Acts 10 : 1-16 (NRSV)
In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called. He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. One afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, ‘Cornelius.’ 4He stared at him in terror and said, ‘What is it, Lord?’ He answered, ‘Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.’ When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa.
About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. Then he heard a voice saying, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.’ The voice said to him again, a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.
Daily Byte
It took great imagination to get Peter, the faithful Jewish follower of Christ, to understand that God wanted to bring Gentiles into the community of faith. It took great imagination for Cornelius, the God-fearing Gentile soldier, to believe that he could invite a faithful Jew into his home. No theological discussions or ordinary reading of the Scriptures could have done this. But, God believed in the power of the human imagination, and so God sends a vision - a gift of the imagination - to Cornelius, which inspires him to send a messenger to Peter. And God sends a vision to Peter to prepare him to accept Cornelius’ invitation. And as a result of these imaginative moments the Church, and the world, are forever changed.
How do you feel about imagination as a gift of God? How comfortable are you using your imagination as a way to communicate with God or to hear from God? How open are you to offering your imagination to God, and allowing God to purge it and make it useful for God’s purposes? Can you start by allowing worship to engage your imagination this week?
Pray As You Go
It’s like a children’s game, this imagination of mine;
it can be fun perhaps,
maybe even creative in a frivolous kind of way,
but, an instrument of God’s reign?
I’m not so sure…
But, then I read of visions and dreams,
of people’s whole worlds being changed
as a result of imaginative moments,
and I have to acknowledge,
you gave us our imaginations, God,
and you want to use our imaginations for your purpose!
Teach me to make friends with my imagination,
to offer it to you as a gift of worship,
to listen to it as a translator of your voice,
and to give me the courage to follow
where my Spirit-led imagination might lead.
Amen.
Today’s devotion is taken from Rev John van de Laar’s outstanding book ‘The Hour That Changes Everything: How worship forms us into the people God wants us to be.’ Used with permission
To order copies of this book and for other superb worship resources visit http://www.sacredise.com
No comments:
Post a Comment