John Lennon, after the break up of The Beatles,
formed another group  ~  the Plastic Ono Band.
His album, “Imagine,” was the second major release he made,
and the song “Imagine,” was released in the United States on September 9, 1971.

That song, and others like “Give Peace A Chance,”
became for many the songs of the peace movement  ~
songs that stirred the hearts and imaginations of those who heard them
to seek a world where all the people would live life in peace.

John Lennon was murdered on December 8, 1980
in front of his brownstone apartment in New York City.

Today I want to wrap my thoughts around the words of the song
but before I do I want us all to listen to it …

PLAY “IMAGINE.”

I must confess that I have always been troubled by parts of the song …
particularly the part of the song where he says,
“Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky,”
and the words,
“And no religion too.”

I’ve always thought it was rather blasphemous …
        always thought that he was saying that with God out of the equation
                peace would have a chance.

But I’ve changed my thinking.  And I’ll tell you why.

It truly matters what a person believes about God
because what a person believes about God, if it is deeply believed,
will shape the lives they live.
Believing has ethical consequences.

And there is no doubt that many conflicts in the past
and many conflicts of today
have been born out of religious conflict.

Let me cite just a couple of examples from the past.

The Crusades, undertaken centuries ago,
were medieval military expeditions, undertaken by Europeans,
in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace,
to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims.
Muslims were seen by Christians as infidels, as unbelievers,
or if they were believers, they believed in the wrong things.

And the result of the Crusades, born of religious zealousness,
was the death of thousands,
all in the name of the one who said “Love your enemies.”

It is reported that before Adolph Hitler became Chancellor of Germany
he twice attended the “Oberammergau Passion Play”
in the town in the Bavarian Alps with the same name.
The Passion Play, like Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of Christ,”
places the principle blame for Jesus’ death squarely on the Jewish people.
Was this the thinking that led a Christian Hitler,
in his rage against non-Arians, particularly Jews,
to kill almost 6 million of them in the death camps
in the World War 2 tragedy we know as the Holocaust?

In the song “Imagine” I don’t believe that Lennon is suggesting we get rid of God.
On the contrary, what he is suggesting, I believe,
is that we get rid of religious thinking that leads people to think
that the truth, however understood,
can only be understood in a particular way  ~  their way.
As a friend of mine said the other day,
when speaking of those who claim to have
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
and to have it absolutely,
“They may think they have the light but they are blinded by it.”

There is a big difference between religion and faith …
there is a big difference between doctrine and practice.

Whenever a person becomes dismissive of others
in the name of Jesus who said,
“Love one another, as I have loved you …”
in the name of Jesus who said,
“You have heard that it was said,
‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.
If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” …
in the name of Jesus who said,
“You have heard that it was said,
‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be the children of your Father in heaven” …
their religion has become something which Jesus did not intend it to be.

And so, on so many issues of the day,
        there are those who are pro life and pro choice
                pro gay and anti gay
                        pro war and anti war,
                                finding their proof texts to back up their respective positions,
                                        writing people off as the new infidels,

forgetting that Jesus said
           “Don’t judge, or you yourself will be judged.”
Remember, Christians used to justify slavery
by quoting biblical texts.

There are many who think they have their theology all right, and can justify it,
even while they have their living all wrong.

We live in a world where we are suspicious of others of other faiths.
In my estimation, it is not the other faith we need to be worried about.
It is those who have taken religion to radical extremes we need to be worried about.
Extremes that will lead people
to blow up the twin towers in New York
or bomb an abortion clinic
or fight for centuries in Northern Ireland,
where Protestants hated Catholics and Catholics hated Protestants,
not because of anything inherently bad or evil in an individual Protestant or Catholic,
but simply because they were Protestant or Catholic.
Extremes that will lead to new kinds of holocausts.

And we know what happens.
Relationships break down  ~  personal relationships and relations between nations.
Friends become enemies.
We become intolerant of others.
And intolerance leads to hatred.
And hatred leads to countless acts of unkindness  ~  even war and death.

“Imagine all the people living for today,” Lennon writes.  Imagine.
If we lived for today the way Jesus taught us to,
if we lived “in love and charity with our neighbour”
as the old prayer of confession used to say,
we wouldn’t have to worry about heaven above us or hell below us:
heaven would be here.
Imagine.

The song ”Imagine” goes on to say,
“Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
(And no religion too)
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...”

I want you to know that I love my country.
I am glad to live in a country that affords me freedom,
and through my taxes, affords all of us health care and educational opportunities
and a social safety net for the disadvantaged.
It is not a perfect country.
But it is my country.
And I am grateful for the sacrifices of others  ~
including the military  ~
that have made it so.

But countries are arbitrary things, aren’t they? 
With arbitrary borders.
Usually with the same linguistic patterns.
Often with the same cultural history.
I understand all of that.

I am a Canadian by virtue of the fact that I was born here
as others were born in the countries they call home.
But it’s not my country first …
and it’s not my country, right or wrong.

Our world is too small to own that kind of thinking.
Ours is a small world with people of different cultures and languages and faiths
crossing borders and living just up the street from where we live.

Is it about country … or is it about people?
Is it about closed borders … or open borders?
Is it about free trade … or isolationism?
Is it about having the best for ourselves … or wanting the best for everyone?
Is it about my country first, right or wrong, which has often led to war …
or is it about making the world right for everyone, wherever they live,
and thereby giving peace a chance?

“Imagine,” the song says,
“Imagine all the people
Living life in peace.”

And the song goes on,
“Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...”

In talking about this
I want to take you back to the teachings of Jesus.
I think I am finally beginning to understand, at least in part,
what he was talking about in the scripture that was read today.

“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink;
or about your body, what you will wear,” Jesus says.
And he goes on to talk about how God has provided his creation with these things.
“Don’t worry about them,” he says.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and these things will be given to you as well.”

Well, if you’re hungry, or if those you love are hungry,
and you have no food, of necessity you do worry about them.
And if you’re thirsty, and water is what you need, but don’t have, you do worry.
And if you’re cold, and perhaps on the street, and you’re chilled to the bone,
and have no coat to wrap around you or your children, you do worry.

And the questions could be asked:
What is Jesus talking about?
How has God provided for me?

What does Jesus mean when he says,
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and these things will be given to you as well?”
What does he mean by the Kingdom of God?

God’s kingdom, as Jesus illustrates it  ~
in story after story,
in miracle after miracle,
in those moments of healing which gave birth to hope
and in those moments of caring and loving acceptance that led to self-worth  ~
is what?

The kingdom of God which Jesus preached, more than anything else,
was a kingdom of justice and peace, for everyone …
a kingdom where the last and the least
 mattered as much as the first with the most;
a kingdom where no one was to be oppressed
and where no one was to be the oppressor;
a kingdom where the power of love trumped the love of power;
a kingdom where the will and the way of God would be the way people lived.

It was a kingdom where there was no more hunger
because in God’s world of enough, there was enough for all
because there was sharing and the hungry were fed.

It was a kingdom where there was no more hatred
because in God’s world of loving your neighbour as you love yourself
the word hatred had been erased from the dictionary.

It was a kingdom where we cared for one another,
and in that genuine caring for one another, people could truly say,
“I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.
I was a stranger and you invited me in.
I needed clothes and you clothed me.
I was sick and you looked after me.
I was in prison
(and in Jesus’ day it was usually debtors prison) …
I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

Can you imagine?
“Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...”

Unless and until that kind of believing takes hold,
unless and until the way of Jesus truly becomes our way
unless and until our faith in God brings us to this place …
the world will just muddle along,
carrying the same old baggage,
living with the same old fears and prejudices,
espousing the same old excuses.

Sadly, in new ways with new language,
we still quibble over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin …
we still argue over evolution and creationism …
we still disagree over the truths each of us claim to be the only truth …

we still say we love and care for each other
but act in ways that are anything but loving and caring …
and all the while the world fights its wars
and the hungry are still hungry
and the poor are still poor
and the planet is still in trouble,
and God’s heart still breaks
along with the hearts of countless billions of people.

Mahatma Gandhi wrote one time,
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
The only way violence will end  ~
the violence of war
the violence of intolerance
the violence of injustice and oppression
the violence of exclusion  ~
is to be the change we wish to see in the world.

It’s all about choices.
Life  ~  or death.
Love  ~  or hate.
Tolerance  ~  or bigotry.
Jesus’ way of compassion  ~  or another way.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

In words that could have easily been spoken by Jesus,
the refrain of John Lennon’s song is this …
“You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one.”

That’s the invitation today.
Join him  ~
that the world may be as one.

 

SOLI  DEO  GLORIA

 

 

IMAGINE
(John Lennon)

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

 

SCRIPTURE
Matthew 6:25-34 (New International Version)
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.