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Transformed Imaginations
Imagination (noun): The faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is Read More
Elsy Arévalo | Read 1 Peter 2:2-3
Babies are born with many instincts that aid their survival. One of the most remarkable abilities is their instinctive movement toward their mother’s breast immediately after birth. When placed on their mother’s chest, newborn babies will use their sense of smell, sight, taste, hearing, and touch to find nourishment. Stronger than a baby’s own instinct toward food, however, is a loving mother’s own deep need and desire to protect and nourish her child. There is nothing more disconcerting to a parent than the cry of a hungry baby. This too is a deep instinct. Loving parents will do everything in their power to make sure that their babies receive what they need. How much more is our loving Creator eager and desperate to feed us in our hour of need?
What a beautiful image! We are created with an instinct and orientation to crave, need, and move toward our source of sustenance. More importantly, our Creator and Sustainer aches to nurture and feed us.
To be like newborn babies is to acknowledge our radical dependence on the Source of our very life and to open our hearts in trusting surrender so that we will receive what we need to grow and thrive. We are invited to come to know for ourselves that there is a loving Mother awaiting us, longingly aching to feed and care for us.
This is not always easy to do. Newborn babies can get so hungry and desperate for food that they cannot settle down enough to receive the nourishment right before them. As babies learn to settle into their mother’s embrace, they relax. A beautiful rhythm is established between mother and child.
These verses invite us to honestly and trustingly ask for the food we need and to allow our loving Mother to care for us.
My Creator and loving Mother, help me to let you care for me. Open my heart, my mind, my body to receive your sustaining love. Amen.
The first three readings for the week contain variations on the imagery of stones or rocks. In Acts, Stephen is killed as the first Christian martyr by being stoned to death, while Saul (Paul) stands by and approves. The psalmist proclaims his confidence in the Lord, whom he describes as his rock and fortress. Peter tells the believers that they have become living stones in the household of God because of their connection to the chief Cornerstone, Christ. In John, Jesus makes an explicit claim to being the only way to God. In our current cultural context, many wonder about the spiritual status of followers of other religions. Jesus’ statement in John 14:6 invites us to deep reflection on this important question.
Read Acts 7:55-60. Recall a time when you have seen God’s power in action. How was God’s power different than you might have expected?
Read Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16. Contemplate your answers to the author’s questions. How do the psalmist’s hope and experiences reflect your own?
Read 1 Peter 2:2-10. When have you experienced God as a loving Mother? When has Christ been your cornerstone?
Read John 14:1-14. How do you experience God’s presence through the life or actions of others?
Respond by posting a prayer.
I join many of those who will pray for you as you seek to discern what you are called to be at this moment. May God grant you the courage to fulfill that calling. May we all open our eyes and see the misery, open our ears and hear the cries of God’s people, and, like God through the Lord Jesus Christ, be incarnate amongst them.”
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