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Good morning. On this day in 1863 the world's first underground railway was opened in London, between Paddington and Farringdon Street. Legendary British engineers with great imagination had made the previously unimaginable possible and since then underground railways have become the norm in great cities across the world.

A very long time ago an unknown person imagined a wheel for the first time. Once upon a time someone dreamt that people could travel in flying machines. Another dreamer imagined that a human being could walk on the moon.

For the first 30 years of my life I lived in a Northern Ireland where many people felt the Troubles would never end. We felt destined to live with the pain of a violent and divided society. But then a few people began to imagine that peace was possible. And once we believed it was possible we began to make it a reality.
In the 1960s Martin Luther King ‘had a dream’ and this month Barack Obama completes eight years as president of the United States of America. 

J.K. Rowling once said, ‘We do not need magic to change the world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.’ believe that what may seem like impossible dreams, can become a reality. And it all begins with our imagination.

So what’s your dream? I don’t mean to be rich or famous. I mean what’s the best future for yourself that you can imagine?

Lord God, give us the imagination to create a better future where love prevails over hatred and where peace forever smothers war. In your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.