Mary's Imagination

Son #1 was with me in the car just the other day on the way to get Son #2 from Daycare. It was quite dark, which #1 noted as he munched on his gold-fish. Then he asked if we could turn the light on in the car. I explained that it was a bit more difficult for daddy to drive safely with the light on in the car when its so dark out, and then asked why we made the request. 'Well, I get scared of the dark, sometimes.' 'What is it about the dark that frightens you?' I asked. My room looks different and I think that I see monsters. It got me to thinking about the power of our imaginations.

A young boy arrived for his first experience of summer camp down at Canonicus. He was small for his age and slight. You could tell from his slightly awkward gait that coordination was not his strong-point. He had a bit of a speech impediment which made it difficult especially for other kids to understand him and so they tended to ignore him. I got to know him a little that first summer. His story unfortunately is not all that unique. Diagnosed as ADHD his soon become labeled, and his identity becomes that of someone who is dis-abled...unable to play the games other kids play, unable to talk to the other kids, unable to get his hands and eyes to coordinate, his mind to focus on the game at hand... he could not imagine being able.

Paulo Freire once said; 'oppression works most efficiently when the oppressed have internalized the world as seen through the eyes of the oppressor.'

Just the other day flipping through the TV channels I heard a priest explaining what was so miraculous, so unique about Mary. Do you know what it was, according to the priest?
Her sacred virginity
So much is going on around Mary and all we can see is virginity?
What about her humility, 'I am the Lord's servant' she said,
Maybe he faithfulness to God, 'May it be to me as you have said.' she replied to the angel.
No, there is more to the story of Mary than virginity
More even than humility
Perhaps even more than faithfulness...

I think it was Mary's imagination

Because life for Mary and all of the Jews in Palestine is like living in a darkened room and they cannot imagine a light

Mary and her family, all the families under Roman occupation, have been labeled 'dis-abled, unable,' by Rome, by Herod, by the Ruling Elites... and they cannot imagine being able
Furthermore they cannot imagine that God is able.


Why could Mary, her family, her people, not imagine that they could be en-nabled
Imagine with me a day in Mary's life...

They wake up early attempting to scratch a meager meal out of the soil
only to get a mouthful of dust. Sifting through the sand to find enough seed
to plant for next year only to have it blown away in a whirlwind of Roman horses
and sword carrying soldiers collecting taxes

Mary awakens to wailing and crying from the home next to hers
peeking slowly out the door she sees a man in a fine, clean purple robe walking past
At her neighbors house, a mother clutches her eight-year-old daughter to her breast
the girl is weeping, her sisters and brothers are weeping
The man in purple pulls out his a few coins,
gives them to his associate who hand the coins to the man.
The man weeps as the associate takes the girl by the hand
She is now a slave to the man in purple
This was the only way for the man to feed the rest of his children.

The man in purple stops at another house.
His associate calls to the man of the house
publically demanding that he pay off a debt long overdue
crowds gather at the a long list of loans is read aloud
as is the length of time he was given to repay
and a record of visits made to him for payment
He stands, ashamed in the the center of town
Inside the house the family scrambles to find loose coins
Mother and grandmother turn over their beds to
find the last remaining treasures of the house
gifts from grandparents on their wedding day
to pay the man in purple
the man weeps as his wife brings what little of worth she can find
to lay at the man in purples feet
He takes it
And then announces that the home is his,
the livestock, the land
he is foreclosing on his debt
and they will have to seek shelter elsewhere
as his workers will soon live in the house.

On her way to the market Mary sees many faces that she recognizes
children who she once played with in the fields
now begging in the streets
grandmothers, grandfathers who had watched her play
given her water,
kept her from harm
laying in the street
skin and bones wrapped in rags...


And Mary wonders
Is this all I have to look forward too?
Is this the life that I have to imagine?
Choosing one child to sell so as to feed the others
visits from the Roman tax collectors
king herods tax collectors
temple tax collectors
leaving little to eat, plant, sell?

Is this all I have to look forward too?
Disease, malnutrition
a lonely death?
Is this all I have to imagine
Is this all we, the people of God have to look forward too?

Our lives do not look like this exactly
but we can identify with this feeling of hopelessness
With the inability to imagine anything other than monsters in the dark

Perhaps it is the order to clear one's desk at the end of the day
the incessant calls of the bill collectors
dreams of a past of abuse at the hands of a husband or father
an addiction that tugs at our soul
the words of a teacher or coach who told us we would amount to nothing
the passing of a dear loved one
the doctor utters the word cancer
The list could on and on...
But I think all of us at one time or another
feel like lance, scared of the dark
Like the boy at camp, dis-abled
like Mary, wondering if all there is to imagine is
defeat and discouragement
Her story is our story...

But defeat, discouragement, fear is not the end of the story

For an angel appears
Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God

And as the angel speaks to Mary,
her imagination is reborn
She imagines her village,
where the children, all the children play
healthy, well, fed, and happy,
while their grandparents sit smiling and watching them dance and sing
She imagines her village
where the men still work the land
but their barns are full
their ovens over-flow with bread
their wine is sold at market
The soldiers ride away empty-handed
The man in purple is dressed in rags
and the men of the village toss coins to him
out of charity...
She imagines mothers watching their daughters married
she images a son, her son...
when before she could only imagine a short life and
and a painful death

Abraham stands under the dark night sky
wondering why he could never have a son
wondering if his family could ever be whole and happy
And God shows him the stars
and asks him to imagine

Joseph lies in a well
abandoned to die of thirst and hunger in the desert by his brothers
When God gives him a dream
of his brothers bowing to him
and ask him to imagine

Israel is enslaved
day after day they labor under the cruel whip of the Egyptians
crying out to God, as Pharoah slaughters their sons
Until God sends them a man named Moses
and asks them to imagine

Later the walls of Jerusalem are breached
Babylonian hordes rush in to pillage and destroy
tearing down the Temple, the house of God on earth
Those Israelites who are not killed
are carried off
husband taken from wives
children from parents
to live in bondage
and God sends them a prophet Isaiah with a dream...

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor , Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

God asks them to imagine what the zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish.




Many come to church or avoid it because of one simple misunderstanding

they think that the Bible is just a book of ancient and impossible rules
that we are gathering of people entranced by ancient codes of conduct

But the Bible is more than rules
it is a record of the very dreams of God
meant to inspire our imagination

And yet if it is only our imagination that is resuscitated by the breath of God
all will be for nothing

Like Mary, we must bring what God imagines for us..
to life
we are called to imagine and give birth to a light
unquenchable by darkness
a strength of soul impervious to the disease of despair
the love of God that is stronger than death

We are called to give birth to the words of
Joel
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams ,
your young men will see visions.
on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
And everyone who calls
on the name of the LORD will be saved;

Perhaps it is but my imaginations
maybe just a dream
but won't you make that dream real?