The way of imagination

  Texts: Psalm 139; Jeremiah 1.1-5, 16.1-13, 20.7-18      We often have a sentimental attitude about the Psalmist’s words: “…it was you who formed my inward parts;     you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Ps. 139.13-14) However, when similar language is used to describe Jeremiah’s calling to be a prophet (Jer. 1.4-5), it is anything but an attempt on God’s part to boost Jeremiah’s self-esteem.   Au contraire , these divine words, when used in Jeremiah, take on a great deal of ambiguity (for us).   We often have the habit of speaking of our vocation, our “calling” in life, as if God was a celestial guidance counselor.   Again, to grasp what is going on in the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah, we must disabuse ourselves of such modern, Western affectations.   An underlying current in a lot of Western religious thinking is that God is part of our plan,...

  Texts: Jeremiah 1.4-19; 16.1-13; 20.7-18      St. Paul once famously said to his protégé Timothy: “Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Tm. 2.3, NRSV).   Indeed, St. Paul was no stranger to suffering (cf. 2 Corinthians) and neither was Jeremiah, or any of the genuine prophets.   From the get-go, God is up front with Jeremiah and tells him flat out that he will be opposed by the kings and princes, priests and local leaders of Jerusalem but that he is not to be intimidated: “Do not break down before them, or I will break you before them” (Jer. 1.17, NRSV).   Jeremiah finds himself between a rock and a hard place – between a hostile people and an implacable God.   God did indeed keep Jeremiah alive during the 40 years that he spent warning the people of the disaster that was sure to come; though, at times, Jeremiah would have preferred death to continued pleading with those who hated him (cf. Jer. 20.14-18).  ...

       Prison – now and then .   In the month of March, I began working as a chaplain at an Immigration Holding Centre in Laval.   This Centre is run by the Canada Border Services Agency.   Spending my days among detainees has given me a small taste of the discomfort, frustration, anxiety, anger, desperation and fear that are the daily lot, not only of detainees in Canadian establishments, but also by millions of displaced/ incarcerated people around the globe.   Many detainees feel like their wings have been clipped; they came to Canada to make a better life for themselves and their families – and several even had some initial success – before being detained because of past criminal offenses and/or inadequate documentation.   Every story I hear is different, and I must always read between the lines of what is shared in order to discern the (perceived to be) shameful facts that led these individuals to find themselves detained while the gover...

  1: la croix & la conversion de l’imagination      L’Église de Jésus-Christ doit son existence à une « apologétique qui vise l’imagination ».   Alors que pour nous, le défi de l’apologétique peut se résumer à trouver des liens imaginatifs avec les doctrines du Christianisme (à la Aslan le lion = Jésus) [1] ou bien des techniques pour mieux communiquer l’évangile, il reste que pour l’apôtre Paul, le contenu fondamental de son message a exigé que ses auditeurs expérimentent ce que l’exégète Richard B. Hays a appelé « une conversion de l’imagination ». [2]   Comme Paul lui-même l’indique, le message d’un Seigneur crucifié est un oxymore : « de la folie » (grec : moron ) pour les Grecs et d’un scandale pour les Juifs (1 Cor. 1.18-25).   Grâce à l’étrange providence de Dieu, Paul a bel et bien accompli sa mission évangélisatrice : celle de convertir les imaginations et, par le fait même, les vies (v...