The Impossible Dream

Last night on ‘Big Night of Musicals’ we watched Michael Ball sing ‘The Impossible Dream’ with ‘The Dementia Choir’. It’s a song of courage and hope, of embracing challenge and hardship, of determination and purpose…

In this period of Lent we consider Jesus’ journey, the brave hero with an ‘Impossible Dream’ that he described constantly as he taught his followers and friends:

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth…’ Jesus’ Impossible Dream was for the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers… the suffering, persecuted sand downtrodden… fighting ‘the unbeatable foe’ with courage but not aggression, determination but not self-glory.

To right, the un-rightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

‘You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’ The Impossible Dream comes through unselective, inclusive love that extends beyond our petty preferences… giving and serving, with no expectation or reward or return.

 

This is my quest, to follow that star
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far
To fight for the right without question or pause
To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause
And I know if I’ll only be true to this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to rest

‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’ The Impossible Dream is bigger than this life. The ‘heavenly cause’, the treasure that comes ‘when I’m laid to rest’, is the source of peace, calm and true hope.

And the world will be better for this
That one man, strong and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To fight the unbeatable foe
To reach the unreachable star

‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.’ The lent journey involves one man, strong and covered in scars on a cross… the apparently Impossible Dream… of victory coming through defeat, joy coming through suffering, strength coming through weakness, courage coming through humility, life coming through death.