25 Years Ago He Died. What Lives On? - 8 Dec 2005
It was 20 years ago today that John Lennon died. [Watch it here] Lennon once ruled the world. He is one of the great icons of our parents' generation and for the 24-7 community his life has touched ours unexpectedly this year with the opening of a Boiler Room at Strawberry Fields - the former childrens' home in Liverpool that inspired the famous Beatles song. So what are we, members of another generation, to make of the Lennon myth? Well, maybe (like all of us) John Lennon was a peculiar mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. Maybe John Lennon's legacy is here to be partially celebrated (the good), partially disregarded (the bad) and partially forgiven (the ugly).
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LENNON:
THE GOOD | |
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THE MUSIC - John Lennon's musical genius was, surely, a
 gift from the God who is the only source of all good things. God is to be thanked for a slice of good pizza in Chicago, an act of kindness in Addis Ababa and for a beautiful tune recorded in Abbey Road. THE MESSAGE - John Lennon's superficial early THE MAN - yes, he was screwy. Yes, he said stupid stuff
 from time to time. Yes, he was an advocate of Eastern mysticism and atheistic humanism. Yes, he fell out with Paul McCartney. But by the time of his death Lennon had also became a devoted father and husband, a gentle soul, a man with a healthy disrespect for authority and a keen sense of humor. This is all the more remarkable when you recall his abandonment as a child, his confused adolescence and the extreme pressures of fame. | |
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LENNON:
THE BAD | |
 + John Lennon famously claimed that his boy-band were bigger than Jesus (see his 'apology', below) + John Lennon DID do drugs - lots of them. And this is BAD kids.
+ John Lennon's utopian idealism is superficially inspiring but fundamentally selfish. Ideas like his and Yoko's great 'Bed-In for Peace' hardly compare with the courage of Martin Luther King, Gandhi or Christ on the cross.
 + Lennon spread the ideas of the New Age movement before it was even called The New Age movement. + Lennon - like us all - was a hypocrite. For instance, the video to his song 'Imagine' depicts the multi-millionaire songwriter playing a white grand piano in an enormous country house, while inviting us to "Imagine no possessions"!
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 Reporter: "Some teenagers have repeated your statements - "I like the Beatles more than Jesus Christ." What do you think about that?"Lennon: "Well, originally I pointed out that fact in reference to England. That we meant more to kids than Jesus did, or religion at that time. I wasn't knocking it or putting it down. I was just saying it as a fact and it's true more for England than here. I'm not saying that we're better or greater, or comparing us with Jesus Christ as a person or God as a thing or whatever it is. I just said what I said and it was wrong. Or it was taken wrong. And now it's all this." | |
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LENNON:
THE UGLY | |
 Twenty years on, we can say for sure that John Lennon was neither the messiah nor the anti-Christ. He was ordinary as well as extraordinary - a man who struggled with common issues of life, faith, family, money, sex and transparency. He put out some truly terrible records. He said some inter-galactically stupid things. He could be pompous and self-effacing in a single conversation. He fell out with his friends.  But an anniversary like this is not a time for bemoaning the bad and the ugly. John's name is derived from the Hebrew Yochanan meaning 'Yahweh is gracious'. Today of all days let's exercise that grace! This is a season for celebrating all that was  dazzlingly good about this particular 'working class hero' made in the image of a spectacular God. For many people Lennon is an icon of hope, love and peace - ideals at the very heart of the Christian message. To paraphrase Lennon's own lyrics, he is 'not the only one' imagining 'A brotherhood of man'. We too imagine peace - we do it in prayer to Jesus, who lives on as the ultimate hope for humanity.
 This is a day for celebrating the music, the memory and maybe even the message of Lennon's life. We have a big God - let's redeem the treasury of His gifts shining through the life of that mixed up kid from Liverpool. |
celebrations of adolescent romance ('I wanna hold your hand') soon grew into songs of peace and hope that galvanised public objection to the war in Vietnam and engendered idealism in the hearts of some of todays world leaders. Article by Pete Greig