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
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
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
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day 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
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world, you
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Those
are the lyrics to a rather famous song by a guy you might have heard of: John
Lennon. He used to be in this band called The Beatles. I heard they were kind
of famous at one time.
This
is probably one of the best known songs from the late John Lennon’s solo
career. I learned from my rock and roll/Beatles historian, Brent Stoker, that
John said he should have given songwriting credit to Yoko Ono. She was the one
who wrote about imagining. Regardless of the credit, this is a song that a lot
of people know and associate with John Lennon.
These
are also lyrics that some people find offensive, even threatening. The first
verse calls on the listener to imagine there is no heaven, no hell. Imagine
that we are not surrounded by a supernatural afterworld waiting to punish or
reward. Above us there is only sky. If someone of faith doesn’t appreciate
those opening lines, they really must not like the second verse either when
Lennon calls us to imagine a world with no countries, no loyalties to fight
for, live or die for, and no religion too.
I
realize John Lennon was not a religious person. He eschewed formal religion and
all its trappings. But personally, I don’t find this song completely
antithetical to people of faith, to those of us who live lives based in and
because of faith. What would it be like if we lived lives, not solely focused
on heaven or hell, but on this moment now? Would it make us take the present a
little more seriously, a little less for granted, if we stopped worrying about
the afterlife? Can you imagine?
I
think our passage from Acts also makes people uncomfortable. I think these
verses also make people feel threatened. Do you remember in the gospels when
Jesus told the rich young ruler that, sure, he followed the commandments to the
letter, but he had one more thing that he needed to do: sell all of his possessions
and give them to the poor? The rich young ruler couldn’t do what Jesus asked of
him, because he had great material wealth and giving that up was too much. I’ve
heard countless sermons – some that I’ve preached – and countless apologists
gloss over Jesus’ words.
“That’s
not what Jesus meant really.”
“Jesus
does not expect all people to give up their possessions or sell off all their
wealth.”
Except
… Jesus said to do just that. We don’t have to like it; we don’t have to agree
with it. But Jesus said it. I think that same tendency to gloss over what we
read applies to this passage as well.
“Now
the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one
claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held
in common.”
Yikes!
If we’re supposed to be doing that, then we are a long way off from living as the
Word of God intends, aren’t we? I have quite a few possessions, and yet I have
made no move to sell any of them or hold them in common with others. But that
is what this community, this early community of believers did. Although our
particular part of this passage ends at verse 35, if you read verses 36 and 37
you will hear about another man in this community. He was a Levite, whose name
was Joseph, but he was called Barnabas by the apostles. Barnabas means “son of
encouragement.” Barnabas owned a field which he sold, and he brought that money,
that profit, and also laid it at the apostle’s feet.
This
passage is one of the many that highlights the underlying theme of Acts. What
does it mean to live together when you believe that Jesus lives? What does it
mean to be a church of people who believe in the resurrection? These were
people, believers – new and old, who lived post-resurrection. Not all would have
witnessed the resurrected Christ, but they believed in that so strongly that
they were trying to shape their lives together around what the resurrection
meant to them.
Can
you imagine?
Let’s
be clear: the new church in Acts did not always get it right. There were
conflicts, not just among believers, but among the apostles. You can’t read too
far in Paul’s letters to the church in Corinth
We could make the
statement that we are trying to do the same thing. We too believe in the
resurrection, the resurrected Christ, and we are trying to shape our lives
around that belief. That is why we are a church, a congregation. We believe in
the resurrection, and we try to live as though we do.
The challenge
comes, and it was the same challenge that the early church faced, is that
nothing in the world around us seems to have changed. Everything seems the
same. Innocents in countries like Syria Puerto Rico do not have electricity and
access to clean water and the necessities for life. Our teachers, in this state
and others, are forced to walk out of classrooms because not only are they not
paid a living wage but our students don’t have the basics they need to learn.
We are as divided as ever – here at home and around the world. Nothing seems to
have changed, and it is easy to lose hope because it seems that humanity never
will change.
Can you imagine?
So we believe in
the resurrection, and we are technically Easter people, a post-resurrection
community. But what does that mean? What difference does that make? I’m not
going to stand up here and tell you that it is time to sell all of our
possessions and put them in a common purse. But maybe we need to think about
how we think about the resurrection? Is it doctrine or is it relationship? If
it is only doctrine than we can recite our beliefs in our creeds and move on;
but if believing in the resurrection means that we see it as new relationship
then everything really is different.
It seems to me
that these early believers, this community of folks trying to live together,
saw the resurrection as relationship. They were trying to live together as
Jesus the man and the resurrected Christ would have them live. When we think
about our lesson from John’s gospel, was Thomas seeking proof? No. He wanted
what the others had already received – a new relationship with the Jesus who
rose from death to new life. When we let go of resurrection only as doctrine, a
tenet to which we must ascribe, and view it instead as relationship, new
relationship with the Christ, with God and with one another, then we do live as
though everything has changed. Because it has! We are Easter people!
Can you imagine
what our lives together can and will look like when we see resurrection as
relationship? Can you imagine what our lives together can and will look like
when we focus our living – not only on the afterlife but how we live right now?
Can you imagine the abundant possibilities to witness and live out the love of
God when we focus on the new relationship we have been given in the
resurrection?
Can you imagine?
Let all God’s
people say, “Alleluia!” Amen.
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