Volume XVIII, Issue XIXa: The Things We Cherish
Creating a Culture of Imagination II
What if we forget about the term ‘return to normal’ and instead seek to envision a better world coming out of this time of isolation? Some of us have spent more time with our children and the experience has been wonderful. In our studio we’ve created a vision for a safe and walkable community that could grow in our county. Our church has been most creative in outreach during this time. People with a true view of Heaven always seem to work hardest to do good things in our present life. I first met Liza Peltola when I reworked a large model of the Shenandoah Valley for the Waynesboro Tourist Information Center. She immediately impressed me as a person of creativity and imagination. Since I worked on that model project, Liza has become the director of our church’s children’s ministries. In order to get us all out of our houses she created ‘outreach bingo,’ a game where we all (while observing CDC guidelines) went out into the community. We left loving messages in chalk on friends’ driveways, prayed for local churches, schools and businesses. My wife and I played too and we prayed for a number of places in Stuarts Draft. We prayed for and peered into the window of the Love in the Name of Christ Thrift Store in Stuarts Draft’s Broadmore Plaza. It is closed now but I had fond memories of the nice volunteers who staff it and how they helped me find parts for a Narnia Lamp. Soon they’ll be back in business.
We’ll probably head out to Scotto’s for a nice dinner on our anniversary (forty years this coming Sunday, May 24) and I’ll probably request a seat near Mona Lisa and Leonardo (a mural on their wall). We’ll cherish the things that absence has indeed made grow fonder. Indeed that fondness should guide us as we imagine and craft our future. Sadly, there are also those in our community who miss the respite school and other activities provided from family dysfunction. Yes, isolation has been Hell for some. They need those kind teachers and significant others. Also, there are those who have lost their dream as businesses have closed, never to reopen. My friend Lela works on a suicide hotline in Alaska. She described a recent experience having to talk someone out of it. There is dark despair out there. Those of us who have the hope of Heaven have much to do to beat back the Hell of hopelessness. But I am confident that the creativity of ‘outreach bingo’ can lead us forward as we rebuild our communities in ways that celebrate the things we truly cherish. We can repurpose our dreams, build new opportunities and create safe communities that care for each other. Dream and Do! In the last Star Wars movies, a character named Rose makes a profound statement as the rebellion fights the seemingly overpowering evil. Instead of leaving a friend to seize the opportunity to blow up some First Order weaponry, she rescues him. When he says “why didn’t you leave me and…” she responds: “We won’t win by destroying the things we hate, but by saving the things we love!”
That is exactly what we must do right now.
