Dreaming God's Dream, Part I: Proclaiming Your Dream—Which of the Million Dreams is Yours?

Have you ever had a dream?  I don’t just mean random neurons firing at night that you may or may not remember in the morning.  No, I mean something vivid that you passionately believe in, which currently doesn’t exist in the world, but you want to help come true.  Have you gone public with your vision? How did people react?  I have a hunch there are probably lots of unspoken dreams among us that never get shared, because we fear what others will think of us if we say them out loud.  I know that's true for me…  

This week, we celebrate the birth of one such dreamer.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of a world where racism was eradicated.  He passionately pursued his dream, even giving his life for it.  He inspired others to dream the same dream and carry it on.  Today the dream has come true in part. We’ve come a long way since Dr. King went public with his famous "I Have A Dream" speech at the March on Washington in 1963—but we are all too frequently reminded that racism still exists in our nation and our world.  Our own President just recently made remarks regarding the suitability of citizens of some countries to immigrate to the U.S. that certainly seemed to have racist overtures—not the first time he has made these kind of statements.  It’s up to dreamers like you and me to keep pursuing King's dream until its fullness is realized and no person is ever judged by the color of their skin, but solely by the content of their character.

Over the Holidays, my family saw the movie The Greatest Showman.  It tells the story of P. T. Barnum’s creation of Barnum and Bailey’s Circus, and the lives of its star attractions.  While it has been rightly criticized for presenting a less than historically accurate picture of these events (ignoring racism and exploitation of the circus participants), I have to admit that it was still an entertaining film. The musical score draws you in.  We are still humming and singing the songs in our home.  

My personal favorite was “A Million Dreams”.  Like Dr. King, P. T. Barnum wanted to create the world of his dreams.  In his case, it was a magical world that would entertain the masses, and give them an escape from their normal grim day-to-day reality in New York City.  When he shared his dream publicly, however, family and friends scoffed at him.  What a silly dream to have, the critics said, calling it “humbug”, a “circus”—which ironically inspired the name that Barnum chose for his show. The dreamer was undeterred however; he simply went about trying to design the world of his vision.  

They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy.
They can say, they can say we've lost our minds.
I don't care, I don't care if they call us crazy.
Runaway to a world that we design

Every night I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake

I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it's gonna take
A million dreams for the world we're gonna make.

I teared up a bit when I heard this chorus the first time in the theater.  I don’t get emotional that often, although when I do it’s often music that does it.  I’ve learned to pay attention to that strange catch in my throat, and what God may be trying to say to me in those moments. 

I think this scene is evocative because it speaks to very human experience of dreaming.   We all dream—although I personally don’t tend to remember many of my dreams. Though they’ve certainly done lots of research, scientists aren’t sure why we dream.   Google reports that opinions about the meaning of dreams have varied and shifted through time and culture.  Today, many endorse the Freudian theory of dreams—that dreams reveal insight into hidden desires and emotions. Other prominent theories are that dreams assist in memory formation, problem solving, or are simply a product of random neurons firing.

So, in that general sense, everybody dreams.  But it seems the type of dream King and P.T. Barnum had was a special kind of dream that maybe not everybody experiences—or at least they don’t have the courage to say them out loud.  You might call it a vision of a world that does not yet exist.  The scene with "A Million Dreams" begins with young Barnum singing to young Charity (who later becomes his wife), but by the time the song gets to the second chorus, it is older Barnum that is singing.  That suggests to me that this is a recurring, life-consuming dream for Barnum.  Since he was a small child, he has been possessed by a compelling vision that propels him forward to do all he can to create the world of his dreams.  Charity, now grown up, joins in on the bridge of the song, and the final chorus, which says to me that this kind of dream is contagious—in a good way.  A passionate dream will draw others in to carry on the dream long after the original dreamer is gone.  Charity is “infected” just from being around Barnum; she now wants to be part of her husband’s dream too.

So bringing this back to where I began:  Do you have a dream today?  I think we all do, but some of us haven't figured out how to fully articulate ours yet—and I include myself on this list.  If you do know your dream, consider yourself fortunate.  Now go live it out...  

The next question is:  Have you gone public with your dream? If not, what do you think holds you back from either dreaming, or saying it out loud?  It's usually some type of fear of what others will think if we say what we are thinking or praying out loud.  Ask God to help you discern your dreams, get past your fears, and grant you courage to proclaim them to the world.  

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.’ We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we subconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. — Nelson Mandela

If you are looking for hints where to start tracking down your dreams, here are a few thoughts I've learned over the years from various sources and personal experience.

God's dream for you is usually found where your deepest desires and the world's great needs meet. 

The needs of the world are obvious—overwhelming even.  Just check the latest news, and you'll find plenty of needs to address.  

Figuring out your deepest desire and where God calls you to get involved to make a difference requires more discernment.  

This is where you have to get more personal. and ask: What makes you come alive? Stay with the question until you get an answer.  Pester God with your prayer. What gets you on the edge of your seat when you talk about it?  Follow that trail,  because that's usually where those somewhat elusive passionate dreams that people like Barnum, and King—and Jesus—had.  And what our world needs now, more than ever, is deep dreamers—people that are alert and oriented to how things really are in the world (which is sometimes not great, if we're honest) but who are undeterred by the current reality and able to see as if "through a mirror dimly" what the world has the potential of becoming.  God looks for people determined to do their utmost to use their God-given gifts to make a positive difference in this world. 

Next: Sustaining the Dream—Doing the Work of Christmas

Lighting the Way

O come, Thou Day-Spring

Come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death’s dark shadows put to flight

—O Come, O Come Emanuel, verse 3

Darkness is a natural phenomenon, woven into the fabric of life on Earth: the sun rises and sets each day as the Earth rotates; night follows day in a rhythmic pattern.  Here in Maryland, this is the time of year when darkness reigns. Those first few nights after we “fall back” to Standard Time in mid-November are always a shock to my system.  All of a sudden, it’s dark at 4:30 in the afternoon!  How dare the sun go away that early?  What brain trust came up with the idea of taking away an hour of daylight in the afternoon, to give it to the morning?  Those long midsummer evenings during which we enjoyed outdoor activities seem like a distant memory.  The trees shed the last of their withered leaves and the darkness and bareness of winter advances. The darkness and bleakness can drag us down a bit.  Extended time in darkness can have health impacts;  Seasonal Affective Disorder is a temporary malaise linked to lack of sun exposure.

It can sometimes be challenging to “believe in the sun” when it isn’t shining. This is especially true when the darkness is prolonged, or when the clouds of doom and fog of despair seem impenetrable. Try as we might to “beat the darkness”—it eventually gets the better of all of us.  We use artificial lights to fend of darkness as best we can, but left to depend on human power alone, eventually the darkness will prevail.

In the movie, The Two Towers, the Lady Galadriel gives Frodo a phial—a piece of Eårendil, the beloved Elven Star. She hopes it will be a light to him in dark places when all other lights go out.  He puts it aside and almost forgets about it—until the moment he is in the lair of a huge spider demon creature named Shelob, a hellish place where no mortal light can penetrate the darkness.  Frodo uses the piece of immortal light that Galadriel gave him to drive away Shelob and find his way to freedom.

Scriptures tell similar stories of light shining in darkness against all odds—probably because Tolkien was at least somewhat inspired by God’s Story when he wrote his epic tale of Middle Earth. Consider, for example, this passage we read during Advent:

But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined. —Isaiah 9:1-2

The Prophet Isaiah addresses people sitting in darkness. In this context, the darkness is the loneliness and isolation that comes from many years spent living in exile in Babylon, far from their homeland. Isaiah does not mince words; there will be judgment for their failure to honor God—but after the exile would come restoration (salvation).  Jerusalem will once again shine; Israel will be a light to the nations.

Later in history, the Jewish people once again dwelled in darkness, this time oppressed by Rome, with no word from God for over 400 years. They waited for a savior—a Messiah—who would come and set them free. Christians believe that Jesus was indeed that long-expected Messiah. The Creator became part of his creation.  God became human in every way, even going so far as to experience death on a cross for the Creation he so loved.  By becoming so thoroughly human, God saved us in every way a person could be saved.  Jesus’s resurrection showed us that even the ultimate darkness—death—could not stop the Light of the World from shining.

The opening of John’s Gospel proclaims that in Jesus, this Light of the World has come, and will never be overcome by the world’s darkness—John 1:1-5. Although we  humans tend to cling fiercely to our comfortable darkness—John 3:19—if we allow it, the Light that Jesus brings into our lives, and into our world, can put darkness into full retreat. To say another way, in Jesus, God provides the only power source that will never fail us.  Eventually all human lights fail, but the Light of the World is eternal.

Today we believe the Light of the World is present with us through the Holy Spirit.   During Advent we sing, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, because we recognize we still need “rescue” from the darkness of our present world.  We also anticipate Jesus’s second coming, when he will judge the world and, in the words of N.T. Wright,  “ put the world to rights”. Advent is thus a time to prepare.  After all, if the King is coming, we need to roll up our sleeves and get “cleaned up” for his arrival.   We can start doing the work of remaking the world now, that we believe Jesus will bring to completion when he returns. Just like John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus’s first coming, we are the ones who prepare the way for his second coming.

Paul reminds us repeatedly in his letters that Christ dwells in us and we dwell in Christ. Teresa of Avila said that: “Christ has no body here but ours, no hands, no feet on earth but ours…”  To me, that means that if the Light of the World is going to penetrate the darkness of our world, it will be because Little Lights of the World like you and me, carried it there.  Perhaps like Frodo, we’ve been worn down by our journey and forget the light we carry within us—or even doubt we have any to share.  But the promise of Scripture is that it’s there, and if we remember it—and choose to shine it— it can be a powerful force for good in this world. Sometimes our mere presence might be what pushes back the darkness on a face we meet along our way,  in a place we go, or in a space we dwell.  Seen that way, maybe the most wonderful gift we can give this Christmas is to share our light with someone in darkness.  We can become the Elven Stars of this world, offering bright light when all other light fades—Philippians 2:15.