Children lead us in the ways of the imagination, as in so many other aspects of faith (see Matt 18:3). A cardboard box becomes a house or a palace; wooden bricks and wool become the pathway to electrified railways! I love the phrase ‘make-believe’, because I believe it captures the truth that belief actually leads to reality. The child’s world of ‘let’s pretend’ is as real to the child as the world of breakfast and baths! – and our imaginations, when harnessed to God, can lead us to spiritual worlds every bit as real as the physical matter we can see and touch.

Some see the imagination as an escapist route out of reality (and, of course, it can be.) But Pablo Picasso said, ‘Everything you can imagine is real’, and I believe God wants us to enter into fulness of life (Jn 10:10), rather than being restrained to the mundane which can only be explained by reason. Michael Card says that ‘the imagination is the vital bridge between the heart and the mind’ and I think if we are to grow tall in God, not being withered, stunted or lopsided in any way, we need to see imagination and reason yoked together and learn to love both. Reason is important: it explains, it clarifies, it gives context and understanding. But if we don’t use our imaginations to engage with God, we run the risk of knowing a lot about God without actually knowing Him at all. We are in danger of becoming outsiders to God’s story: outsiders looking in, but never really understanding God’s grace and mercy and love for ourselves. Imagination takes us inside the story. J. K. Rowling said, ‘In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it [the imagination] is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.  Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s minds, imagine themselves into other people’s places.’ When this ability is harnessed to God’s word, when faith and imagination are added together, the result is an endless world of possibilities!

Tonight we continued our alphabet series ‘The A-Z of Christian Faith’, looking at ‘I is for Imagination.’ Imagination is often much derided in our Western culture; whilst we accept the role of the imagination in children, as adults, we tend to feel that we need to concentrate on facts and dismiss the importance of imagination as something we need to grow out of. If, however, God ‘is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us’ (Eph 3:20), perhaps we need to look at the role of the imagination in developing a life of robust faith!

Imagination is defined as ‘the ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful’ and ‘the faculty or action of forming new ideas or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses’. This is, of course, what raises alarm bells, for we are wary of anything we cannot define according to the practical world of the senses. The imagination can, of course, be misused, but God wants us to be connected to the invisible world which can be seen only by the eyes of faith, and the imagination is one of the tools He gives us to develop those eyes.

Plutarch said, ‘What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality’, something we see in the life of Abraham who when ‘everything was hopeless, believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples.’ (Rom 4:17, The Message) Imagination is the ‘mental tool we have for connecting material and spiritual, visible and invisible, earth and heaven’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘Under the Unpredictable Plant’, P 171); Abraham was able to imagine the son he could not see and therefore came, by faith, to see that reality.

We need to dream and imagine great things in God, because that is the way we get to see and experience those things. As God gives us impossible visions, dreams that are way beyond our capabilities or abilities, He wants us to learn to trust Him to do that which is impossible, so that, in the words of Sri Chinmoy, ‘I begin by imagining the impossible and end by accomplishing the impossible.’  What a God we serve! – one who ‘can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!’ (Eph 3:20, The Message) It’s time to dream with God.

John spoke this morning on Ps 119:105, commenting about God’s word being a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. We all need to be guided by God, and God’s word provides the illumination and guidance we need. Our feet are given purpose in God, for He has commissioned us to be bearers of the good news of the gospel (see Rom 10:15). Ps 37:23-24 tells us that God makes the steps of a good (righteous) man firm; here, we see that God’s people will be upheld and established by God Himself. When we are following instructions (e.g. to put together a piece of flatpack furniture), we have to follow the instructions in sequence; so too we find that God gives us steps to follow and we need neither to run ahead nor flag behind.

God is able to guard our steps (1 Sam 2:9) and give us a firm place to stand (Ps 40:2); moreover, even when we stumble and fall, He is able to uphold us. Ps 66:9 reminds us that God will not allow us to be moved; Micah 7:8-9 gives us hope that even if we fall, we will rise again. As we walk in the light, we have fellowship with God and with each other and through confession and forgiveness can be restored even when we fail (see 1 John 1:7-9). The spiritual armour God gives us includes sandals with nails in the soles to dig deep into the ground and enable us to stand firm (see Eph 6:15). If we forget to keep our eyes on God, our feet can slip (see Ps 73), but with our eyes fixed on God, we can be sure that we can be successful, living to please Him (see Eph 5:15-17).

The idea of a path implies progress and movement towards a specific goal. It is often a narrow path (see Matt 7:13-14) and one that must be undertaken individually. We find, however, that as we come together with God’s people, we become part of the church and are able to work in unique roles that nonetheless complement the whole.

In Jn 21:15-22, we see Jesus talking to Peter after the resurrection: reassuring him, confirming Peter’s love for him and reiterating His original command to ‘follow me.‘ Peter was forgiven and restored, and reminded that no one must distract him from the task given to him. Jesus calls us to imitate Him (see Eph 5:1); Paul urged Christians to ‘imitate me as I imitate Christ.’ (1 Cor 11:1). We are urged to take note of those who live according to the pattern given us by Jesus and to continually press forward (see Phil 3:12-17), but in doing so, we are also urged to be ourselves, not copying others for the sake of it. God doesn’t want us to do the ‘congregational conga’ (going round and round in circles, getting nowhere) or the ‘church hokey-cokey‘ (simply copying what someone else is doing so that we all put our left legs in at the same time!), but He allows us to be ourselves as we imitate Him and continue on the path towards Him, guided by His Word. Both purpose and progress are possible in God!

Tonight’s Bible study looked at the subject of the Second Coming of Christ, an event heralded by the ‘last trumpet’ (1 Cor 15:52, see also 1 Thess 4:13-18). This has been a hotly debated topic for centuries, discussed by Jesus in Matt 24; as with all prophecy, there is an element of uncertainty and it is unwise to be dogmatic about these events. All too often, people want to be certain of dates and times, but Jesus made it clear that this coming again (often known as the ‘parousia’ or ‘arrival’) cannot be tied to dates in this way (see Matt 24:36, 1 Thess 5:1-11). The Thessalonians clearly felt that if the coming of Jesus was imminent, there was no point in doing anything except sit back and wait for it, a view Paul refuted in 2 Thess 2. We live somehow with the tension between the fact that Jesus could come soon and that this coming does not seem (in our eyes) to be anywhere on the horizon (see 2 Pet 3:3-9). Essentially, the truth that Jesus is coming again should shape how we live every day, whilst in the meantime, we seek to serve Him faithfully until His return.

Views about the Second Coming have been manifold. Some believe this will come at the end of the church age and tribulation; others that the Rapture (Christ coming for His church) will precede this final coming to reign and judge. Passages in Revelation (e.g. Revelation 7 & 8) are sometimes interpreted to mean that the church will be taken out of the great tribulation; others believe that all will face testing and trials before the end of the age. Paul makes it clear to the Corinthians, however, that we have a sure and certain hope of resurrection: ‘For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.‘ (1 Cor 15:52-53) This hope shapes how we live on earth and how we wait patiently for what we do not yet have. As John puts it, ‘Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³ All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.‘ (1 Jn 3:2-3)

Don’t miss out on the following events:

• Christian bookstall at both morning and evening services on Sunday 13th November. Christmas cards, books, CDs and presents will be available; payment needed on the day.

• The service at Cherry Tree Court will be on Sunday 20th November at 10.30 a.m. (3rd Sunday instead of the 2nd Sunday) as there is a Remembrance Day service there the week before.
• Come along to the Winter Wonderland and Christmas Market on Saturday 19th November from 12 noon until 6 p.m. at Thurnscoe Memorial Park. There will be a skating rink there, plus Santa’s Grotto, children’s fun fair and live entertainment, not to mention the Christmas Food Court, featuring Turner New Leaf’s homemade chutneys, apple sauce and piccalilli!
• Christian bookstall at church on Sunday 13th November. A great opportunity to buy Christmas cards, books, CDs and presents (diaries, calendars, Christian gifts etc.) The bookstall will be there at both morning and evening meetings; payment needed on the day.
• We’ll be getting the goody bags ready for the Christmas Market on Wednesday 23rd November from 9-11 a.m. Come along to help bless our local community with Christmas leaflets, sweets, glowsticks and other items. The more helpers we have, the quicker we’ll get this done!

For anyone with any experience of dementia, there is the knowledge that this is a terrible disease which effectively leads to bereavement even before the person actually dies. So often, those looking after people with dementia feel isolated and cut off from society; they become protectors who need the help and support of friends and family. For those with dementia, there can be confusion, fear, panic and eventually a withdrawal into themselves that leads to an inability to communicate or understand.

Next Tuesday (25th October) there will be a ‘dementia friendly session’ at GPCC from 12 noon until 1.30 p.m. (light lunch provided.) People from the Alzheimer’s Society and other organisations will give information -5 key messages – about dementia which can help us to provide practical action to benefit those with dementia and those caring for them. There is often ignorance about dementia which can lead to people being confused and unhelpful to those in need. These sessions aim to combat that and to pave the way for us to make Goldthorpe a dementia-friendly place, allowing people to live in their own homes for longer and to remain independent for as long as possible. If you’re free, please come along and find out more.