Reflections

Dreamer

When I was growing up in Wisconsin, being identified as a dreamer was not a compliment. I suspect that such a thing did not fit well with the strong German work ethic of those folks. Somehow, dreamers did not pay attention to the things at hand or, perhaps, were not in touch with the hard realities of everyday life. Though I appreciate their concerns, the fact is that dreaming is absolutely essential. Now, I’m not speaking here of deep-sleep-complete-with-REM dreaming. You can lose your sanity without getting a regular dose of that kind of dreaming. But, no, that is not what I am thinking of. I am thinking about the dreaming that goes with seeing the future as it is not yet. I want to be that kind of dreamer.

Throughout the Bible, in both the Older and the Newer Testament, God honors dreamers for refusing to take things as they are. The dreaming of dreams celebrates the work of the Spirit who calls us to embrace God’s future which is not yet. New Year, then, is a good time for Spirited-work at dreaming. Of course, if all things were already as God would have them be, there would be no room for dreaming. But, certainly, no one is so blind as to think that that is the way of the world, are they? God calls us into the future because we are not yet all that we could be and our world has not yet realized all that God has planned for it.

One of the amazing things about our God, though, is that our God brings the future to us. As God brings the future closer and closer, more and more, the future is not some distant, never-never land only to be dreamed about by folks not in touch with reality. The future demands action now.

If you want to do a quick analysis of any church, check to see which it has more of, memories or dreams. What about CtL? Are our best days behind us or ahead of us? Do we dare to dream? I want to be numbered among the dreamers. I want to belong to a congregation filled with dreamers. Does any of this sound like Friedman in the last chapter of the World Is Flat? It ought to since I stole the idea from him. As important as memories are, if all we have are memories, we are living in the past. But if we dare to dream, God has more for us to do than we could possibly have imagined. Now, knowing that there is still work to be done just might convince some of those folks with whom I grew up that being a dreamer is OK.

Bob