I woke up one day and saw the police officers of Windsor escorting homeless people off the streets into vans, and taxiing them to the very gates of the royal palace, to be ushered along a red carpet and take their seats as guests of honour at the prince and princess’s wedding feast.
I woke up one day and saw delighted groups of young girls and young men, dancing arm in arm across the shiny floors of an out-of-town shopping centre, the doors of the shops closed, window displays telling their ex-customers, ‘You don’t need these products, to be accepted and loved – you are beautiful in yourselves, go free’.
I woke up one day and saw expert engineers in armament factories dismantling warheads and, using those same materials, turning their skilful hands to the manufacture of bespoke hospital equipment.
I woke up one day and saw postmen and postwomen in every street and village delivering letters from the banks to everyone in debt, telling them their balance had been fully cleared; I saw the hugs and the tears of joy in each household.
I woke up and saw the churches closing down their foodbanks, for the well-off people and the poorer ones were now in the habit of sharing food together in each other’s homes.
I woke up and realised that for all my life beforehand I had been living in a sombre dream, I’d been living in a world of meanness and unkindness, a world of exploitation and inequality, a world where selfishness and greed were elevated and where no-one, ever, felt good enough in the eyes of others.
I woke up to the real world – the world envisioned through the eyes of God. I realised that embracing the good news of Jesus Christ is the doorway to this reality, that those who pass through it put that bad dream behind them as they begin to learn to walk with God. Following Christ is an awakening.
– the first bit of my talk today, Evangelism: Sharing the awakening.
