12/09/2007                                                             Isaiah 11:1-10

“To Dream As God Dreams”

Rev. James Singleton

Introduction

What are you dreaming of this Christmas?

I think some of you have been dreaming of a white Christmas a little early! 

The snow has probably prompted a bit of urgency in some of you.  Some are realizing that if they are to make sure that coveted Red Rider BB gun like gift is under the tree on Christmas morning they had better make sure the hint dropping is escalated.

Or perhaps some of you consider the long to do list of all that still needs to be done, and panic takes over.

And I know there are some students among us who have calculated the exact number of minutes until school is out for Christmas break.

Christmas is an enchanted time of the year.

Every year I hear people say, especially, my mother— “I can’t believe it’s already time for Christmas.”  “Where did the year go?”  “I promised myself last year I’d start earlier next year.” And so forth.

They are the words of those of us who are surprised by just how fast time can pass us by.

Admittedly, Advent and Christmas always catches me by surprise.  Even though it’s on the calendar, and comes the same time every year, I’m always one of the people I hear saying, “I can’t believe it’s already time for Christmas.”

When Advent comes upon us, we suddenly realize how long Ordinary time has been but just how quickly it goes by.  We look back on the year, and can see that a lot of time has passed, but it yet went by so quickly.  Last year at this time, as we prepared for another year, we had plans and determination to do things differently, get things done before next year came.  We had dreams of being in a better place a year later.  Be it getting our Christmas shopping done early, or something more grand.

But then routine set in again.  Our old ways took over, and the immensity of the task became too daunting.  And a year later, we are caught off guard saying, “I can’t believe it’s already time for Christmas” and last year’s Christmas dreams are now just wishful thinking, or even perhaps painful reminders of our failure.

As Advent calls us to prepare, many of us find that our soul within feels completely unprepared. Advent is shocking because the scriptures shout out “Behold the kingdom of God is at hand” – and we realize we have stopped looking for it with any expectation of really finding it.        A year ago the promises held out for us by God were larger than life, but for many the trials and tribulations since last year has put a damper on our sense of a beautiful and joyful future. 

If that describes you, I wonder what has been keeping your dreams from becoming a reality.  Has it been painful or frustrating circumstances, loss of purpose, unattained or delayed desires?  All these turn the enthusiasm we once had, all our dreams, into stumps. 

Our reading for today, tells us that a shoot shall come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow.  The NIV, and others, read that a shoot shall come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots a branch will bear fruit.  Whichever imagery you use, both speak of a new beginning from some thing that has been cut down, from something that has had its life cut short, from something that is no longer beautiful or joyful.

Advent catches us wandering around all the stumps of what hasn’t worked, leaving us to ask ourselves; “Why do I waste my dreaming?  Nothing ever changes.  Just look around, all the seeds of hope and dreams planted have grown, only for them to get cut down, only to have their life cut short, leaving behind only stumps.” 

Advent catches us by surprise, forcing us to reflect upon all that was not.  And all we want to do is find a nice comfortable stump to sit down on and give up. 

Of course, the tragedy is that what we are really giving up on is God.  But as Advent catches us by surprise, we shouldn’t be surprised that it calls us to dream.

Move 1

God does not invite us to dream “of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know.”

God invites us to dream of a world that has never been, but has always been promised.  God invites us to open our arms and eyes and hearts to the blessings God gives us, and as we give thanks, to realize that anything is possible.

Read again what Isaiah tells us, of a world that is absolutely enchanted—“with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek¼ the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and lion and the fatling together, and a child shall lead them.”

As God gives us a glimpse of what can be and what will be, God invites us to dream joyous dreams—outlandish dreams.

That is the Advent invitation:  like Jacob, or any of the great dreamers of scripture, to dream of a ladder connecting heaven and earth.  For in Advent we dream of the word becoming flesh.  A child coming to lead us to a peace that is joyous and outlandish.  And the astonishment of that event, the sheer surprise of that wonderful happening, opens us up to dream wild dreams.  The dreams of God. 

We cannot allow ourselves to focus only on what was not. Rather, Advent implores us to consider what could be, what will be.  New life that can come out of that which cut down and cut short.  New life from something that seems is no longer beautiful.

That is what the root of Jesse shall stand as.  A glorious dwelling of new found peace and hope.  A glorious reality of a dream come true.

Move 2

Don Richardson was a Missionary who served for years among the primitive tribes of New Guinea.  In his book entitled “The Peace Child” Richardson writes about how difficult translating the scriptures into the native language was.  He particularly struggled to find ways to explain and express how Jesus Christ came to give his life that we might have peace with God.  In his book he relates how he finally discovered how he could explain and express this so that this culture could understand it for themselves.            He tells the story of two tribes in Papua, New Guinea who maintained a blood feud between themselves for generations.  Each generation fought one another, would nursed their wounds, and then went and fought again, killing and maiming more and more of each tribe.

Finally after decades of war the two tribes realized that they must stop fighting or nothing would be left of their people.  But they struggled to find a way to end years of warring between the two tribes. They struggled to find a way to bring peace.

Richardson goes on to tell that the chiefs of the two tribes came together and brought with them a child they called “the Peace Child”.  This child was the son of one of the tribe’s chiefs.   The chief’s son was given to the family of the opposing tribe’s chief, and adopted into his family.  The two chiefs made an agreement that as long as that child lived the two tribes would cease their fighting so that all could live.

Upon hearing this account, Richardson had finally figured out how he could explain God’s love and God’s dream for this world.  The opportunity of peace was made possible when God gave a son, the Prince of Peace to our warring world.

These tribes found an end to their routine, they found peace and hope, a reality to their dreams of new life when they enacted the very same thing God did for the world.

Move 3

We are free to dream of a world that looks the way God intends the world to look.

During Advent we are invited to open our imaginations, to step outside our little status quo boxes and dream bigger dreams, wider and wider dreams.

So what is God’s dream for us?  What is the dream in which God invites us to share?

The first part of that dream comes from Isaiah’s passage.  “A shoot shall come out of the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”  The dream includes new life.

Life is the most precious gift we have.  It’s the first gift given to us by God.  We are to cherish it and nurture it and protect it.

Yes, accidents happen, tragedies strike.  But these are not God’s intention.

So let us dream, as Isaiah implores us, to dream of a world in which all life is precious.  Not just here in the affluent United States, but in Rwanda and Bosnia, Iraq and Korea.

Let us dream of a world where people do not die by the thousands of simple starvation.

Let us dream of a world where the infant mortality rate of the West becomes the norm for all nations.

Let us dream of a world where all people share in the amazing medical discoveries of our century.

Let us dream of a world where there are not senseless deaths from shootings in schools or shopping malls.

God’s dream is that those that the world says cannot and should not live together in peace will not hurt or destroy¼ for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.

The Lord knows full well what can grow out of what was cut down and cut short, what seems to be no longer beautiful.  God’s dream is a dream of new life through peace, of Shalom, of all people living in harmony.

We all know how far away we are from that dream.  We know how many categories we can use to divide ourselves from one another.

Advent is a time to cleanse our vision, so that we do not see the divisions, so that we do not accept the divisions.

Advent is the time when we give up our routine; we stop giving up and sitting on the stump.

Instead we dare to dream as God dreams.

We dream of a world of connections, not divisions.

We dream of a world where might doesn’t make right, rather right makes right.

We dream of a world where, as a great dreamer of our nation once said, “all God’s children, black people and white people, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual: free at last, thank God Almighty, we are fee at last.”

Conclusion

So what are you dreaming about this Christmas?  Dreaming of a white Christmas?  Sugar plums dancing in your head already?  Perhaps you have a Red Rider BB gun like gift that you are hoping will be under the Christmas tree.

Winter hasn’t officially arrived yet and here we are already having been struck by winter storms.  Evening is still coming earlier and earlier, and the enormity of trying to get everything done before Christmas has turned the preparation of Advent into a chore.

So let’s stop for a moment.  Let’s stop crafting our to do lists, or figuring out how many hours there are until school is out.  Let’s stop coming up with new angles for getting that coveted Christmas present.

Let’s stop for a moment and reflect upon the gift that lies waiting to be discovered.  A gift that was God’s dream for this world.  A gift that would come as a babe, born in a stable, to unprepared parents, sent to fulfill God’s dream for the world.

And as we reflect upon that dream, let us dream as God dreams.

Let us dream of a world where soup kitchens are overflowing with food all year long—or better yet no longer necessary.

Let us dream of a world where a parent or a spouse doesn’t have to age ten years during the eighteen months their child or spouse is in Iraq.

Let’s dream of a world in which all life is precious.

Let’s dream of Shalom.

And let’s dream about the ways in which each of us can work to make that dream a reality each day.