Reflection - Reimagine

In a former life, I worked in advertising. Everyone in advertising likes to think they’re breaking new ground, doing the thing that’s never been done. But in reality, just as Solomon said in his ode to melancholia, Ecclesiastes – there is nothing new under the sun.

In the last few years there has been an increasing – and increasingly boring – trend of advertising campaigns to market their new product or service as whatever it is, reimagined.

New phone model? Communication, reimagined.
New luxury car? Luxury, reimagined.
New non-stick pan? Cooking, reimagined.
New tissue? Tears, reimagined.

You get the idea.

What presents itself as new, innovative, cutting-edge is ironically marketed in the dullest and least interesting way possible. To be honest, the claim of reimagination painfully illustrates that there is actually very little in the world that is truly revolutionary and imaginative these days. Even AI, at least in its current form, feels a lot like regurgitation of existing information with a tweak to the grammar.

It leads me to this question – what does it mean to reimagine the work of God in the world? Is there even a need to reimagine anything? While technology has changed significantly, human beings aren’t really all that different over history. Sure, we have phones, we can order food to our doors, our means are more sophisticated. We’re probably a little less bloodthirsty than our forebears - perhaps we’re just better at outsourcing it to drones and professional militaries. But are we really that different in our humanity? If Maslow’s hierarchy of needs were chiseled into stone tablet would it seem that out of place in the ancient middle east?

I'm sure there are at least some things that needs reimagining. Our use of resources. Our organisational structures in an over-regulated world. Our application of technology in the name of efficiency. But these seem kind of peripheral. The how, rather than the what or the why.

Perhaps we need return to our origins as much as the reimagination of everything.

A return to a more simple faith of being disciples of Jesus, preaching the gospel, seeing demonstrations of His power and his presence, not just his good deeds. The power of the Spirit that birthed the church has not changed. The person of the Holy Spirit – the creative inspirational third person of the trinity – is the source of true creativity and imagination. Perhaps what we’re needing is a return to the true Spirit of Imagination.

Michael Mann, Manager, Public Relations & Communications (Acting)