Lennon once told his son Julian that he (Lennon) made it to the afterworld, he would send Julian a floating white feather. “Look for the white feather, and you’ll know the afterlife is real.”

Well, Julian says he has not seen a floating white feather, but he keeps looking for it every day.

Make of that what you will.

No, it’s not “anti-religion”: the lyrics say “IMAGINE there’s no heaven”, not “There is NO heaven”. You can imagine there’s no Statue of Liberty too, but the Statue of Liberty is still there. Imagining something doesn’t exist is not the same thing as saying “It doesn’t exist.” It’s a way to stretch the boundaries of the mind, not to deny reality.

Friends, families, and loved ones request all kinds of songs at funerals, even-gasp!-show tunes. I’ve known folks who wanted “Send In The Clowns” or “American Pie” played at their funerals. Imagine all the shocked commentary if Carter or his family had asked for something like THAT. 😉

https://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/when_earths_last_picture.html

1892

L’Envoi To “The Seven Seas”
When Earth’s last picture is painted and the tubes are twisted and dried,
When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic has died,
We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it — lie down for an aeon or two,
Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall put us to work anew.

And those that were good shall be happy; they shall sit in a golden chair;
They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comets’ hair.
They shall find real saints to draw from — Magdalene, Peter, and Paul;
They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired at all!

And only The Master shall praise us, and only The Master shall blame;
Andd no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame,
But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as They are!

https://notthebee.com/article/the-internet-is-trying-to-guess-what-trump-and-obama-said-to-each-other-at-jimmy-carters-funeral
“The internet is giving its best “bad lip readings” about what Trump and Obama said to each other at Jimmy Carter’s funeral” — and most of the suggestions are quite droll.

They actually were being quite disrespectful by talking to each other during one of the best funeral hymns ever IMO, “Be Still My Soul.”
The clip has a glitch at the beginning and in the middle.
https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1877375838326501494

https://babylonbee.com/news/obama-and-trump-separated-at-carter-funeral-for-disruptive-behavior

There were some other problems.
https://babylonbee.com/news/awkward-mourners-at-jimmy-carter-funeral-place-flowers-on-biden

And the Bees also are not fond of Lennon’s now-almost-standard offering.
https://babylonbee.com/news/song-at-funeral-comforts-everyone-by-telling-them-theres-no-heaven-religion-is-a-lie-and-everything-is-ultimately-meaningless

The song, “Imagine” by John Lennon, known for its pleasant melody and nihilistic lyrics, is routinely played in Times Square on New Year’s Eve as an appeal to world peace in a time of crisis, or to celebrate another year of debauchery, one of the two. Experts described the song as most suitable for use at a funeral, however, because the comforting lyrics remind people what really matters: absolutely nothing.”

I was trying to think of something good to say about the song, because so many people do like it, but then I looked at the lyrics again (condensed somewhat & punctuation added, because of our recent discussion of poetry & songs), and will hazard a few observations:

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.

Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can. ****
No need for greed or hunger,# A brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the people sharing all the world. ##

You may say I’m a dreamer, But I’m not the only one.
I hope some day you’ll join us And the world will be as one ###.

To be fair to Lennon, a lot of people can “imagine” some of his aspirations in their ideas of perfection, whether here or in the hereafter.

* References the belief that only promises of eternal reward and punishment encourage people to “do the right thing” and be generous, trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, and so forth; Lennon imagines that, absent those carrots and whips, we would all be that way because we would concentrate on getting the best out of “living for today” alone.

** References the belief that all wars are due to nationalistic jingoism and a desire to subjugate and oppress anyone who is “not one of us” — and to be fair, that has motivated a LOT of violence. There have also been far, far too many wars fought over religious disagreements (although many of those reduce to political reasons). However, there has been plenty of killing that was not motivated by boundary lines on a map and the social cultures intrinsic thereto, nor because of clashes of doctrine.

*** I note that the Muslim-dominant countries have not taken up singing this paean to peace.

**** Actually, no, I can’t.
People have to have “their own things” to be comfortable and secure psychologically. FWIW, the early Latter-day Saints tried to live the principle of all things in common for awhile in the beginning, and were very motivated to make it work, but the practice foundered on incidents where some people would just take a piece of clothing, a watch, a tool or something from another person’s house, and then it wasn’t there to be used by the original “holder” when needed.

# Of course, Lennon is supposedly talking about the “greedy rich,” and expressing the hope that if everything were shared out equally, poverty would end.
The math doesn’t work out.
(He was not a poor man himself, by the way).

## Students of political theory will recognize the Tragedy of the Commons, and the conundrum of Free Riders (see **** and #).
https://thismatter.com/economics/public-goods.htm
(not the best explanation, but it came up high on a search, and gives the gist of the problem)

### One what?

I personally cannot imagine singing this song in a church which is dedicated to the promulgation of (at least one) religion and the hope of (a very specific) heaven, but you can find plenty of stories on Not the Bee indicating some clerical lapses in that regard.

More to the point, Lennon may have had good intentions@, but his imagination has the same flaw that all socialists have: ignoring human nature and the entirety of human history.

@ The kind that pave the road to the hell he prefers not to imagine.

https://notthebee.com/article/the-babylon-bee-made-a-parody-of-john-lennons-imagine-about-communism

I went looking and found an old favorite:

Your Love Never Fails

try both the Jesus Culture and the Anthony Skinner versions

@Tregonsee314: Thanks for your post about the music at President Carter’s funerals!

I also liked Oldflyer’s post at 9:12 pm.

My smart ass comment about ‘booze and cocaine’ was made in an obviously joking way about these 3 men of almost the exact same age and what their widely known vices might mean to their longevity.

Of course, it’s admirable that GWB changed his ways but years of substance abuse does take a toll even if you eventually stop.

Art Deco’s first comment here was in April of 2018. So, smelting, you are incorrect.

Stephen Paulus’ “The Road Home”
This lyrics for this a bland poem with no explicit Christian themes or references but only some vague thoughts about the ends of things. Pretty much elevator music for a funeral

Eternal Father Strong to Save
AKA the Navy Hymn. It verges on unthinkable for a naval veteran to have a service without this.

Amazing Grace
Traditional hymn often heard at funerals almost as expected as Eternal Father Strong to save

John Lennon’s Imagine
One of the most annoying bits and bobs of John Lennon’s post Beatle’s work sometimes wonder if he wrote it on an LSD bender with help from Yoko. It belongs in a Christian funeral service as much as a pile of cow dung would belong on the altar during communion/Eucharist.

All Hail the Power of Jesus Name
Traditional hymn not particularly funerary in nature but the 4th verse

Oh, that with all the sacred throng
we at his feet may fall!
We’ll join the everlasting song
and crown him Lord of all.

does speak of resurrection.

It almost feels lie there were almost two threads in competition here a very secular one (Imagine/The Road Home) vs a more traditional protestant one.

There are two major views of the purpose of a funeral in the Protestant tradition
1) It provides comfort for the family and friends of the deceased and celebration in the life of the deceased. Here the funeral at his home church feels more like that (order of service here https://www.11alive.com/article/news/politics/jimmy-carter/jimmy-carter-final-funeral-service-plains-order/85-b5eebc0b-d34b-4380-9cb5-c2064efb5719)
2) It provides testimony/reminder of the fact that we are ALL mortal (dust to dust ashes to ashes) and that we need to acknowledge that we can not do this without the Saviour’s help. It acts as outreach to all who attend.

Imagine with its anti religion/anti Christian message is the exact opposite of either goal. I am deeply surprised that either Mr. Brooks or Ms. Yearwood would sing that at a funeral without some rather strong direct request either from the family or from Mr Carter himself at some past point.