Fwd: Imagination

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Fwd: Imagination

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "César García" <Kitchener@mwc-cmm.org>
Date: Jan 24, 2016 5:11 AM
Subject: Imagination
To: "Gehman Mennonite Church" <info@gehmanmennonitechurch.org>
Cc:

Dear Friends,

The story of Dirk Willems has captured the imagination of many people in the Anabaptist tradition. This image, based on Jan Luyken's etching of the 16th-century Dutch believer (published in a collection of Anabaptist martyr stories) has become a source of inspiration for Anabaptists. It depicts the moment when Dirk, who had escaped from prison where he was being held because of his faith, turns to pull his pursuer out of icy water, after the latter has fallen through the ice. As the account goes on, Dirk is re-arrested and then executed.

I have to use my imagination when I think about someone walking on ice. I have never seen a lake covered by ice. However, that lake was real – as real as the loving Spirit of God working on the lives of Dirk Willems and his pursuer.

Today, when we celebrate World Fellowship Sunday, my imagination is challenged again. What if the world were full of people like Dirk Willems? What if we saw Jesus in the face of our enemies? How could we be a global church whose spiritual cornerstone is mutual love among Christians, even to the point of giving up one's own life? How could we experience that love in our families, work places and neighbourhoods? It is that way of living that allows us to understand the other in a deep way, by listening and speaking to the other in love.

Let's ask God for his presence to help us to live according to that imagination in each relationship around us.