Imagine

Written by Ed Kauffman

“Imagine”

Advent II, December 5, 2010

Ed Kauffman

 

 

Who would believe such a message?  And just look at the messenger!  Long hair, a bit different looking – and telling people to get along.  Who did John think he was anyhow?  And the religious people were none too happy with what he had to say.

 

And can you imagine a world like that envisioned by Isaiah?  A leader who doesn’t pay attention to public opinion, but rather makes decisions based on justice and equity?  I’m currently reading a book about Canada’s prime ministers – well, enough said.  Or what about these images, often talked about as the Peaceable Kingdom, drawn so elegantly by the painter Edward Hicks.  Hicks was a Quaker preacher and painter who painted a whole series of pictures depicting this idyllic scene, one of which is on the bulletin cover and on the screen.  A more modern rendition is this poster by Maurice Sendak entitled A Wild Safe Place, included in The Big Book of Peace, published by Dutton Children’s Books in 1990.

 

This is a world that seems more of a fantasy than a possibility.  Wolves and lambs, leopards and goats don’t hang out together.  Children and snakes shouldn’t be playing together.  The child welfare people would be on that one in an instant.  The scene reminded me of the Sesame Street bit about which one of these things doesn’t belong.  It’s been too long I don’t remember exactly how it goes, but probably some of you will now have that running through your head for the rest of the day.  The idea was, three of these things go together, but the other one doesn’t and you had to pick out the one that didn’t belong.  But Isaiah seems to think everything belongs together.

 

What poor misguided souls would fall for such a dream?  Who could imagine such a world?  And yet it seems to keep capturing the imaginations of people throughout the years – from Isaiah and beyond.  John the Baptist mentioned it, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke about it, John Lennon sang about it, and it continues to capture the imagination of poets, artists, and song writers. 

 

A friend of mine, Herm Weaver, who now serves as Conference minister in the Mountain States Conference and lives in Colorado wrote a song that reflects this theme, entitled “Beyond”.  I think it fits well enough I’d sing it for you.

 

Can we move beyond?

Can we move beyond?

Can we move beyond?

Can we move beyond?

 

Beyond all of the fears for what might be

Beyond walls of the heart between you and me

Beyond power makes free and might makes right

Beyond what we see

Imagine what could be

 

If we could move beyond

And find a place called higher ground

Where all are friends and all belong

If we could move beyond

 

To the ones that we’ve feared for oh so long

We reach out our hearts and stand as one

In a place where there’s room for all to belong

Beyond what we see

Can you imagine what could be

 

If we could move beyond

To see the mountains and beyond

Rise up and sing a brand new song

If we could move beyond

 

‘Cause you know that we’ve been here far too long

And its time to come home and bring everyone along

And sing all the songs that move us beyond

Beyond what we see

Can you imagine what would be

 

If we could move beyond

And find a place called higher ground

Where all are friends and all belong

There’s lots of room on higher ground

 

Rise up my friend let’s move along

To see the mountains and beyond

Rise up and sing a brand new song

There’s room for all to sing along

 

I know that we can move beyond (4x)

 

And then, along comes John the Baptist, preaching out in the wilderness and proclaiming that this vision was about to become a reality. “Prepare the way of the Lord,” he said.  “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is fast approaching.”  And he really was a sight to see.  Like other ascetics who lived in the wilderness, he wore and ate what he could find around him.  And people were being drawn to him, and to his message. 

 

Now we know that this was not a new phenomenon, nor would it be the last time that a charismatic preacher attracted a lot of attention and a following.  John the Baptist was not an isolated figure in that day.  Just as there were other prophets in the time of Isaiah, so there were other people claiming to have a message from God in the 1st century.  And they all seemed to attract a following.  And so the crowds came to hear John’s message, and to be baptized.  They really did see this as call to something different.

 

Even the religious people came, after all, if people were flocking to this prophet, maybe they had better get in on the act as well.  But, as with Jesus later, John saves his most blistering comments for the religious leaders of his day.  “You brood of vipers!”  Or, as Eugene Peterson puts it in his translation, The Message:

 

“Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference?  It’s your life that must change not your skin! And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father.  Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there.  Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen.  What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.”

 

Isaiah and John the Baptist, and certainly Jesus after him, said that the coming Kingdom would be different.  And not just that people would be different, but it would somehow involve the whole of creation.  I’m reminded of the passage in II Corinthians 5: 17 which is often translated, ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” (NIV)  But in reality, the Greek simply says, “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, new creation!”  Everything changes.

 

John the Baptist called people to repentance, but repentance was not just about being sorry for the past.  Repentance is about changing both attitude and behavior.  “Bear fruit worthy of repentance,” John tells the religious folk.    And certainly Isaiah called people of his day to live their lives in a different way, reflecting the image of the peaceable kingdom.  One of the interesting features of the Hicks paintings of Isaiah’s vision is that many of them show a cluster of people in the background.  Hicks as I said was a Quaker who lived in Pennsylvania, and he likes to depict William Pen negotiating with the Native Americans – a contrast to the way most Natives were treated in that time.

John the Baptist, we are told, appeared in the wilderness.  Funny how the wilderness keeps coming up in these Sundays of Advent.  Last week we noted that in the wilderness we don’t need to pay as much attention to time, we can slow down and allow ourselves space.  The wilderness is also a place without a lot of boundaries, there are no signs and, in some ways, no rules.  Often as I drive through areas like Montana or the mountains of Alberta, I wonder what it must have been like to enter those wilderness areas before there were maps and trails.  I know a bit of what its like to be in the wilderness and discover that where you thought you were on the map doesn’t match what you’re seeing around you – that’s when a friend with a GPS unit comes in handy!

 

The wilderness invites you to be creative, to learn new ways of living in harmony with the rest of creation.  Indeed one of the lessons I learn from the wilderness is that we have to learn ways of co-existing with the rest of creation – much as Isaiah envisioned.  It’s not about controlling everything, indeed you quickly learn in the wilderness that you’re not in control and if you don’t learn to coexist you will soon be in trouble. 

 

The Advent season invited us to imagine.  Imagine a world where the boundaries, the things that keep us apart from each other and from creation, are broken down.  Where things that we don’t think go together can coexist in harmony and peace.  Imagine a world in which repentance leads to actions that help bring about such a change, where we no longer rely on our ancestry or ethnicity or colour to get us what we want, but rather rely on the work of the Spirit to bring us all together.  Can we take the time and imagine?  Can we already begin to live out the change we hope to see and that Isaiah envisioned in the Kingdom of God?  What do we need to repent of in order to help that begin to happen?

 

In 1971, another John, wrote a song that envisioned a world without boundaries, where seemingly natural enemies got along.  He too, dreamed of such a world, and like John the Baptist, many religious and political leaders condemned him as blasphemous, or dismissed him as simply unrealistic.  Now, I’m not going to make any particular claims or judgements about John Lennon’s faith, but in the spirit of our theme for this Advent, I invite you to watch and listen to this montage.  It’s not mine, I found it on Utube, and I can’t really ascribe it to anyone ether, other than the pseudonym given HomerJSimpson215. 

 

We believe that Jesus, that shoot from the stump of Jesse, inaugurated a Kingdom in which all are invited, and all creation waits for that day when the vision of Isaiah will come to pass.  Can you imagine?  And can you begin to live now as though that Kingdom were already coming to pass?