Weekly Clergy Letter from Mother Anne Turner

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

“When you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worthwhile.”

 

This quote comes from one of my favorite spiritual teachers, Anne Shirley.  (I suppose technically it’s from Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables.)  These words may not be biblical, but I think they speak to our life of faith.  And they speak to our work as Christians at this moment.

 

Imagination is a virtue that we don’t talk about a lot, but it animates our journey with God.  It is the glimpse behind the veil.  It is the vision on the mountaintop.  It allows us to hope for things not seen.

 

Imagination is important at any time, but it is especially urgent at this time. As we grapple with ongoing challenges to human dignity—the treatment of immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, federal workers, and others—our world can seem small.  The way we see people treat one another can be ugly.

 

We need our imaginations to show us something beyond what the world shows us.  We need our imaginations to show us something beyond what we already know.

 

As you formulate your Lenten discipline, I encourage you to think about how you might cultivate your holy imagination.  How can you train your spirit to imagine something worthwhile?  How can you begin to see new possibilities for yourself, for this parish, for this community, and for this country?

 

Knowing that our parish will be embarking on a process of discerning our future, I’ll be reading Mark Tidsworth’s Forty Days of Prayer.  I encourage you to join me.  And I encourage you to practice whatever discipline opens your heart and mind—be it reading, writing, or something as simple as sitting in a different pew at church each Sunday to gain a different perspective.

 

This parish and this world needs people who are thoughtful and creative.  Lent is a moment to cultivate those traits.  It is a moment to believe we can be more than we have been, to be surprised by who God might have us still become.

 

I look forward to sharing this season with you.

 

Yours in Christ,

Anne+