In a world saturated with information and divided by polarized rhetoric, preaching can be reduced to the transfer of religious ideas or moral instruction. But faithful preaching is more than delivering truth; it is an act of stirring the imagination of a people who may have forgotten how to see God in themselves and in the world.
Imaginative preaching doesn’t mean making sermons entertaining or creative for creativity’s sake. It means engaging the congregation’s capacity to envision reality as Scripture reveals it — where death is not the end, enemies can be loved and the last are first. In other words, preaching becomes a practice of forming alternative consciousness. To borrow words from Walter Brueggemann, in a podcast interview with Krista Tippett, preaching involves reframing so that we can “re-experience the social realities that are right in front of us, from a different angle.”
To preach this way requires more than exegetical skill; it demands pastoral attentiveness and spiritual courage. It means listening deeply to the community’s stories and struggles — and then proclaiming a word that breaks through despair with holy possibility. This kind of preaching trusts the Spirit to transform rather than just inform.
As disciples’ imaginations are renewed, so too is their capacity for love, justice and hope. They begin to notice the neighbor, welcome the stranger and expect God to show up in unexpected places.
In a time when many congregations feel stuck or weary, preaching to stir the imagination is not a luxury — it is a lifeline. It helps communities see beyond scarcity and survival and toward the kingdom of abundance that Jesus described in parables and lived in flesh. And when our people begin to see differently, they begin to live differently. To God be the glory.
