{"id":2194,"date":"2013-09-01T06:47:43","date_gmt":"2013-09-01T13:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegatheringcincinnati.org\/?p=2194"},"modified":"2013-09-01T06:47:43","modified_gmt":"2013-09-01T13:47:43","slug":"september-1-2013-have-you-ever-dared-to-imagine-your-are-the-light-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/2013\/09\/01\/september-1-2013-have-you-ever-dared-to-imagine-your-are-the-light-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"September 1, 2013, Have You Ever Dared to Imagine…You are the Light of the World?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"light<\/a><\/p>\n

To download and listen to the message (recommended way to experience any Sunday message), please click here:<\/p>\n\n

 <\/p>\n

Back during the long ago time period when the internet was still in its infancy, when cell phones were the size of shoe boxes and when people were transitioning from musical cassette tapes to compact discs, the music industry faced a crisis.\u00a0 New technology was allowing people to copy CD\u2019s onto their computers and then give away songs, for free, to friends and family.\u00a0 The new internet was even allowing people to transmit copied music to complete strangers – all for no charge.\u00a0 If music could be had for free, why bother buying a cassette or CD?\u00a0 The entire multi-billion dollar music industry was at risk of financial ruin.<\/p>\n

One man, however, had a different image of how things could be.\u00a0 The public wanted cheap music but it also wanted simplicity, easy access and quality ways to listen to it.\u00a0 While digital music players had already been invented, they were clunky and difficult to use.\u00a0 Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, envisioned an entirely different scenario.\u00a0 He imagined a simple and easy storage and playback device that could acquire the digital music – for a nominal price – from an internet based store.\u00a0 The IPod digital music player and ITunes internet store were born of his imagination.\u00a0 Since the debut of the device and the new way to sell music, the recording industry has experienced a resurgence and the idea was born that almost any form of artistic content could be bought and delivered instantly via the Internet.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s reported that Steve Jobs was always a visionary – a person with the imagination to see in his mind situations and products that were totally new in ways that upended the status quo.\u00a0 He was inspired by growing up in a Joseph Eichler designed house – one that was reasonably priced for average families like his, simple in design, and elegant in its clean lines and basic utility.\u00a0 When he and Steve Wozniak built the first Apple computer, it was Jobs who dreamed how to market it with the now familiar logo, saw its potential as a device of great utility and how to design it in a way that was pleasant to look at and highly functional.\u00a0 Wozniak was a technical genius but his vision was limited – he wanted to give the computer away to other scientists and techies.<\/p>\n

The personal computer – a device that was inexpensive and available to anyone – changed our world.\u00a0 Suddenly, computers and their immense data storage and computational abilities were accessible to all.\u00a0 Without the personal computer, none of the technological advances like the internet or smartphone would have been possible.\u00a0 It is not hyperbole to say that the imagination of Steve Jobs fundamentally changed human history for the good – much like Robert Fulton, Thomas Edison, or Alexander Graham Bell did.<\/p>\n

Great persons in history have all been visionaries – from Plato to Jesus to Marie Curie to Martin Luther King to Steve Jobs.\u00a0 Imagination involves thinking of something that is not presently perceived but which has the potential to become reality.\u00a0 It is not idle dreaming or fantasy.\u00a0 It involves a creative effort and mental ability to envision something no others can foresee.\u00a0 Everyone has the capability to imagine but only a few have trained their minds to consciously and regularly step outside the past and the present – to see creative potential.<\/p>\n

For this month of September, I want to explore with you the power and importance of imagination in our lives and our thinking.\u00a0 It is a function of the mind that is vital to our progress as individuals, communities, nations and as a species.\u00a0 Imagination is a progressive characteristic.\u00a0 In its positive form, it is rooted in love and the divine force of goodness.\u00a0 Fear, on the other hand, is the enemy of imagination and progress – it holds back, it clings to the past, it imprisons one in seemingly safe thinking that can harbor seeds of hatred or prejudice.\u00a0 Love and imagination take us forward.\u00a0 They envision the possible and the good.\u00a0 Albert Einstein said it best, \u201cImagination is more important than knowledge.\u00a0 For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.”<\/b><\/p>\n

And so, over the next three Sunday mornings, we will embark on a journey to imagine three scenarios about ourselves and our lives.\u00a0\u00a0 In two weeks I will ask, \u201chave you ever dared to imagine that every experience in your life has happened, and will happen, for a good reason?\u201d<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 Next Sunday, \u201chave you ever dared to imagine that home is where you presently are<\/span>?\u201d <\/i><\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Today, I ask, \u201chave you ever dared to imagine that YOU are the light of the world?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

And that last question echoes what Jesus taught to his many followers.\u00a0 As an itinerant rabbi and preacher, Jesus stood out from many others who travelled and spoke to crowds.\u00a0 As a visionary, he painted pictures in the minds of his listeners that were dramatically different from anything previously heard.\u00a0 His parables, aphorisms and word images were masterful ways to teach and they were used in ways that could be remembered and retold to exponentially greater numbers of people.\u00a0 Whether or not we believe he was the Christ, it is clear Jesus taught ideas that resonated.\u00a0 Despite his humble background, his lack of wealth and holding no formal means of power, his teachings captured the imagination of people in such ways that a lasting movement was created.\u00a0 Countless other persons have taught in profound ways but Jesus totally revolutionized human thinking. It\u2019s clear that almost immediately after his execution, followers formed a narrative about him that soon became mythological in nature.\u00a0 Within three hundred years, his teachings – both authentic and mythological – became the predominant spiritual philosophy throughout the known world.\u00a0 We often take for granted the immense influence of his visionary ways – even if we reject his alleged miracles and supernatural attributes.<\/p>\n

Just after Jesus\u2019 famous Sermon on the Mount, when he extolled the virtues of the meek, the poor, the humble, the persecuted and the peacemakers, he immediately told those very same people that they are lights to the world.\u00a0 Such a statement flies in the face of common sense.\u00a0 Poor nobodies, outcasts, thieves, prostitutes and those struggling to eke out survival in a backwater area – they<\/span><\/i><\/b> are lights to the world<\/i>?\u00a0 Such an idea would be laughable if it was not supported by Jesus\u2019 implicit message – that each human has a god-light within, a power and potential to touch other lives, change the world and envision new possibilities.\u00a0 Our individual life purpose must be, according to Jesus, to uncover our light – whatever that might be – and figuratively let it shine.<\/p>\n

Our failure and our problem is that we listen to the narrative that plays in our heads and that we often hear from others – that we are weak, that we are deficient, that we will be laughed at, scorned, and not taken seriously.\u00a0 Our fears of our own abilities, our fear of failure, and our fears of how others will judge us act like prisons.\u00a0 But so too does our fear of success.\u00a0 Shining our light is frightening to many of us.<\/p>\n

Marianne Williamson, a well-known author and commentator on all things spiritual, wrote in one of her books, \u201cOur deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.\u00a0 Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.\u00a0 It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.\u00a0 We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’\u00a0 Actually, who are you not to be?\u00a0 Your playing small does not serve the world…And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.\u00a0 As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Williamson touches on a vital point about the human condition – one that Jesus spoke to in his Sermon on the Mount and following comments.\u00a0 We are weakened by our fears.\u00a0 The source of any of our neuroses, flaws, compulsions, depressions, addictions, prejudices and angers is fear<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0 We fear success.\u00a0 We fear the unknown.\u00a0 We fear the other tribe.\u00a0 We fear progress.\u00a0 We fear emotional intimacy.\u00a0 We fear love.\u00a0 We fear death.\u00a0 Ultimately, we fear life itself.<\/p>\n

And so we dim our lights.\u00a0 We hide them.\u00a0 We fail to try new things.\u00a0 We fail to move to new places, undertake new endeavors, speak to large crowds, try a new job, fall in love, forgive someone, extend ourselves in service, draw meaningfully close to another, etc, etc.\u00a0 All of our outward flaws and personal issues are ways we react to those failures.\u00a0 Fear is the cause.\u00a0 Inaction is the result.\u00a0 Harmful behaviors and thoughts are the cover up.<\/p>\n

To the poor in spirit, meek, humble and persecuted – to everyone dealing with inner demons, Jesus had a simple cure.\u00a0 Let your light shine.<\/p>\n

As trivial and cliche as that might sound, it is profound advice because it got to the cause of most human misery.\u00a0 In a threatening world, humans naturally react to threats with fear.\u00a0 Instead, we must counter-intuitively react with love – with our inner light.\u00a0 And that light can be shined and expressed in countless different ways but it is our calling as individual human beings to discover what our light is and then shine it.\u00a0 As Jesus taught, we are not candles to be placed under a bowl.\u00a0 We are bright beacons born to be raised high.<\/p>\n

The specific ways we shine our light to the world is something we must discover.\u00a0 What are my gifts, what are my passions, what are my unique abilities that enable me to impact other lives for the better?\u00a0 Even more, what are the normal human expressions of love that I can shine to the world that will help?\u00a0 How can I teach a child, feed the hungry, defend a victim?<\/p>\n

As most of you know who have been here since I began four years ago as Pastor, I undertook this role with experience and training in pastoral care, in leading outreach efforts and in church administration.\u00a0 But I had limited experience as a Sunday morning speaker.\u00a0 And, in my first weeks and months, it showed.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure it still does!\u00a0 What held me back in the past was my fear of public speaking, of being judged, criticized and ultimately failing – the kinds of fears Pastors should not have.<\/p>\n

But confronting my fears and allowing my light to shine was not as easy as simply saying I must do them.\u00a0 Because of a few friends at the time, and because I had a vision<\/span><\/i><\/b> of myself serving and succeeding here, I was able to apply for, accept and find a level of capability in this role – things that never would have happened otherwise.\u00a0\u00a0 And being a Pastor is a role that fits my abilities and passions.\u00a0 I\u2019m practicing a profession that I once imagined doing \u2013 and I\u2019m shining whatever light I have.<\/p>\n

And that is precisely the message I hope to convey today.\u00a0 Shining our light into the world is not just a matter of saying it should be done.\u00a0 We must take the leap of imagination to see ourselves as a light for change and goodness.\u00a0 We must see ourselves in ways nobody else might see – acting, doing and then succeeding at whatever it is that we can imagine succeeding at – in love, in new work, in our relationships, in serving, in new friendships, self-improvement, or being a person that makes a positive impact.<\/p>\n

Every time Jesus told a parable or painted a word picture, he was asking his listeners to imagine themselves in that role – and to imagine others in that role too.\u00a0 Those we forgive are much like the woman caught in adultery.\u00a0 Those we love and treasure are like a lost sheep.\u00a0 Unconditional love is like that of a father who smothers his wayward child with hugs and kisses.\u00a0 Freely opening our arms and our hearts to others is much like the man in one of Jesus\u2019 parables who goes out to the streets to invite the dirty, diseased, disabled and immoral into his home for a lavish banquet. \u00a0Jesus painted the pictures – he cast the visions – and then asked his listeners to imagine themselves as characters playing those roles – to imagine they are a shepherd who has lost a lamb, a poor widow searching for a lost coin, or a parent overwhelmed with tears, joy and love when a rebellious child returns.\u00a0 Imagine, he asked, the feelings and the hunger to be a force of goodness.<\/p>\n

And countless experts and psychologists agree with his solution.\u00a0 Imagination is a form of self-empowerment.\u00a0 It confirms the adage that as we think, so we are.\u00a0 Studies say that those who can actively imagine themselves thinner, they succeed in losing weight far more than those who do not regularly so imagine themselves.\u00a0 Beyond being a visual motivational cue, maintaining an image of a thinner or more successful you casts away self doubts and narratives of defeat.\u00a0 A self-image of success creates success.<\/p>\n

Carl Jung, the great psychoanalyst, encouraged this form of what he called \u201cactive imagination.\u201d\u00a0 By casting wonderful visions of ourselves in new and different ways, we can examine who we are now and what we want to become – and thus find the steps to do so.\u00a0 We will find the self-realization we have been too afraid to become.<\/p>\n

Jung encouraged a form of inner dialogue with our imaginations.\u00a0 He asked that people imagine alternative, but positive, scenarios, selves or beings.\u00a0\u00a0 By conducting an imagined conversation with the subject of our imagination, we can discover clues to who and what we are now and how we might change.\u00a0 The process is not easy or simple and it must be regularly undertaken.\u00a0 Therapists are usually needed to help guide one in the imagination process and in asking the right questions.\u00a0 For persons beset with stress and self doubt, a therapist might ask one to imagine a more peaceful self, free of worry.\u00a0 What would that feel<\/span> like?<\/i>\u00a0 What is it about this imagined, peace filled you that does not have stress?\u00a0 Why does the imagined you feel so secure?\u00a0 Much like Jesus did with his word pictures, we are asked to imagine our feelings and our thoughts in our alternative, better selves.\u00a0 One question that might be asked of the imagined, stress free you is if that alternative you can accept what can be controlled in life, and what cannot?\u00a0 If so, you might determine that this is one key to your current dilemma and to your goal to be stress free – to accept the few things that you have control over and let go of the many things you don\u2019t – like death, illness or the actions of others.\u00a0 And that is but one simplistic example of how the process might work.<\/p>\n

The key to Jung\u2019s form of psychology, one that has many advocates, is the ability to see and imagine beyond one\u2019s present condition to envision a better situation – the kind of you that you want to be, the kind of you that is not afraid, the kind of you that is self-realized and lives up to your potential.<\/p>\n

As our nation celebrated this past Wednesday the 50 year anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King\u2019s \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech, we are reminded of the power of imagination.\u00a0 That march and that speech were focused on the imperative of achieving Civil Rights for African Americans, but they were, ultimately, much more than that.\u00a0 In its size and in its breadth of people from all races, religions and genders, the March cast a vision of what America can be.\u00a0 Invoking the ideals of Jefferson and Lincoln, Martin Luther King entered the pantheon of history\u2019s great prophets with his plea for imagination, with his yearning words calling America to be America.\u00a0 His dream became our dream \u2013 one that did not simply envision a nation of greater racial justice but a nation true to its high ideals and true to the human spirit of equality, liberty, opportunity.\u00a0 By imagining the vision that King cast, America could imagine its better self and understand how far it had yet to grow and mature.\u00a0 And in President Obama\u2019s speech this past Wednesday, when he invoked King\u2019s words that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice but, as Obama said, it does not bend on its own, we are reminded of our purpose and of the eternal teaching of Jesus: our lights must shine.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

George Bernard Shaw famously said that the fearful look at the current world, its many problems and ask \u201cwhy<\/i><\/b>?\u201d\u00a0 The visionary, however, looks at things that never were and asks, \u201cwhy not<\/i><\/b>?\u201d\u00a0 Let us each imagine, let us each continue to dream, and then let us together build for all humanity a shining heaven on earth, right here, right now.<\/p>\n

I wish you all much peace and joy…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As an alternative to our regular talk back time and celebration of communion, I ask that you \u2013 and those listening online \u2013 to indulge me and engage in just a few minutes of reflection, meditation and imagination.\u00a0 In just a moment, I will ask that you close your eyes, listen to Don\u2019s playing of a Nocturne piece, and ease your minds into a place where it is free to dream and imagine.\u00a0 As you do so, begin to imagine an image of yourself or your life that you want to be.\u00a0 Imagine your better self, imagine you are guided by your better angels, imagine your life that is completely at peace, perfectly content, and active in doing the things that give you meaning and a sense of accomplishment.\u00a0 Imagine yourself in that life, what you will do, how you will speak and, importantly, how you will feel.<\/p>\n

If you have time, ask that imagined and better you why it is so happy?\u00a0 Why is it so fulfilled?\u00a0 And then imagine what your imagined self would answer.\u00a0 Remember those answers and write them down later.\u00a0 You can engage in this process at a later time when you have more time to fully analyze your imagination, your questions and the answers.\u00a0 Most importantly for this time, see if you can imagine the you that you deeply want to become \u2013 the you that fully shines your beautiful light.\u00a0 Hold onto that image of yourself, remember it and go back to it often.\u00a0 That image of yourself is the you that can become a reality if you take the time to not only believe it is possible but also to explore ways to grow from who you are now.<\/p>\n

Let us engage in this time of meditation and imagination \u2013 for around four minutes.\u00a0 I ask that everyone please refrain from talking or making noise during this time so that all can peacefully engage in this process.\u00a0 Please close your eyes, remain quiet and begin\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To download and listen to the message (recommended way to experience any Sunday message), please click here:   Back during the long ago time period when the internet was still in its infancy, when cell phones were the size of shoe boxes and when people were transitioning from musical cassette tapes to compact discs, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}