00:00:10.880 - 00:00:26.200

professor on. Thank you so much. Yes, historical precedents, something about which Professor on and myself do not have anything to do with in our own person, but it's in our blood and it was

00:00:26.210 - 00:00:44.110

in our mother's milk and in their mother's milk. So yes, I was invited to preach at korean church in Southfield michigan and when the head of staff brought my name Nishioka to the korean church in Southfield

00:00:44.110 - 00:00:59.950

michigan, the elders of the church said, why are we having a Nishioka a japanese come speak to us given the occupation of Korea by japan, a horrendous occupation of Korea by Japan? The pastor said

00:00:59.960 - 00:01:15.580

, oh, he's fourth generation, which means in japanese, he can only order food and insult people , which I can do. And they said, oh, well then it's okay. But nevertheless,

00:01:15.580 - 00:01:27.660

yeah, as a part of who we are, it's in our mother's milk and in their mother's milk . And you and I continue to live this out in our patterns in these days. May God reconcile

00:01:27.660 - 00:01:42.570

us, forgive us, redeem us by the grace of God and jesus christ through the presence of the holy spirit, We pray amen. I'm delighted to be with you for this second conversation. The lecture

00:01:42.570 - 00:01:57.800

title is, but it's just a rock and soon you'll find out where that comes nurturing the religious imagination in a cynical age. If you don't believe we're living in a cynical and skeptical age, I want

00:01:57.800 - 00:02:15.360

to argue you're not paying attention in the national study of youth and religion. A survey of over 3000 american young people ages 13 to 17. Nearly 60% identified themselves as cynics and they were proud of it

00:02:15.370 - 00:02:28.680

. I don't know if you saw it. Did you see um Conan O'brien's friday night sign off he was talking to he's talking about, well, he's bashing NBC to an extent. But at the very

00:02:28.680 - 00:02:38.020

end he said some really lovely things. He talked about how NBC, hey rosie, is that just me? Can I hear that? You hear this stuff? Can you get that out? Is that

00:02:38.030 - 00:02:49.550

, is that possible to do roses up there? And she's making me sound better, which is a challenge in itself. Thank you. Um, so Conan O'brien friday nights. Um, my former president

00:02:49.550 - 00:03:04.470

, Laura Mendenhall is back there. This is the eighth president of Columbia Theological Seminary who couldn't resist the call of the Lord to come to back to texas . Uh, so she um sojourn earned as an

00:03:04.470 - 00:03:23.920

exile in Georgia for nine years. I would say , arguably had the most successful presidency of Columbia seminaries uh, time, as the eighth president of the Seminary doubled the number of racial ethnic faculty while she

00:03:23.920 - 00:03:36.020

was there, which is significant to me, uh , raised the most money, which is significant to our board, uh, increased our student body etcetera . Lord Mendenhall sent me a note and said,

00:03:36.020 - 00:03:46.250

did you see Conan O'brien's uh closing words with the Tonight Show. When he left the Tonight Show on friday. He talked about being a cynic. And he said, don't be a cynic. And he

00:03:46.250 - 00:03:59.110

addressed young people and he said, don't be a cynic, it's the least attractive of qualities. Uh , and then he talked about how for for 20 years NBC has paid his salary and he realizes that

00:03:59.120 - 00:04:09.280

NBC has allowed him to do some wonderful things. And then I was telling laura Yeah. But then he finished with this phrase that I regretted. He said, if you work hard and if you're kind

00:04:09.290 - 00:04:20.600

amazing things will happen to you. And I thought , oh great, once again, the american meritocracy , his ugly head. And I wanted Conan to realize that there are systems in place against those who

00:04:20.600 - 00:04:32.710

even work hard and are kind and they won't necessarily have wonderful things happen to them. That's the problem with the idea of the american meritocracy. But I loved what he said about not being a cynic,

00:04:32.720 - 00:04:46.570

he said it's the least attractive of qualities. So for 60% of our young people to say that they consider themselves cynics and to be proud of it in this national study of youth and religion. Found in

00:04:46.570 - 00:05:01.090

this book, Soul searching is a problem in general . I think a strong case can be made that in uh that there continues to be a depletion of the imagination in our postmodern culture, although both science

00:05:01.090 - 00:05:20.100

and the marketplace within a democratic society have contributed a great deal to contemporary human welfare. We continue to pay a high cost for this process. Relationships have become a cost benefit exchange with the financial bottom line

00:05:20.100 - 00:05:40.040

driving many decisions from prenuptial agreements to end of life arrangements, Charles taylor, writing in sources of the self, the making of the modern identity and others argue that such an outlook finally empties human life of

00:05:40.040 - 00:05:59.530

its richness, its depth and any sense of profound meaning. one consequence of such emptying is a loss of vision and a loss of passion for life. Young people and young adults are saying nothing really is

00:05:59.530 - 00:06:16.200

worth living, let alone dying for life, really has no deep purpose. Others have referred to the loss of enchantment, the erosion of a sense of mystery and wonder, or the sacred where the world

00:06:16.210 - 00:06:40.710

is simply made up of potential means to our own material and consumerist ends and as the individual has increasingly withdrawn into self contained technocratic professional groupings or isolated units , the richness of community life has been all but

00:06:40.710 - 00:07:00.780

lost. Douglas Copeland is a Canadian writer Who emerged on the literary scene almost 20 years ago with his generation x tales for an accelerated culture. Other books of his followed, including life after God in 1995

00:07:00.790 - 00:07:17.750

, an account of spiritual yearning in a post religious age In an article published in the Christian century 10 years ago, he is quoted commenting on the development of his literary characters. Copeland notes that not one

00:07:17.750 - 00:07:35.400

of them has any kind of religious upbringing as one of them says in his book, Life After God , you are the first generation raised completely without God . In that same article in the christian century,

00:07:35.410 - 00:07:50.970

Copeland points out that the lack of religious upbringing is not the same as atheism. He says, Atheism is not new and he's right. What is new , he says is that for the first time you

00:07:50.970 - 00:08:09.220

have parents In the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s who found it was liberating to raise kids without any religious background whatsoever. He writes, if you didn't have those easter egg hunts or pictures of jesus

00:08:09.220 - 00:08:28.550

when you grew up, you really have nothing. Hello, describing himself as growing up in a completely secular household in a completely secular neighborhood. He observes that the germ of Judeo christian thinking was not there

00:08:28.550 - 00:08:45.510

to begin with. You cannot imagine it. If it was never there, He says, it simply was not there. Don't presume I am some lapsed christian, I am not, I'm working from zero

00:08:46.070 - 00:09:11.180

. Copeland's comments have turned out to be prescient in the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey, Americans marking none as religious identity hit an all time high of 15% . Nearly 27% of Americans ages 18-29, these nuns

00:09:11.190 - 00:09:35.340

as they are called, are the fastest growing segment of the religious landscape and will overtake Baptists in the United States in three years. So this is a survey Roman Catholic in 1990 at 26.2 Baptist in 1990

00:09:35.350 - 00:10:15.470

at 19.3% mainline Christian us in 1990 at 18.7 christian generic 1990 14.8%, the nuns no religion at all . 8.2%,, 2008 25.1% Roman Catholic, 15.8% Baptist , 12.9%, mainline 14.2 Generic Christian, 15%,

00:10:15.480 - 00:10:33.590

none, no religious identification. Yet, even with this fast growing population of no religious identity, I want to argue, many young adults and young people seem to be on a quest for a coherent sense

00:10:33.590 - 00:10:54.970

of reality that includes a transcendent other as ultimate horizon . In the following up to the soul searching a longitudinal survey, the recently released souls in transition calls these the Diaz, they don't necessarily name god,

00:10:54.980 - 00:11:11.570

but they say that there must be something out there and there is a quest for this other something. The power of imagination is richly displayed in creative constructions among these Diaz of a religious reality ranging from the

00:11:11.580 - 00:11:31.530

do it yourself, esoteric to the downright bizarre for our Children given imagination. The task is even more of a challenge. In a further study of these nuns, of those 15% who self identified as none

00:11:31.530 - 00:11:52.150

or no religion, 40% had no childhood religious initiation , ceremony. didn't participate in the baptism. In a christening a dedication Bar Mitzvah bat Mitzvah 55% of those who are nuns who are married had no religious

00:11:52.150 - 00:12:16.760

marriage ceremony and 76% of these nuns anticipated no religious funeral, 76% projected no religious funeral. So the challenge for our Children is great paul Harris writing in the work of the imagination. Talking about Children says

00:12:16.770 - 00:12:33.590

that while Children today can take part in an endless variety of activities, from computer games to piano lessons and from soccer practice to karate, Children also need regular playtime that is not focused on structure, skill

00:12:33.590 - 00:12:50.260

building or electronics. While these things are all good for Children, he says, too much can crowd out the kind of play that is essential for developing one of the most amazing gifts of childhood imagination.

00:12:50.800 - 00:13:09.410

Dorothy singer who teaches child psychology at Yale and is the co author of the House of make believe Children's play and developing imagination, says Children who use their imagination reap a host of benefits such as playing co

00:13:09.410 - 00:13:28.680

operatively and being more successful in life, she argues she worries that imagination is fighting a losing battle with ipods, video games, organized sports and media imagination , she writes, is the ability to help Children

00:13:28.690 - 00:13:50.040

see beyond the concrete, even though their concrete thinkers . So the title for the lecture, but it's just a rock nurturing the religious imagination in a cynical age. The phrase, but it's just a rock

00:13:50.050 - 00:14:05.820

comes from a clip from a bug's life. I want to introduce you to flick. Who's this ant flick has great imagination and he is an inventor and the task of this colony of ants is to collect

00:14:05.820 - 00:14:18.670

what they call the offering that they have to offer every season to the grasshoppers to survive. And then after the grasshoppers get their fill, they can collect whatever food is necessary for their own survival. As

00:14:18.670 - 00:14:35.210

the colony flick is trying to invent new machines to make it more efficient as they collect new additional food so they can collect more food for themselves after they give the offering to the grasshoppers in doing this,

00:14:35.210 - 00:14:54.200

he's earned a reputation in the colony for being a troublemaker as imagination and inventors often li often do I want you to meet Princess Dot. She is one of the princesses. Uh and her older sister is

00:14:54.200 - 00:15:09.440

Princess anna and the queen is trying to transition to princess anna dot older sister. But as Dot says , she's not much of a princess, she can't even fly yet. That is a concrete thinker.

00:15:09.210 - 00:15:26.920

And she and flick have this marvelous conversation and it's Dot who says it's just a rock. Now there is an easier way to do this. And some of you who have gone to the dark side of

00:15:26.930 - 00:15:41.300

the Mac know how to do it. I have not yet ventured fully into the dark side. I'm a new convert. So I'm gonna get out of this and open up a DVD program to show you

00:15:41.300 - 00:16:40.110

this clip and those of you who are Mac people will say there's an easier way to do that. Well you can give me a tutorial later. Oh it's flik What are you doing this? This is

00:16:40.110 - 00:16:49.320

my new idea for harvesting grain. No more picking individual kernels. You can just cut down the entire stock. We don't have time for this. We never have time to collect food for ourselves because we

00:16:49.320 - 00:17:04.110

spend all summer harvesting for the offering. My invention will speed up production. Another invention and I've got something for you too soon. You could use this to oversee production. This is just an ordinary blade

00:17:04.110 - 00:17:19.940

of grass and a bead of do it is in fact a telescope. It's very clever flik princess. Aren't you looking lovely this morning. You would need a telescope to see that. The princess doesn't have

00:17:19.950 - 00:17:30.950

time for this. You want to help us fill this thing, then get rid of that machine. Get back in line and pick grain like everybody else like everybody else. Just go. I'm sorry.

00:17:30.950 - 00:17:53.670

I was just trying to trying to help harvester. Why quick harvested the same way ever since I was a pupil. Where were we? The growing pile . Your highness wait up. Hello Princess. You

00:17:53.670 - 00:18:06.070

can call me dad here, you forgot this. Thanks. You can keep it. I can make another one. I like your invention. Really. Well you're the first I'm beginning to think nothing I

00:18:06.070 - 00:18:18.870

do. Works. This works great. One success . I'm never going to make a difference. Me neither. I'm a royal ant and I can't even fly yet. Too little being little is not such

00:18:18.870 - 00:18:42.760

a bad thing is it's not is not is not a seat. I need I need a seat. Hear hear, pretend, pretend that that's a scene . It's a rock. But let's just pretend for

00:18:42.760 - 00:18:55.350

a minute that it's a seed. All right, we'll just use our imaginations. Now, do you see our tree, everything that made that giant tree is already contained inside this tiny little seed. All

00:18:55.350 - 00:19:07.570

it needs is some time. A little bit of sunshine and rain and voila. This rock will be a tree seed to tree. You've got to work with me. You might not feel like you can

00:19:07.570 - 00:19:18.040

do much now, but that's just because you're not a tree. You just have to give yourself some time. You're still a seed, but it's a rock. I know it's a rock. Don't you

00:19:18.040 - 00:20:00.120

think? I know a rock when I see a rock? I've spent a lot of time around rocks . You're weird, but I like you. They're here. So oh, those are two presbyterian elders

00:20:00.120 - 00:20:17.390

. By the way that flick mets, we have harvested grain the same way since I was a pupa . Princess dot is consumed by the concrete reality of the rock. Her imagination is limited as a concrete

00:20:17.400 - 00:20:37.330

thinker. She can't see beyond this rock, but it's just a rock. But flick is doing exactly the right thing in encouraging her to once again engage her imagination and to pretend that this rock is a

00:20:37.330 - 00:20:56.840

seed. Both Harris and singer say that given the modeling of a trusted adult in a child's life, even the concrete thinker can be led to see beyond what is before them and to create worlds in their

00:20:56.840 - 00:21:14.240

imagination. That I want to argue this morning is the task of the pastor, the educator, the leader, the presbyterian elder, the deacon today in the church. As trusted adults in the lives of

00:21:14.240 - 00:21:30.980

our Children. Youth young adults, adults to serve the people with imagination means we help them to see beyond the concrete reality that is before them to engage their imagination to see how God is at work in

00:21:30.980 - 00:21:48.500

their lives and how they can participate in bringing in even in part God's reign here and now in his famous essay on fairy stories, J. R. R. Tolkien of the Lord of the Rings fame

00:21:48.510 - 00:22:08.310

discusses some of the features of speculative fiction. He identifies two key principles in writing with imagination. First , Tolkien says, the alternative universe of the fictional story must be presented with such detail, so as

00:22:08.310 - 00:22:29.460

to be believable and true. Although it may present marvels and wonders within the frame of the story, these marvels and wonders must be consistent, even plausible , even coherent. For instance, he writes that

00:22:29.460 - 00:22:49.270

his hobbits, these grounded home loving people who Take the ring on this amazing adventure, it would be impossible for them, even in one's imagination for them suddenly to be able to fly. That's not possible

00:22:49.280 - 00:23:10.070

in the story because he's developed within the framework of the story marvels and wonders that are still consistent and plausible within themselves. Now, 2nd Tolkien writes that the story must leave space for the reader's own imagination

00:23:10.070 - 00:23:26.180

to enter in creating a world. He says, the story will be the most effective if the story is framed in such a way as to invite the reader or the hearer to contribute as many personally relevant

00:23:26.180 - 00:23:45.810

details as is possible. The story, he says , must not be so pristine, so complete, so unapproachable that the reader or the hearer, she cannot participate with her own imagination. Now, last

00:23:45.810 - 00:23:57.640

week I was privileged to be preaching at the first presbyterian church of Savannah Georgia and when it came time for the Children's moment, admittedly a time when I confess I most often cringe because too many are done

00:23:57.640 - 00:24:14.800

so poorly. I was grateful to hear that the associate pastor of Columbia alum will Sherbourne, whom laura , you gave his degree to him, told the story of the boy jesus, lost in the temple

00:24:15.560 - 00:24:37.050

. That's the text upon which I was preaching that morning will told the story from memory with details with energy and with passion and then praise be to God , he let it be, he just let the

00:24:37.050 - 00:24:53.780

story be, he didn't tell them the point of the story. He didn't tell them the reasons for the story. He didn't tell them the three learnings from the story, he just let the story be

00:24:55.840 - 00:25:19.940

the story, inviting the Children to enter into the story with their own details, Talking would have been proud, I was proud and so grateful. All right, the inverse, another Columbia alum who laura

00:25:21.110 - 00:25:37.130

hall did not give a degree to because she graduated a while ago, this is in Ocala florida, a Children's moment, She gathers the Children, a wonderful pastor whom I love and now knows better.

00:25:38.110 - 00:25:59.900

She's pulled out of her robe, this a pine cone and she said to these Children, concrete thinkers , some pre operational thinkers, good morning, what is this? They said a pine cone, you

00:25:59.900 - 00:26:18.100

don't get out much lady do you? She said you're right, this is a pine cone, I would like you to know you are a pine cone and right on cue, a brilliant theologically adept five

00:26:18.100 - 00:26:40.480

year old said no, I'm a kid, congregation laughed, kid turned around and set back down another problem with these Children's moments, he said, no , you really are a pine cone and you like

00:26:40.480 - 00:26:56.950

this pine cone, have the seeds of jesus inside of each of you and as you grow and develop in the faith and come to church school and come to youth group like this pine cone, you open

00:26:56.950 - 00:27:19.140

up and the seeds of jesus fly out from each of you and all these seeds of jesus land in other parts of the world and there they become planted and they become pine cones too. Let's pray.

00:27:22.730 - 00:27:38.710

I thought oh God let's pray during the prayer. One of the seven year old girls was doing this down her shirt looking thinking dang, are there seats of jesus inside of me? I thought to myself

00:27:38.720 - 00:27:49.280

, I don't even want to think about the conversations and the car rides back home or at dinner that night as they were going back up the aisles. He said you can go now as they're going back

00:27:49.280 - 00:28:10.850

to the isles. I heard one little girl say but I thought I wanted to keep jesus in my heart. Uh but it's just a rock. I have no qualms with adults playing the role that we

00:28:10.850 - 00:28:32.860

are called to which is to help Children imagine beyond the concreteness of their world. I do have qualms with completely age, inappropriate metaphors and analogies that simply confuse them. Yesterday I discussed Samuel, Taylor Coleridge

00:28:32.860 - 00:28:51.750

is notion of the primary and secondary imagination to which Professor han Professor on beautifully referred for Coleridge our primary power to perceive symbols gleaned from the world around us signs of God's presence and erupting action generated by God

00:28:51.750 - 00:29:08.300

. And given for our reception along with our secondary imagination the power to create new meaning through symbols expressed in different ways through ritual music, poetry, art and story for instance, these comprise our gateway into

00:29:08.300 - 00:29:32.510

the transcendent realm. The imagination thus becomes our gateway to God. I love that the imagination thus becomes our gateway to God. I am convinced in these days, to serve the people with imagination is to

00:29:32.510 - 00:29:51.120

serve the people in such a way that they not only recognize the transcendent presence of God in their lives . They compose it through art and poetry and music and story, and in so doing they share it

00:29:51.120 - 00:30:10.760

with others, robert Bart teaches english at boston College in his marvelous book. The symbolic imagination. Bart writes that the very act of imagination then whether of the secondary imagination in the creation of a symbol or

00:30:10.760 - 00:30:29.120

of the primary imagination by which we perceive symbols of God's presence all around us is for Coleridge itself a religious act, both in its origin since it is empowered by God and in its effect, since it

00:30:29.120 - 00:30:48.780

allows us to perceive the eternal revealed in and through the temporal reality, Mark goes on to say beautifully that both the transcendent, the eternal and the world around us, the temporal, are mutually translucent to

00:30:48.780 - 00:31:11.130

each other, since the same divine spirit shines through both. It is this translucence then through the power of imagination that allows us to deal with the paradoxes and contradictions that surround us, helping us to grasp

00:31:11.140 - 00:31:33.750

a deeper truth beneath them. We are not bound by the concrete. We are able to see imagination beyond that, that's what allows us. This translucence to glimpse beneath the very real concrete of the horror

00:31:33.750 - 00:31:55.280

of the collapsed buildings in Haiti the still promise of God's compassion and love for all of humankind and indeed for all of creation, it is the imagination that allows us beyond the pain of doubt and anguish and

00:31:55.280 - 00:32:13.970

the deep dark nights of the soul to still seize upon this hope for an abiding faith. It is the imagination, the serving the people with imagination that helps us all cope with the contradictions and the challenges

00:32:13.980 - 00:32:30.800

of our finite human lives. So I'm not sure if you saw this when I heard about this, didn't sound very good. Um this is a movie titled Lars and the Real Girl and I think it's

00:32:30.800 - 00:32:47.110

about a community's imagination. I want you to meet Lars, this is Ryan Gosling. Uh Lars um ends up playing uh is a character played by Ryan Gosling and he is painfully shy and dealing with some

00:32:47.110 - 00:33:07.810

of his own pathologies. Lars uh ends up identifying for himself, a partner in a adult doll. Anatomically correct when I heard about this, I thought well this doesn't sound very good. Um which is

00:33:07.810 - 00:33:27.290

probably why I didn't get to play. Um you wanna come? So Lars starts off with this conversation that happens between himself and his older brother Lars and his system with us sister in law. I'll get

00:33:27.290 - 00:34:15.850

there in a moment. You know there's an easy way to do this. Don't talk to me Bianca don't you want to see this beautiful day. Come on. Why not? I saw a special on

00:34:15.850 - 00:34:45.130

cable. so you're serious Bianca really hasn't mm So she's she's really just one of the girls then. I'm sorry. Hello London. No way she have a sister. I wish I had a woman.

00:34:45.130 - 00:34:59.790

I couldn't talk. It's not that funny. It's not that funny. We don't want anything to do with her. She's a golden calf. We all know what happened with that. He's not worshiping her

00:34:59.790 - 00:35:13.430

. They're just dating these young people have no willpower , he's sick, he's sick. We were just hoping if we came to you you could help pave the way a little if you could just try to

00:35:13.430 - 00:35:32.450

understand why we're here. Oh for heaven's sake what's the big deal sally? Your cousin puts dresses on his cats hazel. Your new nephew gave all his money to a Ufo club and Arnie, everybody knows

00:35:32.450 - 00:35:52.700

your first wife was a klepto. She wasn't then why is she buried in a pair of my earrings now that's enough, these things happen mars is a good boy. You can depend on me. Thanks

00:35:52.700 - 00:36:16.130

Mrs Gruner he's not bringing her to church now is he reverend bock. Well the question is as always what would jesus do? So so what struck me when I listened to brian last night is that I

00:36:16.130 - 00:36:25.300

think you know I struggle with what would jesus do ? Question like a number of you. I know I worry that it's too glib and I think well jesus was divine and fully human. I get that

00:36:25.310 - 00:36:37.340

that's that that's a difference from me. Um but what I think the pastors doing is I think he's pointing out jesus, I think he's trying to point out jesus to the congregation and I think in the

00:36:37.340 - 00:36:52.080

best sense he's trying to expand their imagination. So so the brother and sister in law have come to in essence their session, this has got to be a Lutheran church. Um uh it's called Northern you

00:36:52.080 - 00:37:39.510

see and uh and they're asking is it okay if Lars brings his girlfriend Bianca to worship and Lars of course eventually does. And then I want you to see the reaction. I would like to take the

00:37:39.510 - 00:38:07.800

opportunity to welcome all of our new visitors to our church today, Bianca, it's good to see you welcome my dear, how are you? These are for you Bianca because this is my friend Mrs Gruner

00:38:08.330 - 00:38:45.430

, she has a darling figure, they're not real . So they last forever. Isn't that deep mm And if you've seen this, you know um Lars is so thoughtful that he remains chaste with Bianca.

00:38:45.440 - 00:39:00.860

He insists that she sleeps in his brother and sister in law's house while he maintains his own apartment behind the house because it wouldn't be appropriate since they're not married for them to be living together. Eventually the

00:39:00.860 - 00:39:23.120

whole town begins to change their imagination and they begin as a whole town to care for Lars and Bianca now. Lars eventually tells the town and the church that Bianca becomes ill and she's dying of an illness

00:39:23.120 - 00:41:20.030

that is undisclosed. They don't know. Uh, and I wanted to watch in this lovely closing uh , the response and what it means to be a community of imagination. Down to the family room,

00:41:20.030 - 00:41:50.570

Lars younger rest, we sent Gus and Karin to the movies. They didn't want to leave you too . I'm glad to, I'm glad they left. I feel terrible that all this is happening so close

00:41:50.570 - 00:42:15.050

to the baby coming and that's how life is LArs everything it wants. We brought casseroles, thank you . Is there something I should be doing right now ? No dear, you eat. We came over

00:42:15.050 - 00:43:13.560

to sit. That's what people do in tragedy strikes . They come over and sit, don't you feel a little better? I got what I love about this film is that even though we live in a

00:43:13.570 - 00:43:37.160

skeptical and cynical age is an illustration of how the congregation's pastor and eventually the leaders of the congregation themselves transform the town into a community of imagination caring for LARS and for Bianca, one of the key leaders

00:43:37.170 - 00:43:55.540

is a marvelous physician in town. The only one who says that there's gotta be some relationship to LARS and the coming of his, his niece is soon to be born and the passing of his own mother

00:43:58.160 - 00:44:13.290

friends. We do live in a skeptical and cynical age and yet I believe we live in an age that is learned that is yearning for leaders, women and men who are capable of calling out from us

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all our best theological imagination, that God given power to transcend the concrete, to create new images and ideas for this church whom we love and for the reign of God. That can open up new possibilities

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and promises the not yet of a future. We can barely envision the revaluing of a remembered past. Ultimately, we are seeking women and men who will help us receive and respond to God's revelation in our

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everyday lives. In his concluding remarks in the varieties of religious experience, the classic by William James, he writes, I only translate into schematic language what I may call the instinctive belief of humankind. God

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is real, since God produces real effects. We and God have business with each other. And in opening ourselves to God's creativity, our deepest destiny is fulfilled and opening ourselves to God's creativity, our deepest

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destiny is fulfilled. I pray that it would be so. I'm grateful for your listening. Thank you