who claims to speak on behalf of God. Ever had someone tell you, “God told me to tell you this.” What do you say to that? How can one possibly disagree with someone who claims to be the voice of God?

I grew up Pentecostal. I believe God inspires words in people. However, it’s a very dangerous thing when someone arrogantly claims to speak directly for God. How can we discern whether their voice is conterfeit or real? How can we discern the voice of God?

Don’t wait for the moment of deepest crisis to learn that God’s voice sounds like.
If your dad called you in the middle of the night, would you know it?
Crisis isn’t the time to discern God’s voice, but to depend on it.

Job tells us what to do when we suffer: trust, depend, believe.
Job continues to listen, and in the end, hears God’s voice.

For anyone familiar with the story of Job, his friends are well known as being terrible comforters to a man in misery. Job comments on multiple occassions about this, and God finishes off the book by condemning them. The question is: Why? What is it they didn’t get?

To their credit, Eliphas the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, an Zophar the Naamathite begin by just being with him 7 days and not saying a word (2:13). Job then begins by cursing the day he was born, and finishing his opening lament with:

“Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes.” - Job 3:25-26

Bildad is the first to speak, and they all say, in essence, that Job has brought this on himself by sinning, that God is correcting him, and that Job needs to recognize this and repent. Certainly nothing so horrible could happen to a person and his family if it wasn’t judgment. His friends are trying to help, and are really just saying what is obvious to everyone else. While they feel for Job, he is obviously in denial about some sin in his life and God is getting his attention so he can ‘get right with the Lord.’ To them, it’s not a mystery, and Job has no reason to be confused.

Job, however, knows he has done nothing to deserve this, and is right with God. He hasn’t sinned, yet it does look like judgment. He’s done the right things, yet his world was torn apart. He refused to curse God, yet still suffered. Disillusioned, he had no desire to keep living. His friends only added to his confusion by insisting on giving him pat answers. Where did they fail? They failed by not listening. They failed to dialogue. They failed to understand his need, and his heart. They failed by not just sharing pain with a fellow human being. It makes me wonder: How often do we as Christians do the exact same thing? How often do I?

I just finished reading Henri Nouwen’s The Wounded Healer, and his perspective on helping those who are suffering is powerful:

If there is any posture that disturbs a suffering man or woman, it is aloofness. The tragedy of Christian ministry is that many who are in great need, many who seek an attentive ear, a word of support, a forgiving embrace, a firm hand, a tender smile, or even a stuttering confession of inability to do more, often find their ministers distant men who do not want to burn their fingers. They are unable or unwilling to express their feelings of affection, anger, hostility, or sympathy. The paradox is that those who want to be for “everyone” find themselves often unable to be close to anyone. (Nouwen, 71-72)

Nouwen, Henri. The Wounded Healer. London: Darton,Longman & Todd Ltd. 1994.