This is the script of this morning’s Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
I come from Liverpool and to Liverpool I shall one day return. And I will pay homage there to one of my musical heroes, John Lennon, at the airport which, on this day in 2001, was named after him. There’s a statue of him there and on the plinth it says: “Above us only sky”. At the start of one bad football season someone had written on it: “And above us only Wolves and West Ham”. It was a long time ago.
Of course, the “above us only sky” line is taken from Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ – a song that has always been a sort of anthem for atheism – one that makes an unchallengeable assertion rather than opening up a debate.
But, the point I think Lennon was getting at in ‘Imagine’ is that, as the prophet Isaiah* said three thousand years ago, “without a vision the people perish”. Imagination is key to both individuals and, politically, to any society that wants to frame a better future. It all starts with a vision – an imagination of what might at the time even seem ridiculous or the stuff of fantasy. At some point, however, imagination has to shape action.
This is why Christians should never be driven by fear, but explicitly drawn by a hope that is rooted in a vision of the world in which political power and violence do not have the last word after all. God does. And in Jesus we see and hear an imagination of how the world might be – inviting his friends to live now as if that world were already here. Imagination has somehow to be embodied.
Last weekend I experienced two events that show what this might look like. The first was the launch of this year’s Bradford Literature Festival. I was involved at the outset ten years ago when the vision of two remarkable Asian women led to a festival that many people thought was unlikely ever to take off. From 964 visitors in 2014 it now attracts in the region of 130,000 visitors and reaches tens of thousands of children. And it is all about opening the imagination – stimulating people to think and play and debate and wonder and read and listen and speak.
The second event took place in Leeds at an amazing initiative called CATCH: ‘Community Action To Create Hope’. Inspired by an inspirational local police officer, this has grown into a remarkable place in which young people, working with adults, not only find, but build together a community – buildings, projects, fun stuff. Their imagination is stimulated to build a better society for themselves and the city, but they have to work together to realize it – one step at a time. The place is a living parable – like one of those Jesus told of how tiny seeds can grow into generous trees in which the birds can make their nests.
* It wasn’t Isaiah – it is from Proverbs 29:18. I originally had an Isaiah reference and when I edited it I changed … but left in the Isaiah bit. Apologies. How embarrassing.
