Faith & Imagination, Pt 4--The Opportunity of Faith-filled Imagination

I almost started this post with the title "The Opportunity of Imagination-filled Faith." Take a couple of seconds to think about that if you don't mind. If faith STARTS with imagination, then there is no foundation for the faith. This leads to a second form of "failure of imagination": heresy.

There is zero room for imagination in inventing doctrine. Many of the New Testament writers warn of false prophets. These false prophets use their imagination to create a false faith. So if I were to talk about the opportunity of imagination-filled faith, I would have to address the problem of heresy. I MIGHT do that in a future post, but for now, I'm going to stay with the article's title.

The opportunity of faith-filled imagination is enormous. The most direct and obvious result is all of the faith-inspired arts. Art becomes worship when it is the result of faith. Even DOUBTFUL art is sacred--set apart by mystery and delayed revelation--and instructive to the seeker.

Think of the books of Job and Ecclesiastes as somewhat dark, doubtful works of faith-inspired art. In both books the human struggle with the invisible nature of God is evident and comforting. God's inspiration of Scripture INCLUDES the day-to-day struggles. At the bottom of both of these books is the sign of relief that God really is out there and really does provide meaning to life.

The American slave spiritual songs are precisely the same. They express a longing for the lifting of oppression:

"Deep river, my home is over Jordan
Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground
Lord, I want to cross over into campground
Lord, I want to cross over into campground
Lord, I want to cross over into campground

Oh, chillun
Oh, don’t you want to go, to that gospel feast
That promised land, that land where all is peace?
Walk into heaven, and take a seat
And cast my crown at Jesus feet"

"Deep River"
Source unknown

and ecstatic delight at freedom:

"Slavery chain done broke at last, broke
at last, broke at last,
Slavery chain done broke at last,
Going to praise God till I die

Way down in-a dat valley
Praying on my knees
Told God about my troubles,
And to help me ef-a He please

I did tell him how I suffer,
In de dungeon and de chain,
And de days were with head bowed down,
And my broken flesh and pain.

I did know my Jesus heard me,
'Cause de spirit spoke to me
And said, 'Rise my child, your chillun,
And you shall be free.

'I done 'p'int one mighty captain
For to marshall all my hosts
And to bring my bleeding ones to me
And not one shall be lost.'

Slavery chain done broke at last, broke
at last, broke at last,
Slavery chain done broke at last,
Going to praise God till I die"

"Slavery Chain" Created about 1865
quoted in The Spirituals and the
Blues, by James Cone, 1972

God's response to slavery--both the harsh slavery of the Israelites and the unjust, race-based slavery of the US--sometimes seems glacially slow. The Old Testament explains the reason for God's perceived slowness for the Hebrews. The time wasn't complete for the inhabitants of the Promised Land.

The rhetoric of the slave spirituals of America is actually coded. The references to crossing over Jordan seems to be a reference to Heaven, but some contemporary accounts suggest that it meant to cross over from slavery into freedom. Today those same spirituals are sung--like Slavery Chain--as a sign of victory and as a continued sign of faith in God's deliverance by many African Americans.

For me, the valuable result of faith-filled imagination is to create that kind of art: the kind that sustains you (and others!) when times get tough. Jesus promises persecution to those who love him. King David comments that the rain falls on the good and on the bad. I've always interpreted that two ways: both God's blessings and God's tests fall on everyone indiscriminately to a certain extent.

Clearly faith guides our response to blessings and tests and even to attacks by our adversary and his crew. Faith-filled imagination helps us memorialize God's involvement in our lives and becomes a touchstone to rely on.

But it does one other thing. When our physical senses lead to the kind of failure of imagination that leads to a sense of spiritual oppression, faith-filled imagination helps us see God working invisibly.

My favorite example of this is when the King of Aram sends his army to surround Dothan in order to entrap and capture Elisha. Elisha and his servant survey the enemy the next morning and...well...let's turn to the Bible:

^{2 Kings 6:15-18 NIV} When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next
morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked.
¹⁶ "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."
¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

There's two ways to read this passage. One is that Elisha actually saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire around himself. The other is that Elisha--through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit--simply trusted through faith that God's army was present--though invisible--and greater. I tend to think the latter is true. Elisha's faith-filled imagination became visible to his servant through Elisha's prayer for the servant's eyes to be opened.