Last week, I was thinking about dreams and this week, I guess, I’m still thinking about them. On my way to the coffee shop this morning I heard John Lennon’s song Imagine. That one song started me in a playlist of some pretty ultimate songs. So far this morning, I’ve listened to Meatloaf, Lennon, Phil Collins, Mick Jagger, the Police, a little Rod Stewart, and who knows what’ll be next. I love different genres of music – I love music. I love how it tells stories and captivates the imagination. Earlier this week, I was in a Beethoven niche and even lead a devotion using his “Ode to Joy” masterpiece. But back to Lennon…
I listened to the song, which is an amazing piece anyway, and I find that every time I listen to the song, I’m moved. I feel like it’s a song thats an invitation to something more. Some of the lyrics, especially if you don’t absorb the whole of the song, are hard to hear. Imagine no religion? Imagine no heaven or hell? For some folks, imagining these things would cause a deep depression and cause the exact opposite of what Lennon seems to be wishing for. I mean those pieces are part of some churches whole existence. But what if, in a way, Lennon’s right? I think he maybe even on to something that Jesus would affirm.
Everyday, I talk to followers of Jesus, and folks who don’t claim that designation, who live as if God’s whole being was completely captivated by them. Now, I’d never hear those actual words, but its closer to their reality and truth then most would like to admit. I fall into this trap often. I find myself praying that others would be changed, that situations would be different and easy for me, that God would interfere so that I would be freer to do what I want. It’s true of those closest to me and it’s true of some folks I see from across my coffee shop. I hate to admit it, but I think I often treat God as if He’s giant slot machine or ATM – I put in my coins, I pull the lever and I expect something to happen for my benefit.
There’s a problem with this projection on God however. Other than just being stupid, it’s failed to disappoint me. The thing about slot machines is that they may pay out but you may also lose your shirt. When I treat God like a slot machine and I demand that he respond at my beck and call, I will be frustrated. When I need YOU changed so that I can be more comfortable and I pray that God would change YOU with nothing more than a prayer dropped into the slot – I set myself up for disappoint and I step further away from what could be.
This is where I think Lennon might be right – after all this “cosmic slot-machine god” is one that was invented by a religion. It’s not God. In fact it’s the farthest thing from who God is. It’s also the farthest thing from what I was created to live like. It’s certainly the farthest thing that Jesus taught about life and God and interacting with others. Jesus showed us what it meant to be one of His followers – He modeled it by washing the feet of those closest to him.
Jesus certainly didn’t see God as a slot-machine. He called God, Father – not ATM machine. He went out of his own way to spend time with him – giving up hours of sleep just to have quiet. He didn’t, as far as we know, keep a journal, or read chapters of the Bible at a time. He didn’t “put in his time” at weekly worship or go to a wednesday night Bible Study in order to keep in God’s good graces. He saw the interaction with God as a relationship – one that He was able to be fully himself within.
What if, that great theologian, John Lennon had that in mind when he wrote Imagine? I’m not a proponent of the “buddy Christ” image as being anything other than a laugh, but what if Jesus would rather sing a song like Imagine in Church worship rather than some of the stuff we call worship music? What if he’d see those lyrics as a reworking of what he had said and what if would say to you and me today, let’s imagine that something greater could be reality?!
I’ve decided that today, I’m not going to pray that you will be changed – that you will be different or, God forbid, that you’ll be more like me. Instead, I’m going to pray that we could both pray for a God-like imagination that could bring about that Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven starting now. I’m also going to pray that we stop, even in the smallest way, from treating God like a slot-machine or ATM, but that we’d find the same kind of relationship that Jesus had. I’m going to pray that we take time away with Him and that we find in Him the kind of Love and relationship that would release us from being the center of the universe – the one that God has to humor and dote over. I’m going to pray that we’ll both Imagine and that in that moment, we’ll find a God who’s bigger than any human religion, but is a God who longs for a Kingdom now in you and I.