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November 9, 2008 sermon

Dreaming Big
(Isaiah 65: 17-19, 24-25; Matthew 9: 35-10:16 selected verses)

Reverend Minister Sally Harris

We have imagined peace. We have prayed for peace. We have lit candles for peace and still our world longs for peace. O God open our eyes to your way of peace so we may continue to dream big. Amen

Wow! What a week! What a month! As a country tied to the powerful presence of the United States we have joined their roller coaster ride of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression to the amazing euphoria of the unimaginable election of Barack Obama! Wow!!! It has created such emotions and such hope. In the midst of this miracle moment the President elect cancelled the fireworks and spoke a sober message – there is much work to do and I need your help! We are in two wars, we are in a severe economic crisis, people are losing their jobs, their homes, their health, and their life savings. Yes there is hope and there is much hard work to do. From this international political news breaking, life-changing, transformational, inspirational time in history we take this time to listen to our ancient story, finding how our story, informs these times. How these dusty pages informs this roller coaster ride.

We begin with the gospel: imagine being perfectly content to be a follower, confident that Jesus is doing a fine job of preaching and teaching and healing when suddenly Jesus comes through the door. And Jesus is all worn out, with hair hanging in his face, sweaty clothes and dirty, dusty feet. He looks around at all of us who are here to listen and willing to learn how to follow. And says:

"The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few so let us pray to God so that God – the God of the harvest and the God of the labor force will send more laborers…"

Then Jesus rooted in prayer, rooted in the faithfulness of God looks us over again, a motley crew of would-be-followers and then does the weirdest thing. Jesus raises his hands, says a prayer that travels down our collective backbone like a chill, giving us authority over demons, over disease - even over death. Now wait a minute! I think Jesus is getting our job descriptions mixed up. This kind of stuff is what Jesus was trained to do, born to do! I don't think any of us were born under a blinding star with angels singing and foreign dignitaries offering us exotic gifts. Look I'll unwrap the grave clothes for you but it's your job to do the dead-raising. But before we can get clarity Jesus starts instructing us on how to accomplish this mission impossible. Leave your wallets and purses here. You'll be traveling on foot - barefoot, actually - and you won't need a backpack. God will provide and that will be easier for people to see if you don't carry all your own provisions with you. Wow that Jesus was sure a dreamer… I think us ordinary folk get tired of dreaming. Dreaming big enough to think we each can make a difference. Though this week has certainly brought an extraordinary amount of renewed hope in the possibility of “dreaming big” - we still live in a world full of despair.

Our story understands despair: it was around the year 475 B. C., that the women and men who lived in Jerusalem got tired of dreaming big - dreaming of a new world – of peace and safety. The people were despairing. Two generations had passed since their ancestors, with much rejoicing, had set out from Babylon to repopulate the city of David. Those were exciting days – yet frightening. Their prophets had sung of how God would lead the people home from exile as all creation rejoiced and had spun visions of a glorious new Temple set within a sparkling city. These images danced in their heads as the returning Jews walked from exile toward home. Yet now after so long there was still so much distance between this dream and the reality!!

In this time of broken promises and shattered dreams once again certain individuals began to raise their voice, singing the old songs of joy and hope, but in a new key. The ancient promises had been true all along, they sang, but in a far grander way than anyone had realized. The writer of Isaiah 65 was one of those voices that understood the larger dimensions of God’s dream; understood the need to dream big. In fact the prophet says: God is dreaming not just of a new Temple but of new heavens and a new earth. In this place even the natural order will be at peace… lambs and wolves shall eat together.

God’s dream was not just about changing the brick and mortar but about transforming the heart.

The poetry of this prophet, like many words from our sacred story remind us that peace talk is soul talk. It seems inevitable that on this Sunday before Remembrance Day we remember not only the sacrifice but also the dream of peace. The longing for peace; the dreaming of peace is essential for the health of the soul and of the world.

For the fate of the soul is the fate of the social order. If the spirit within us withers, so too will all the world we build around us. [Theodore Roszak]

Contemplative vision is revolutionary vision. Dreaming with God means we know that evil is not a permanent unchangeable force. Evil is not irreversible. The ways of violence - murder and war; exile and devastation are not the only lenses to view our world. There is not enough darkness in the world to put out the light of one candle. And so we lit a candle, we sing a song, we pray our prayers, we march, we protest, we vote, we write, we wear t-shirts… because we not only grieve the world and the distance between the dream and the reality… but we dream a new world and live as if everything we do, the choices we make, make a difference because they do.

One of my favorite stories comes to mind: it is the Middle Eastern legend about a spindly little sparrow that was lying on her back in the middle of the road. A horseman came by, dismounted, and asked the sparrow what on earth she was doing lying there in the middle of the road with her feet up in the air. “I heard the heavens were going to fall today,” said the sparrow. “Oh,” said the horseman, “I suppose you think that your puny little legs can hold up the heavens?” “One does what one can,” said the sparrow. “One does what one can.”

Each of us can choose that kind of radical response to life – wise as serpents – not reckless but careful and cautious, not indifferent but acknowledging our grief, not uninformed but discerning the culture and the signs of the times. And we are called to be innocent as doves - open to the seemingly impossible. To dream this kind of peace; to walk this path is not an easy way. To walk this path; to dream this dream is to commit oneself to daily acts of difficult choice. Applying the lessons of peace in our lives means examining our motivations, feelings, and behaviors. It means questioning our leaders, our institutions, and our assumptions about how we live together in our communities and in our world. To walk the talk of peace is to face societal pressures that would maintain a status quo grounded in competition, aggression, and adversarial thinking, and still do things differently. [From: The Courage for Peace, Louise Diamond]

To walk this path is not just being involved in the peace movement. It is an act of transformation – beginning from the inside out… and it is tough to do it alone…

Let us stand together as a peace church– not a doormat church – not a do-what-you-like-no-consequence church but a peace church. Not a church that lives in a dream world but a church that lives the dream. A community that is wise as a serpent, innocent as a dove.

A community that does what one can. A community that dreams peace and walks for peace and walks the talk of peace and, indeed, continues even in the darkness to pray for peace. May it be so…

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