Author: Michael Tino

A few months after I first joined a Unitarian Universalist congregation, I was invited to celebrate the Christian holiday of Maundy Thursday. At the worship, we were led in a ritual of washing each others’ feet, as Jesus had washed the feet of his disciples the day before his execution by the state. This simple and powerful ritual asked me to engage with Christianity by serving others, and helped begin the healing of my religious trauma. -Michael Tino (CLF)

How have you experienced healing from past wounds?

Jewish families around the world begin their observance of Pesach (Passover) tonight. At their seder meals, they will retell the story of the liberation of the ancient Jewish people from slavery and their long time in the desert before reaching the promised land. Through the 40 years in the desert, Moses, Aaron, and other leaders inspired their people to imagine where they were going in order for them to be able to get there.

How can you imagine a different world into being?

When I was a kid, adults often said I had a “wild” imagination. At the time, the phrase seemed a bit condescending – an emphasis on childishness, something that needed to or would be tamed as I grew up. As I reflect now, I find that wildness sacred, just as childhood is sacred. The wildness of my imagination then is something I long for now, and a trait that lives on in adult forms like my visions for ministry and a better world. I think cultivating faith requires us to cultivate that childlike wildness, the suspension of disbelief that allows us to see beauty in small things and possibilities beyond what is immediately apparent. -Steven Leigh Williams (CLF)

How do you get in touch with childlike wildness?

I have been ruminating a lot about imagination and how it is part of liberation work. One of the most imaginative and creative books I read was Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals. Even the title of the book sparks imagination and wonder. Weaving lessons from whales and dolphins to the work of liberation centers love, joy and community care. I believe expanding our imaginations to what is possible is crucial for our very survival. -Aisha Hauser (CLF)

Where do you find inspiration for imagination in unusual places?

As an artist, I often prickle at the way imagination is talked about in our culture. It’s often framed as if, besides children, it’s only uniquely talented adults (artists, writers, etc.) who get to have imagination — as if it’s something that’s either inherent to you and easy to access, or that you don’t have it at all. While we all relate to imagination differently, I know that imaginative energy is something that I have to actively cultivate in my life, and that unless I’ve had space and time to tend to my body, mind, and spirit, I also can’t access my imagination easily. I believe that imagination and creativity is inherent to all of us, and it’s more often than not the cultural programming and material conditions of our lives that limit our ability to see it flourish. – Rose Gallogly (CLF)

How can you make time and space to cultivate imagination today?