When I was a little girl I wanted to grow up as fast as I could. I wanted to be tall enough to cook real food in the kitchen. I wanted to be able to stay up as late as I wanted at night. I wanted to be in charge. As I got a little older and was able to do those things I found new things I wanted to be old enough to do. And all the while there were certain things that I loved to do that were not quite adulty. Like, I loved to watch Winnie the Pooh cartoons (even as a young adult). I liked to use my imagination with my niece that a cardboard box could be our pirate ship. I loved going to Disneyland and loved going on the Peter Pan ride - I could fly over London (while not being too far off the ground and I could see my favorite character - Tinkerbell. I absolutely love Tinkerbell. I love that she can be sweet and thoughtful. I love that she can be sassy and independent. I love it is her magic that helps the children fly. Whenever I found myself at Disneyland I did not have a care in the world and everything was great.
Before I became a parent I just knew that I would do the same things with my children that I did with my niece. We would imagine and have fun and I could a combination of Tinkerbell, Mary Poppins and Christopher Robin. Except when I became a parent I did not quite have the same imagination or energy. Before I knew it I had become like Captain Hook, Mrs. Banks and Rabbit. Not exactly fun, energetic or imaginative characters.
In the last 7 weeks I have spent quite a lot of time doing Disney type things - watching an Imagineering documentary, making sweet treats from Disneyland including Churros & Jack Jack's Num Num Cookies. I've been reliving my favorite memories and wishing we could all go there and everything would be ok. But we can't. And I need your help. I need to find my imagination again - I need to dream again. Not the sweet dreams type of thing but day dreams when we figure out how to do things in new ways. I know that things have been different and we know that they will continue to be for some time. But what if we began to dream about how we can not just make do in the current situation but what if we dreamed about what would make our lives, our neighbors' lives, our community's life, our church life, our school life better. What are the most important things in each of these areas? What are the things that we cannot live without? What the things that we wish we never had to do again? And after we figure those out how can we do them. I know this is not a one time exercise - it's something we need to think and rethink and think again. Will you join me?
I've been think a lot about God and creation and recreation. I've been planning and mapping out worship this summer and taking the time to explore some of the spiritual fathers and mothers. So often we only get bits and pieces of their stories but since we have time why not look at their whole story? We will explore Noah, Abram & Sarai (who become Abraham & Sarah), Isaac & Rebekah, Jacob & Rachel and Joseph. And as I've been think about it I am reminded that God kept recreating, intervening and trying new things. God is still recreating, intervening and trying new things. God is not done with us and with our world. What if we began to think of our current situation as an opportunity to dream.
Let's pray: God inspire us to dream, imagine and see the road before us filled with opportunities through Christ our Lord, amen.
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