Imagine the World
In 1971, in the thick of the Vietnam War, which you could say was just part of the dreadfully freighting Cold War, John Lennon wrote and recorded his most beloved song, Imagine. Wikipedia quotes President Jimmy Carter as saying, “In many countries around the world—my wife and I have visited about 125 countries—you hear John Lennon's song ‘Imagine’ used almost equally with national anthems.” The song invites us to imagine a world with no countries; no possessions, no need for greed or hunger, nothing to kill or die for and all the people of the world sharing resources and living in peace.
The picture Lennon painted for us is very similar to many Utopian visions across time and cultures including some of the images written by another John, John of Patmos, a.k.a. John the author of Revelations. At the end of his complex, vividly graphic and often perplexing writing John the Revelator, as some have called him, describes a peaceful world, when the chaos and danger represented by the sea will be no more. Every tear will be wiped away. “Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” Those who thirst will be given the water of life. The imagination of John the Revelator and the vision of John Lennon have much in common.
As God would have it
Yet even when I was a child John Lennon’s utopia bothered me. For he specifically imagined that there was no heaven and no religions, which seems also to ban the Father, Son and Holy Spirit from the picture.
In contrast the Christian image of John of Patmos places the Trinity at the very center of the picture, and the name of this new and renewed earth is, indeed, heaven. It is the heaven we pray for every time we say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” For Christians heaven is where our God lives and reigns in the very midst of us. Verse three says, “See! Look! Behold! the home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them; they will be God’s peoples and God himself will be with them.”
It has been common in modern times for people to think that if we just get rid of religion, we could get rid of so many wars that seem to be fought over religion. Yet the church teaches that we can’t know God, or God’s purpose for creation without this book, and without a long tradition of followers of Jesus to guide us. The ancients spoke of the veil hanging between where we live and where God dwells. And Revelation has a vision of this veil being removed. Not only that, we aren’t meant to go “up to heaven” but God is coming “down” to dwell with us.
The peace that will follow is proclaimed in scripture to be the way the Lord intended it from the very first day of creation. “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” Psalm 148 adds to this image by urging all of creation to praise God, even sea monsters and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind…mountains and hills, fruit trees and cedars, wild animals and cattle, creeping things and flying birds. All of creation is renewed and invited to return to the main business for which we were created – praising the Lord.
The world as our Lord would have it, the new heaven and the new earth has at its core a calling. A specific call begun with Abraham, carried on with Moses, continued through the dynasty of King David through the reign of Jesus the Messiah it is extended to all peoples of the earth. That call is to live according to God’s rule. The Revelation according to John is an extension of the vision given to Isaiah in chapter 65:17-25
Live into it.
In Revelation, John of Patmos had and gave us a glimpse of God’s new heaven and earth – breaking in on us here and now. Other scriptures add to that picture, and our experience is only enhanced if we can add our imaginations too. St. Francis of Assisi did this by inviting all creatures to sing praises to God. “O brother wind, air, clouds and rain, by which all creatures ye sustain, O praise ye! Alleluia!” Hildegard of Binging, Dante, Michelangelo, Edward Hicks who is famous for his peaceable kingdom, so very many artists’ and authors’ imaginations have been inspired by visions of God’s reign coming to pass in our midst. The words of our Great Thanksgiving prayer before communion, the words of our hymns. Our whole tradition invites us to join in, and imagine what it will be like when God’s will is completely, and totally done on earth as it is in heaven.
Yes, John Lennon – you are a dreamer. And you are not the only one. We Christians can join you, even as we hold on to our faith, and offer our understanding that such peace will come, and the earth as we know it is what will pass away, when God turns our world into heaven.
Jesus encourages us to be playful and imaginative by telling us that unless we become like little children we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven. So let us practice our childlike qualities and take some time now to prayerfully engage our imaginations as we dream of the new heaven and new earth for which we yearn. I was once a preschool teacher and I have whipped up some salt and flour clay for you to use. As you imagine our world being transformed as God dwells in our midst shape your vision in the clay. Then bring your creation forward and place it on the table in front of the poster.
Let us pray:
Open our eyes to new possibilities, O God, and through our sacred imaginings, help us catch a glimpse of how life can be for us. May we be people who are open to your presence – even when your presence comes in unexpected sources and in surprising ways. And may this be a place where no one suffers alone but where each tear finds a home in the heart of another. You are making all things new and, with your vision before us, we will give shape to our priorities and efforts as a community.
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