Peace Has Come!

I received my church newspaper the other day. The newspaper includes a portion by conference. This week's conference section had a layout designed from the United Methodist Reporter. One page of this layout had scripture from Romans 15:13, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peaceas you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, reminding us of the peace that is granted to us by God from trusting in God. However, the other page had the lyrics from John Lennon's song Imagine. The lyrics at face value seemed appropriate, "Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one."




However, when one knows that these words come from the song Imagine, they take on an entirely new meaning.

When looking at the lyrics to the song Imagine, it is hard to believe that this song would be chosen to be used in a United Methodist publication. The verses which describe the people "living life in peace" read:

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...

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...


I can not believe that the United Methodist church would support such statements.

John Lennon has described this song as "anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic, but because it is sugarcoated it is accepted." He called the song "virtually the Communist Manifesto." Why would the Northwest Texas Conference wish to spread these messages at the Christmas season, the time when we celebrate the coming of our Savior? The United Methodist Church believes that our peace comes not from giving up material goods, dissolving nations, or removing religion, but as Paul wrote in Romans 15:13, from our belief in God and allowing the Holy Spirit to overfill us with God's joy and peace. We spread God's peace through out the world by sharing God's love, not erasing God and religion. The oneness described by Lennon does not seem to be the oneness we have in the Body of Christ.

John Lennon said that he learned from writing Imagine, "Now I understand what you have to do: Put your political message across with a little honey." Apparently a little honey was all the United Methodist church needed to accept such political rhetoric.