One Vision

A Song of Ascents.

How very good and pleasant it is
    when kindred live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
    running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
    running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
    which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the LORD ordained his blessing,
    life forevermore. ~ Psalm 133


I had a dream when I was young
A dream of sweet illusion
A glimpse of hope and unity
And visions of one sweet union... ~ Roger Taylor (Queen)


I'm having fun finding favorite popular songs that tie in the the readings this week. Yesterday the Beatles' popped into my head, and today I'm thinking of "One Vision," by Queen.  (I highly recommend going here to view this entertaining video of Queen performing this live at the old Wembley Stadium:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIqnNPfULVI)

 One of the influences for this song was Martin Luther King, Jr. who certainly unified this country in ways that the great divisions created by race can't ultimately legitimately stand up to - even when King was assassinated and even if King's dream isn't realized yet. Before Martin Luther King, Jr, there were a lot of white folks who had no idea what their black and brown neighbors had to endure.

And Queen wrote this song not long after one of the greatest unifying concerts the world had ever seen: Live Aid in 1985.

So unity is something we give at least give a fair amount of lip service to.  And claim to want and need and desire.

Yet, perhaps Queen is onto something when they say it is a "dream of sweet illusion" - at least as far as things seem to be going.  We cling to it in moments of passion and energy, yet...

...Yet, we sure seem far away from it, don't we? One look in the daily news reminds us of that.

For the Psalmist however, that dream isn't illusory.  Unity is tangible: it's like precious oil.  It's real, like dew on the mountaintop. 

And it is ordained by God.

We might sometimes have moments of clarity where we see unity as the reality God wants for us.  We might cling to it and sometimes even think we can bring it about.  Music might help us to latch onto it, but then, when our illusions seem to fail us, God reminds us that it isn't a dream and that it is God who will bring unity about.

God wants it.  God wills it and the dream is part of God's plan for creation.  When the concert ends, and the choir of people cease singing in unison, God continues the melody and plays on.
Lord, help us to see your vision for your world with clarity and purpose.  Help us to sing on in a chorus of unity and love for your world.  Amen.


Thoughts for engagement:

- What are the ideas you have about further unifying this community? This country? This world?
- How does the western notion of 'individual' rights or freedom take away from this idea of unity?
- Find other places in scripture that talk about unity.

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