Claire and I got off the elevated train a block earlier than we anticipated and walked down Chicago’s famous Michigan avenue. I had been looking up at the towering new buildings that had been erected in the 40 years since we had been in this city of our college years.

What caused us to stop was a huge crowd gathered at the end of the street and piles of rubble, toppled towers, burned out cars and buses. Police cars had cordoned off Michigan Avenue to traffic but were allowing curious pedestrians to file through if we kept moving. It turned out this section of the city had become a huge movie set for filming a new movie. I walked by upside down cars and burned out busses amid the mounds of toppled buildings and had to remind myself that although this was costly there was no loss of life. What we soon learned was downtown Chicago had been transformed into a Hollywood movie set.

It was easy to imagine the giant machines (to be added by the graphic designers and special effects people) causing this path of destruction and chaos that stretched for over three city blocks.

This graphic destruction and chaos is overpowering to see in person. Sometimes destruction and chaos is hidden from our eyes. Jesus told his followers as they walked the streets of downtown Jerusalem and marveled at the great buildings to imagine the time that would come when one stone would not be left upon another. The collapse of the financial sector nearly two years ago, the loss of trillions in equity, and the chaos that followed are still trying to be understood by economists.

While the prophets of God wanted people to imagine the chaos and destruction that their greed would create they also wanted to imagine a world of God’s grace filled with hope and opportunity. Isaiah imagines, after a time of war, that lions will lay down with lambs and swords will be beaten into plowshares. Jeremiah imagines a time when people will have the law of God written in their hearts. Joel imagines a time when the spirit of God will be poured out on all people regardless of age or gender. God is always transforming us and our world. Sometimes those changes are hard to imagine but people who are captives of hope are encouraged to never loose sight of those visions in their imagination. "The days are surely coming" says the Lord.

By the way, the movie that was being filmed was called "Transformers 3". Imagine that!