A Million Dreams

 I think my favourite song from The Greatest Showman is probably ‘A Million Dreams’.  It’s sung by the young PT Barnum, and then the adult one.  I find it such a poignant and powerful song, full of meaning.  People who know me well may recognise why this song in particular speaks to me: I’m a dreamer.  I readily identify with the sentiment of the chorus:

“Every night I lie in bed, the brightest colours fill my head,

A million dreams are keeping me awake.

I think of what the world could be, a vision of the one I see,

A million dreams is all it’s gonna take –

A million dreams for the world we’re gonna make…”

 

I’m especially struck by that second part, about what the world could be.  That’s my story, this is my song.  It’s like the famous saying by George Bernard Shaw, “You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’  But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’”

  In the song ‘A Million Dreams’, young Barnum is open to the possibility that people will call him crazy, and say he’s lost his mind.  The echoes of Jesus and his story are loud and clear.  People said Jesus had “gone out of his mind” (Mark 3:21) – his own family, no less – in view of his attracting large crowds who wanted their lives and their world to be better, so they came to Jesus for healing, and to hear his incredible teaching.  Stories of a better world.  Pictures of how life can be.  In fact, in Mark’s story of Jesus, immediately after that incident of Jesus being insulted by his relatives, he launches into a set of stories about God’s kingdom (Mark 4:1-34 – it’s paralleled in Matthew’s account, mostly in chapter 13).  These parables, as they are called, paint a radically inclusive, gently influential way of life, an alternative reality.  This is the reality that comes about when the life presented by Jesus in his ‘Sermon on the Mount’ (and modelled by Jesus) is taken seriously and actually lived (or at least aimed at).

  To many (probably most) people, it all sounds crazy.  Loving enemies.  Not getting angry at people.  Turning the other cheek.  Not worrying about… well, anything, really – but trusting in God’s providence of the necessities of life.  Not judging others.  Treating people the way you’d hope to be treated.  Generally making choices that promote life and not death.  Maybe it is crazy.  A pipe dream.  But it’s Jesus’ dream, of what the world could be.

  “A million dreams is all it’s gonna take.  A million dreams for the world we’re gonna make.”

“Ladies and gents, this is the moment you’ve waited for…”

 

 The first line of the movie The Greatest Showman, and its opening number ‘The Greatest Show’, has ring master P T Barnum announce: “Ladies and gents, this is the moment you’ve waited for…”  It heralds something new, exciting, different.  A longed-for experience now becoming reality.  For Barnum in the film, it’s the start of his circus show, where he will challenge perceptions by introducing and showcasing the wonderful, unusual and unexpected performers in his troupe.

In various fields and disciplines, from classical and modern rhetoric, to science, and Christian theology, there’s a term for this ‘moment you’ve waited for’ phenomenon: kairos.  It’s a Greek word, and it means something like ‘timely’ or ‘the opportune moment’.  The word occurs notably in the New Testament’s Gospel of Mark (1:15), when Jesus goes public with his message and ministry, saying,

“The time [kairos] is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near [or, is at hand]; repent and believe in the good news.”

In other words, it’s like Jesus was saying, “Ladies and gents, this is the moment you’ve waited for.”

‘Kairos’ could describe a breakthrough, a lightbulb moment.  When ancient Greek thinker Archimedes got in the bath and discovered displacement, and shouted ‘Eureka!’ (so the story goes), that was a ‘kairos moment’.  Theologian Paul Tillich spoke of kairos moments, the highest example of these being the ‘conversion experience’, by which is usually meant the spiritual change resulting from encounter with Jesus.  But it could mean any transformative experience, any moment where we learn, re-assess, discover something profound and new – or old for that matter.  Kairos can happen for anyone, anywhere, anytime.

The kairos Jesus spoke of was his announcement of the availability and reality of the kingdom of God – a reality that reflects the rule of God.  And so, any time the kingdom of God ‘comes near’, any time it’s close, perceptible, tangible – that’s a kairos moment.  So maybe it’s all those lightbulb moments and red-letter days and tiny or large victories.

Matthew’s Gospel has an equivalent to Mark’s ‘inauguration speech’ by Jesus (Mark 1:15, above).  It’s in Matthew 4:17 –

“From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near’.”

It’s worth noting that Matthew tells us about Jesus relocating at this point from Nazareth to Capernaum, “in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali” (Matthew 4:13).  This is important for Matthew because it means Jesus is ‘fulfilling’ the words of the prophet Isaiah:

“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles –

 the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death

 light has dawned” (Matthew 4:15-16).

Matthew is quoting from Isaiah 9:1-2.  That passage goes on to talk about the people rejoicing like at harvest time (a big moment in an agrarian society), because their oppression is over, the threat of violence and war is gone, as God’s special representative is establishing a kingdom of justice and peace.

When Jesus pronounced the blessings known as ‘the Beatitudes’, he said “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).  The moment these people have been waiting for is justice – that’s probably a more Jewish understanding of the word translated ‘righteousness’.  Justice is their kairos moment.  That may mean they are desperate to receive justice because it has been denied them, or it could mean people who are fighting and campaigning for justice for others – either way, they are waiting for and seeking justice.  And each glimpse of it is a little kairos moment.

Every time light shines in the darkness; every time peace and joy increase; every time a yoke, a chain, of oppression is broken; every time justice is established and upheld – that’s a kairos moment.  Isn’t that the moment you’ve waited for?

The Greatest Show – Introduction

  Ok, cards on the table: I quite like musicals.  I love the Wizard of Oz, and I really quite like The Greatest Showman.  For those who are less familiar with the latter, it is a highly stylized interpretation of the life of P T Barnum, who is credited with inventing the modern circus (he did a lot of other stuff too).  In the film, Barnum recruits people who are very much on the outside of society – ‘curiosities’ – and invites them to display their uniqueness to the world.  I saw the film at a time in my life when I was dealing with a lot of stuff, in my own life, and in a world where prejudice and oppression seemed rife.  This movie reminded me of the Good News.  That’s a technical term in Christian circles, sometimes called ‘the Gospel’, which is its Old English version.  What is the Gospel, or the Good News?

  In the New Testament (the Christian addition to the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament), there are 4 books called Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).  They tell the story of the life of Jesus – well, the 3 years before his death at least.  I found echoes of that story in the narrative (and perhaps especially in the soundtrack) of The Greatest Showman.  I want to explore this over my next few blog posts.

  You may have heard the expression, ‘good show’, or ‘jolly good show, chaps’.  It signifies approval, like ‘well done’.  I think the Gospel could be called The Greatest Show on a similar basis.  It represents the best news the world could ever receive.  But as well as being transformative, it is also performative.  It’s a story.  It has ‘actors’, in the sense of people who participate and make it happen.  The Gospel is never a slogan, a statement, a theory, a doctrine, an abstract belief… It is lived out in real life.  Jesus painted it in his stories, which were brought to life in his actions and attitudes.  He lived the good news of God’s kingdom – a counter-reality to the dominant structures and cultures.

  Probably the first Gospel to be written was Mark’s version.  It’s the shortest, it’s punchy and draws you in, with lots of little details to make it real, like you’re there.  Mark’s Gospel is quite political – written for Christians in Rome in the mid-first century – in the belly of the beast of a vast empire.  It’s in this context that Mark begins:

 

“The beginning of the good news [gospel] of Jesus Christ…” (Mark 1:1)

 

  The term used for ‘good news’ is a word that was sometimes used by the Romans to bring tidings of a general’s victory.  In fact, Mark uses lots of Roman imperial language and imagery in his Gospel – especially around the Easter story, where the Crucifixion narrative is a mock imperial coronation.

  Mark is, of course, turning everything on its head, subverting the dominant order, with Good News of a different kingdom, which invites us to join in the Greatest Show.