We’ve arrived at the end of April. The final pages of The Prophetic Imagination taken in, maybe still sinking into deep pockets in our quenched spirits and pondering souls. Finishing a Brueggemann books always leaves me a bit breathless – equipped with a stronger vocabulary, culled out by the scalpel of Scripture in undeniably tender ways, exhilarated with possibilities and chock full of hope.
The Prophetic Imagination remains Walter Brueggemann’s magnum opus – words leaping off the page like a fish run bright with energy, life and upstream velocity. The ideas and imagination will spawn generations of prophetic motion – or at least I feel that deep potential as I read every word.
This wasn’t my first time engaging this text and these thoughts, yet these few weeks the siren call summoned me with greater urgency than before. Maybe I’ve lived more parched than I realized, so the prophetic charge offered nourishment to dry places. Could be my ever-maturing mind (and body) understood more, possessing more experience to integrate with ideas of prophetic criticism and energy. Maybe it’s that now, more than ever, I’ve tasted of the heavy, hard work of hope he writes of. All I can say with certainty – this reading struck deep resonance with in page after page. His words and my life converged somehow; let’s just call it the Spirit at work.
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How has this read affected you? That’s what I want to know!
The twitter feed for #transitlounge lit up with quotes, questions and connections this month. My sense – Brueggemann’s words ignited your imaginations, too. My hope – the Spirit stirred holy things in you. So this is the week we’ll share together how we’ve been challenged, troubled, reminded, invited by the likes of Jeremiah, Isaiah and Jesus. Oh, and Walter!
I couldn’t host a one-day link up for this book. I just felt too much happening among us to confine conversation to a single day. So I decided to host a week of extended reflection on the words of Walter Brueggemann – a Week With Walter. Each day there will be a new guest post moving our conversation forward. There will be a link-up, an open invitation for everyone to contribute. There’s a week to read our responses, comment and let these ideas land in fertile soil among us.
- Monday – Friday : Guest posts each morning.
- Tuesday : Link-up your posts.
- Saturday : Giveaway!!!
Yes, this month there’s going to be a Giveaway. I want to share one of my favorite Walter Brueggemann resources with you, one that’s nourished me through 18 months of Sunday morning reading. For those who participate in the conversation there’s a chance to win The Collected Sermons of Walter Brueggemann. This volume represents the best example of how his scholarship and theology live in the pulpit, in the compact form of the common sermon.
Here’s how to be eligible:
- Link up a post this week
- Comment on others posts
- Comment on Guest posts on my site this week
For each link up or comment, I’ll enter your name in the… basket, bucket, bowl (still working out some details here!). So the more you engage in the conversation across our various blogs, the better the odds I could pick your name from (vessel to be determined later)! Winner will be announced on Saturday.
As for May, we will be reading Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire by Brian Walsh & Sylvia Keesmaat. I’ve heard many thought leaders reference this book in lectures and bibliographies, including Brian McLaren, Shane Claiborne, Rob Bell.
But what sealed the deal for me, as if often the case, is friends who gave a first-hand witness to the kind of person Brian Walsh is when you share a vacation home with his family. My South African sister joined her Latin American sister for a visit at the same time the Walsh family scheduled a visit. She told me of legendary conversations around the table, kindness and thoughtfulness that lasted the duration of their days together. My friends made it clear – this is a person with great things to share, things borne out in his own life. I’m eager to read someone who walks his talk!
(How often do books come to us by these personal connections… just like good friends.)
So as it is April 28 (my own Adoption Day, by the way), it would be good to get a copy of the book soon so you’re ready for May in the #transitlounge!
Looking forward to our Week With Walter in the #transitlounge!
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