The Dreamer Within You
Sermon
PROPHETS, PIONEERS AND POSSIBILITIES
Sermons for Pentecost [Last Third]
The setting for the movie Dead Poet’s Society is a proper New England prep school steeped in tradition and discipline. Into this rather stiff environment comes a new English instructor played by Robin Williams. He has an unorthodox method of teaching. He stands on his desk at times to make a point. He electrifies his students. He has them reading poetry as they practice soccer so that they will see the connection between the two. He prods them to think for themselves, to get in touch with their feelings, to dream their own dreams.
At first, the students are resistant. Everything seems too crazy. Gradually, however, they respond to their teacher’s enthusiasm for poetry and life. Soon it becomes apparent that the boys are hungry and thirsty -- not for food and drink because most of them come from affluent homes. They are hungry and thirsty for love, for acceptance and for someone to take seriously their personal dreams.
How seriously do we take our own dreams? Are we conscious that we have what Alan McGlashan calls “the dreamer within”? Could it be possible that God is trying to speak to us through our dreams?
The prophet Joel promised ancient Israel that one day “your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions (2:28).”
The backdrop for these words was an agricultural crisis. The land had been plagued recently with a swarm of locusts that devastated the crops. Food was scarce. The people were terrified. One day the prophet arrived on the scene to announce that “the day of the Lord” was at hand. This expression signified that God was about to take decisive action in Israel’s history.
Joel’s prophecy is infused with possibilities about the future. He calls upon his people to rejoice because he has received the promise from God that soon “abundant rain” will come. No longer will they have to contend with “the hopper, the destroyer and the cutter.” They will have food to satisfy themselves. Never again will they be put to shame. Their prayers have been answered.
In the teaching of all the prophets “the day of the Lord” had definite implications for the distant future and the end time. Joel introduced his long view with the words: “And it shall come to pass afterward…” In the future God will pour out the Spirit upon all people. The sons and daughters of Israel will prophesy. What is more old men shall dream dreams and young men shall see visions. Nor, will such a promise be restricted to just a few people, even “menservants and maidservants” will receive the Spirit. In that day, God will speak directly through the Spirit to each and every one who is open and receptive.
Centuries later, Peter, on the Day of Pentecost appropriates Joel’s prophecy of dreams and visions as the text for the first Christian sermon. The prophet’s words were fulfilled as God’s Spirit like tongues of fire and the rush of a mighty wind came upon the early disciples gathered in Jerusalem. The followers of Jesus who had cowered secretly in fear since their Lord’s death, some 50 days previously, now were energized with power, joy and expectation.
The Dreamer within them nudged them out of their comfortable and familiar surroundings in Jerusalem to spread the good news about Jesus throughout Judea, even to the once despised Samaritans, and eventually into the gentile world, in fact to the ends of the earth.
What a dream!
The best news of all is that the same Dreamer is at work within your own life. God is trying to speak to you. Though you may feel spiritually landlocked today, there is something inside you reminding you that you are destined to sail on wider seas.
How shall you respond to God’s Spirit, the animating Dreamer within you?
Identify Your Dream
The first task is to identify your dream.
What specifically is God calling you to do? You can be sure that starting out following a dream will not be an easy undertaking.
Chaim Potok in his novel In the Beginning tells the story of a Hebrew scholar and teacher who is conscious that the work he does is difficult. It is not painless to motivate students to engage in a disciplined study of the Scriptures. Furthermore, the kind of teaching he does touches the raw nerves of faith and sometimes visibly shakes the students to their core. Consequently, he tells his students: “All beginnings are hard… Especially a beginning that you make by yourself. That’s the hardest beginning of all.”1
When my wife and I arrived on the field to gather and to organize our congregation the Mission Committee informed us that we could expect three families in the area to form the nucleus of the new church. That was not many people, we thought, only three families. As it turned out, only one of the three families would actually stay and become a part of the new church development. The situation was more daring that we had realized.
The fact that it rained for seven consecutive Sundays when we began our worship services in a community building did not lift our spirits either. Was the Lord trying to tell us something? What we learned for ourselves was that indeed all beginnings are hard.
Likewise, in identifying our dream it is not always clear just what we are called to be or to do.
Scanning the newspaper the other day I came across the following ad: “Presbyopia -- If you are over 40, you’ve got it.”
Presbyopia is the inability of the eyes to focus sharply on things up close, such as small print. The condition comes to us all about the age of 40 and becomes worse as time passes. One of the first signs of presbyopia probably comes when we find ourselves having trouble reading the phone book and other small print.
We all are susceptible to blurred vision when it comes to identifying our dream, too. The meaning of our dream is not always clear at first.
In our new congregation we had little more than a vague idea where our dream would lead us. We had a mere handful of people. Our financial resources were modest. We lacked basic equipment and supplies. We were viewed with suspicion as unwanted competitors by some churches in the area.
Nonetheless, we moved ahead and steadily the dream took shape. We realized that other people in our community were in transition, and we began to appeal to people looking for a new start in life. Some of us were newcomers to the community. Others were beginning new families or were seeking new relationships after suffering brokenness of one kind or another. Still others were simply craving a fresh spiritual adventure.
As we continued our journey we came to believe that the dream was not so much our own dream but God’s Spirit dreaming within our fellowship.
Our world needs people who are willing to respond to a compelling dream not only to build new churches but to provide forward-looking leadership in government at all levels, to strengthen our public school system, to wield ecological knowledge and skill to protect our environment. These areas of contemporary society are only a few of the host of challenges awaiting dreamers who are open to the Spirit’s leading.
Hold On To Your Dream
After you have identified your dream, the next task is to hold on to your dream.
That objective is not as easy to accomplish as it may seem. Even the most powerful dream can evaporate into thin air with the passing of time.
In my regular walks along the walking trail at the park near the beautiful Ohio River I see in full view the enchanted Blennerhassett Island. The island sits in the middle of the river between Belpre, Ohio, and Parkersburg, West Virginia. I call the island enchanted because of the story associated with the picturesque setting.
One of the most tragic figures of the American Revolution was Aaron Burr. A handsome, slender man from New York state, he showed all kinds of promise. His father was president of the college at Princeton. His mother was the daughter of Jonathan Edwards, the leading theologian in the colonies. He was a patriot and fought valiantly in the war that gained independence from Great Britain. Later he was elected senator from New York, and still later he became Thomas Jefferson’s vice president.
But gradually the dream of freedom changed for Burr and self-interest and inordinate ambition took over. He began to have grandiose ideas of invading the Southwest ostensibly to encourage the western states to secede from the Union.
One day he sailed down the Ohio River and came to Blennerhassett Island so named for Harmar and Margaret Blennerhassett who had come from England to build a paradise on the Western frontier. Harmar was wealthy, had a scientific mind, and reflected broad cultural tastes. He also was somewhat eccentric. Burr was able to convince Blennerhassett that his scheme was plausible, and the latter agreed to finance the project. Sometime later, both men were arrested by federal authorities, but Chief Justice John Marshall presided over a trial at Richmond that exonerated both of them of serious crimes.
We probably never will known completely what Burr’s motivation was in his Southwest plan. Was it conspiracy or something else less heinous? One thing we do know is that he lost his original dream. It was shattered beyond recovery. His last years were lived as a broken and a disillusioned man.
No matter how promising our dream might be, it is possible to lose sight of it along the way. Since it takes time for a dream to unfold, not everyone has the patience to wait for such developments. Further, if our dream is worth anything at all it is apt to attract opposition. Pressures will be applied against us to deviate from or even abandon the dream. It is not hard to lose the focus of our dream.
Perhaps you have seen on television a rerun of the so-called “Miracle Mile” at Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1954. The Miracle Mile pitted against each other the only two men who at that time had cracked the four-minute barrier. The turning point in the race came near the end of the last lap. Jim Landy of Australia had led all the way, but he wondered during the last lap how close Roger Bannister of England was to him. He turned his head to see, slowed his pace a bit, and in that split second Bannister passed him and never relinquished the lead as he broke the tape.
How essential it is to keep our eye on the target. We must never lose sight of our dream.
Enunciate Your Dream
First, you identify your dream, then you take precautions to hold on to your dreams, and finally, you enunciate your dream.
Mary Jones is pastor of Covenant Church in a small Midwestern community. She realizes that her single congregation does not have an impressive physical plant to attract huge numbers of people. What she does have as pastor is a desire to give her congregation a unique personality. In her case she is looking for people who really want to get involved. If they do not want to, this congregation is not for them. She explains: “When you have vision, people dare to dream the impossible. I believe in trying to get the whole church involved. I am especially drawn to the ‘grungies’ of society. There is nothing more exciting in ministry than to get people to believe in themselves.”2
In our own congregation the motif of the pioneer has been at the heart of our dream. Why have we chosen to visualize ourselves in this way? We have an existential reason. We feel like pioneers. We are living on the frontier, not sure of what is coming next. We are willing to take risks. We know deep down inside that we cannot by any means attain our desired objective unless we depend completely upon the grace of God to guide us.
We have a historical reason, too. We live in an area where the first settlements of the Northwest Territory were made. We imbibe the pioneering spirit of the Revolutionary soldiers and their families who left New England to settle Marietta in 1788 and Belpre in 1789. We have inherited a singular legacy.
Most significantly of all, we have a biblical reason. As we study the Bible we confront the pioneer impulse. We notice Abraham and Sarah went out to a far country, not knowing where they are going. The Apostle Paul pioneered too, following the Spirit’s dream within him until he not only spread the good news in Asia Minor, but crossed over into Europe and provided the groundwork for the later proclamation of the Gospel by Europeans in the new world of America. And of course, we observed Jesus himself who is fittingly characterized as “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).”
In Hannah Green’s novel I Never Promised You A Rose Garden, a young woman named Deborah struggles with her mental illness. One night she had a dream of winter darkness. Out of this darkness came a great hand, and three pieces of coal were held within the hand. Slowly the hand closed and it became a fist. She could feel the pressure upon the pieces of coal, a crushing sense, almost without relief. After what seemed to be a long, long time the fist relaxed and very slowly opened. She looked to see:
“Three clear and brilliant diamonds, shot with light, lay in the good palm. A deep voice called to her, ‘Deborah!’ and then gently, ‘Deborah, this will be you.’ ”3
Is this not the dream we wish for all people, that they may be changed, that they may start life again, that they may be forgiven, that they have an affirming dream of their own? That message is without question at the heart of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ where we all begin. But in its communication and translation we project our varied emphases, slants and styles that appeal to particular persons and give them hope for tomorrow. Every congregation is summoned to enunciate the dream in one form or another. It is not a once-and-for-all assignment, but a continuing responsibility. We need leaders who will enliven us, interpret and re-interpret our intentions, and keep us moving ahead in a grand adventure of Faith.
Business executive Robert E. Greenleaf in his provocative book, Servant Leadership, has a lot to say about goal-setting. He is convinced that the church cannot grow and flourish unless it is caught up in an all-consuming purpose. A growing-edge church constantly looks ahead to the future. In his own words: “Someone in the church must paint the dream. For anything to happen there must be a dream. And for anything great to happen there must be a great dream.”4
Who is going to paint the dream in your church?
At first, the students are resistant. Everything seems too crazy. Gradually, however, they respond to their teacher’s enthusiasm for poetry and life. Soon it becomes apparent that the boys are hungry and thirsty -- not for food and drink because most of them come from affluent homes. They are hungry and thirsty for love, for acceptance and for someone to take seriously their personal dreams.
How seriously do we take our own dreams? Are we conscious that we have what Alan McGlashan calls “the dreamer within”? Could it be possible that God is trying to speak to us through our dreams?
The prophet Joel promised ancient Israel that one day “your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions (2:28).”
The backdrop for these words was an agricultural crisis. The land had been plagued recently with a swarm of locusts that devastated the crops. Food was scarce. The people were terrified. One day the prophet arrived on the scene to announce that “the day of the Lord” was at hand. This expression signified that God was about to take decisive action in Israel’s history.
Joel’s prophecy is infused with possibilities about the future. He calls upon his people to rejoice because he has received the promise from God that soon “abundant rain” will come. No longer will they have to contend with “the hopper, the destroyer and the cutter.” They will have food to satisfy themselves. Never again will they be put to shame. Their prayers have been answered.
In the teaching of all the prophets “the day of the Lord” had definite implications for the distant future and the end time. Joel introduced his long view with the words: “And it shall come to pass afterward…” In the future God will pour out the Spirit upon all people. The sons and daughters of Israel will prophesy. What is more old men shall dream dreams and young men shall see visions. Nor, will such a promise be restricted to just a few people, even “menservants and maidservants” will receive the Spirit. In that day, God will speak directly through the Spirit to each and every one who is open and receptive.
Centuries later, Peter, on the Day of Pentecost appropriates Joel’s prophecy of dreams and visions as the text for the first Christian sermon. The prophet’s words were fulfilled as God’s Spirit like tongues of fire and the rush of a mighty wind came upon the early disciples gathered in Jerusalem. The followers of Jesus who had cowered secretly in fear since their Lord’s death, some 50 days previously, now were energized with power, joy and expectation.
The Dreamer within them nudged them out of their comfortable and familiar surroundings in Jerusalem to spread the good news about Jesus throughout Judea, even to the once despised Samaritans, and eventually into the gentile world, in fact to the ends of the earth.
What a dream!
The best news of all is that the same Dreamer is at work within your own life. God is trying to speak to you. Though you may feel spiritually landlocked today, there is something inside you reminding you that you are destined to sail on wider seas.
How shall you respond to God’s Spirit, the animating Dreamer within you?
Identify Your Dream
The first task is to identify your dream.
What specifically is God calling you to do? You can be sure that starting out following a dream will not be an easy undertaking.
Chaim Potok in his novel In the Beginning tells the story of a Hebrew scholar and teacher who is conscious that the work he does is difficult. It is not painless to motivate students to engage in a disciplined study of the Scriptures. Furthermore, the kind of teaching he does touches the raw nerves of faith and sometimes visibly shakes the students to their core. Consequently, he tells his students: “All beginnings are hard… Especially a beginning that you make by yourself. That’s the hardest beginning of all.”1
When my wife and I arrived on the field to gather and to organize our congregation the Mission Committee informed us that we could expect three families in the area to form the nucleus of the new church. That was not many people, we thought, only three families. As it turned out, only one of the three families would actually stay and become a part of the new church development. The situation was more daring that we had realized.
The fact that it rained for seven consecutive Sundays when we began our worship services in a community building did not lift our spirits either. Was the Lord trying to tell us something? What we learned for ourselves was that indeed all beginnings are hard.
Likewise, in identifying our dream it is not always clear just what we are called to be or to do.
Scanning the newspaper the other day I came across the following ad: “Presbyopia -- If you are over 40, you’ve got it.”
Presbyopia is the inability of the eyes to focus sharply on things up close, such as small print. The condition comes to us all about the age of 40 and becomes worse as time passes. One of the first signs of presbyopia probably comes when we find ourselves having trouble reading the phone book and other small print.
We all are susceptible to blurred vision when it comes to identifying our dream, too. The meaning of our dream is not always clear at first.
In our new congregation we had little more than a vague idea where our dream would lead us. We had a mere handful of people. Our financial resources were modest. We lacked basic equipment and supplies. We were viewed with suspicion as unwanted competitors by some churches in the area.
Nonetheless, we moved ahead and steadily the dream took shape. We realized that other people in our community were in transition, and we began to appeal to people looking for a new start in life. Some of us were newcomers to the community. Others were beginning new families or were seeking new relationships after suffering brokenness of one kind or another. Still others were simply craving a fresh spiritual adventure.
As we continued our journey we came to believe that the dream was not so much our own dream but God’s Spirit dreaming within our fellowship.
Our world needs people who are willing to respond to a compelling dream not only to build new churches but to provide forward-looking leadership in government at all levels, to strengthen our public school system, to wield ecological knowledge and skill to protect our environment. These areas of contemporary society are only a few of the host of challenges awaiting dreamers who are open to the Spirit’s leading.
Hold On To Your Dream
After you have identified your dream, the next task is to hold on to your dream.
That objective is not as easy to accomplish as it may seem. Even the most powerful dream can evaporate into thin air with the passing of time.
In my regular walks along the walking trail at the park near the beautiful Ohio River I see in full view the enchanted Blennerhassett Island. The island sits in the middle of the river between Belpre, Ohio, and Parkersburg, West Virginia. I call the island enchanted because of the story associated with the picturesque setting.
One of the most tragic figures of the American Revolution was Aaron Burr. A handsome, slender man from New York state, he showed all kinds of promise. His father was president of the college at Princeton. His mother was the daughter of Jonathan Edwards, the leading theologian in the colonies. He was a patriot and fought valiantly in the war that gained independence from Great Britain. Later he was elected senator from New York, and still later he became Thomas Jefferson’s vice president.
But gradually the dream of freedom changed for Burr and self-interest and inordinate ambition took over. He began to have grandiose ideas of invading the Southwest ostensibly to encourage the western states to secede from the Union.
One day he sailed down the Ohio River and came to Blennerhassett Island so named for Harmar and Margaret Blennerhassett who had come from England to build a paradise on the Western frontier. Harmar was wealthy, had a scientific mind, and reflected broad cultural tastes. He also was somewhat eccentric. Burr was able to convince Blennerhassett that his scheme was plausible, and the latter agreed to finance the project. Sometime later, both men were arrested by federal authorities, but Chief Justice John Marshall presided over a trial at Richmond that exonerated both of them of serious crimes.
We probably never will known completely what Burr’s motivation was in his Southwest plan. Was it conspiracy or something else less heinous? One thing we do know is that he lost his original dream. It was shattered beyond recovery. His last years were lived as a broken and a disillusioned man.
No matter how promising our dream might be, it is possible to lose sight of it along the way. Since it takes time for a dream to unfold, not everyone has the patience to wait for such developments. Further, if our dream is worth anything at all it is apt to attract opposition. Pressures will be applied against us to deviate from or even abandon the dream. It is not hard to lose the focus of our dream.
Perhaps you have seen on television a rerun of the so-called “Miracle Mile” at Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1954. The Miracle Mile pitted against each other the only two men who at that time had cracked the four-minute barrier. The turning point in the race came near the end of the last lap. Jim Landy of Australia had led all the way, but he wondered during the last lap how close Roger Bannister of England was to him. He turned his head to see, slowed his pace a bit, and in that split second Bannister passed him and never relinquished the lead as he broke the tape.
How essential it is to keep our eye on the target. We must never lose sight of our dream.
Enunciate Your Dream
First, you identify your dream, then you take precautions to hold on to your dreams, and finally, you enunciate your dream.
Mary Jones is pastor of Covenant Church in a small Midwestern community. She realizes that her single congregation does not have an impressive physical plant to attract huge numbers of people. What she does have as pastor is a desire to give her congregation a unique personality. In her case she is looking for people who really want to get involved. If they do not want to, this congregation is not for them. She explains: “When you have vision, people dare to dream the impossible. I believe in trying to get the whole church involved. I am especially drawn to the ‘grungies’ of society. There is nothing more exciting in ministry than to get people to believe in themselves.”2
In our own congregation the motif of the pioneer has been at the heart of our dream. Why have we chosen to visualize ourselves in this way? We have an existential reason. We feel like pioneers. We are living on the frontier, not sure of what is coming next. We are willing to take risks. We know deep down inside that we cannot by any means attain our desired objective unless we depend completely upon the grace of God to guide us.
We have a historical reason, too. We live in an area where the first settlements of the Northwest Territory were made. We imbibe the pioneering spirit of the Revolutionary soldiers and their families who left New England to settle Marietta in 1788 and Belpre in 1789. We have inherited a singular legacy.
Most significantly of all, we have a biblical reason. As we study the Bible we confront the pioneer impulse. We notice Abraham and Sarah went out to a far country, not knowing where they are going. The Apostle Paul pioneered too, following the Spirit’s dream within him until he not only spread the good news in Asia Minor, but crossed over into Europe and provided the groundwork for the later proclamation of the Gospel by Europeans in the new world of America. And of course, we observed Jesus himself who is fittingly characterized as “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).”
In Hannah Green’s novel I Never Promised You A Rose Garden, a young woman named Deborah struggles with her mental illness. One night she had a dream of winter darkness. Out of this darkness came a great hand, and three pieces of coal were held within the hand. Slowly the hand closed and it became a fist. She could feel the pressure upon the pieces of coal, a crushing sense, almost without relief. After what seemed to be a long, long time the fist relaxed and very slowly opened. She looked to see:
“Three clear and brilliant diamonds, shot with light, lay in the good palm. A deep voice called to her, ‘Deborah!’ and then gently, ‘Deborah, this will be you.’ ”3
Is this not the dream we wish for all people, that they may be changed, that they may start life again, that they may be forgiven, that they have an affirming dream of their own? That message is without question at the heart of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ where we all begin. But in its communication and translation we project our varied emphases, slants and styles that appeal to particular persons and give them hope for tomorrow. Every congregation is summoned to enunciate the dream in one form or another. It is not a once-and-for-all assignment, but a continuing responsibility. We need leaders who will enliven us, interpret and re-interpret our intentions, and keep us moving ahead in a grand adventure of Faith.
Business executive Robert E. Greenleaf in his provocative book, Servant Leadership, has a lot to say about goal-setting. He is convinced that the church cannot grow and flourish unless it is caught up in an all-consuming purpose. A growing-edge church constantly looks ahead to the future. In his own words: “Someone in the church must paint the dream. For anything to happen there must be a dream. And for anything great to happen there must be a great dream.”4
Who is going to paint the dream in your church?
