Living the Dream

Neighbor. Oh, Neighbor. We are living the dream.

I love that saying. When I was a salesman in a DC construction company, there was this manager of our Gaithersburg, Maryland, store… If you’d ask him, “What’s up?” or “How’s it going?” or any greeting like that… he’d always answer, “living the dream.”

He’d say this if he was having a great day or the worst day. He’d say this if we had 15 deliveries and were on time or if we had a truck in a ditch and a pile of drywall getting rained on and ruined. “Living the dream.”

He’d say it in such a way that you’d believe it. He’d say it in a sarcastic way that would say that he’s under pressure and can’t talk, but he’s looking for the positive. He was a positive guy! I learned so much from him, because I’m not always the most positive. I have a dark sense of humor. Sometimes this creeps into my outlook. Sometimes I need reminders of the dream.

For what we heard today is a dream. A prophetic dream. The final chapters of Isaiah sound a lot like the beginning. Scholar Gene M Tucker sums it up by saying, “What God is up to is nothing less than making a new heaven and a new earth.”[1] This is an amazing vision we received today. It’s an amazing dream.

This is not a pie-in-the-sky dream. It is a deeply rooted dream. In confirmation, we don’t begin with doctrine or theology or even poring over the Bible. We begin with the 4 elements and home. We begin by paying attention to our surroundings and this church building. How fire is used to inspire us. How space has been shaped to move us. How stone has been used to hold us. How water is used to remind us of the flow of life. The message is pay attention to context. Context shapes us and informs us.

Isaiah is a prophet of the eight century BCE. This is a time when Israel is being threatened by the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians were the powerhouse, threatening their neighbors. Little is known of Isaiah’s life, but the first 39 chapters, according to scholars, were written in this time. The next grouping, known as Second Isaiah is written after the Assyrian army decimated the cities and towns of Judah and laid siege to Jerusalem in 701 BCE. The army wiped out the entire northern kingdoms.

The last section we read, scholars think was written around 597 BCE, some 200 years after the Assyrians. It is when Israel was defeated by the Babylonians. They weren’t wiped out, but carried off into exile. The ancients had no problem attributing words to people long dead. They would read Isaiah and think of what the prophet would do, and then update the words to their own time and context. Isaiah 1 began with a dream… Israel that has fallen will be lifted, sins forgiven, lands restored, people who live in despair will thrive again. That’s how it starts, and it ends the same way, which is what we heard today. The wolf and the lamb will dwell together, and no one will hurt or destroy on God’s holy mountain. God’s holy mountain of Zion in Jerusalem where the temple was.

A dream can keep you going in the hardest of times. George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “Dream of things that never were and think, why not?” Israel is dreaming in exile. Israel is dreaming after being decimated by the Assyrians. They dream that Jerusalem will be a delight and its people a joy. Never again will infants die.

So many of us have dreams for our children. Even before I started dating, it was my dream to be a dad. I knew it was in my future. I would dream of my kids. I didn’t know them, but I would wonder about them. When Kate and I had Eve, we had so many dreams for her even before we knew she was a girl! Yet so many couples have dreams that go unfulfilled. Or there are miscarriages. Infant deaths.

It’s a hard thing. Yet having heard so many couples who have gone through these things, it was a dream of finally having children that kept them going. Or it was the adoption. Or the fostering. Or the decision to be the best uncles and aunts and community volunteers ever. Dreams kept them going through the loss.

Israel who saw their armies of young men killed and their cities and villages ransacked, they dream of a day when one who dies at 100 will thought to have been a mere child. These things never were, but why not? A long and vital life. A time where one can build a house and live in it. It seems simple, but that wasn’t the context when it was written. Houses were being burned down. People carried off to a foreign land to work for other people.  The dream is as simple as a home to dwell in. To enjoy the fruits of one’s own labor. That’s the dream that keeps them going.

Israel believed that God was not speaking to them. That there was a silence of the Exile[2]. For years, decades, centuries, God was silent to Israel. Yet it was in that time that the people dream that before they would speak, God would answer. Before they called, God would hear. As the words were forming on their mouth, God would understand. That’s the dream. We all need a dream that motivates and inspires us.

I had a dream coming here to Medina. A dream of being the head pastor. Of the freedom to decide my ministry. The thrill of being able to preach every week instead of once a month. A dream of a new house and of raising my family closer to our family. A dream of driving down for the day to visit my mom. Or having my in-laws come up for the kids’ school programs. I am living the dream.

It hasn’t been without its hardship. There have been tough days, tougher than I anticipated. Yet I have this dream that propels me. In this time of division and distrust. In this time where it’s hard to love our neighbor. In this time of fear. A dream propels me.

I dream of a community where fear has no foothold. Medina will be a delight. Its people a joy. I see the UCC as a denomination that has paid the price of being the first. The first to ordain a black man. A woman. An openly gay man. The first denomination to become open and affirming of all God’s people no matter your gender, sexual orientation, race, background, or whatever! I joined the UCC for that dream, and it propels me.

Yet hard times can come. People can hear your dream and think it’s stupid. Lions can’t eat straw like ox because they’ve evolved to be meat-eaters and don’t have the right teeth or digestive system, they’d say. They’d say serpents can’t eat dust, there’s no nutritional value. Are you crazy for having that dream? A dream of that job, of that child, of that book, of that goal, of that achievement?

Yes. You are crazy, but it’s the crazy that can compel you to higher heights. A crazy that can heal a world that is so hurtful. You will be doubted for your dream. When that time comes, just remember that you are living a dream.

Before you were born, you were dreamed of. God says, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.”[3] Your parents or parent dreamed of you. They have dreams for you. Dreams sometimes need adjusted to context, yet dreams motivate us.

Last fall, I stood up and said that I thought a city ordinance protecting LBGTQ+ folks would be a good idea. The ordinance protects housing and employment which are essential rights if we are to have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I spoke as a person of faith, but not for the church. This is a dream of mine. Yet I had to meet with other people of faith who disagreed with my view. So I met with them. It was stressful. It was hard. It still is hard. But I thought about my dream and how I wanted to make it a reality… and when the hard times hit… I said when, not if… WHEN the hard times hit, just think, “If I want this dream to be a reality, then this is what comes with it.[4]

When people doubt, well… this is what comes with it. When people misunderstand you and purposely twist your words, this is what comes with it.

When you want to feed your neighbor and people will say it will never work, well… this is what comes with it.

When you want to write a book and people tell you about their failed attempts to write the great American novel, well… this is what comes with it.

When you see yourself holding a child, despite what your family tells you, despite your past history and all the roadblocks… this is what comes with it.

When you are persecuted for believing God’s grace is for all people, that Jesus came for everyone that the Holy Spirit burns in each soul no matter how lost they may seem… this is what comes with it.

Neighbor, oh neighbor we are living the dream.

200 years ago folks built a cabin. And it burned down. Twice. They moved to the Square and held worship in the courthouse… Worship interrupted by doubters and mockers and drunks. Yet they dreamed of this building. Well, not at first, they dreamed of the old brick church but it fell down and THEN they dreamed of this building and of the vibrant life of faith it would nurture. They dreamed of the building that would house the church! The church is you. You are someone’s dream, the dream of our congregational fore-bearers. Sure, we have seen some troubles, we have dealt with some hard situations, this is what comes with making dreams turn into reality.

We are living the dream and the time has come to dream bigger. Dream of lions eating straw. Of wolves sleeping with sheep. Of children. Of the aged. Of all people under this roof, sharing a life together. So let us dream of things that never were and think, why not? Let us paint in colors that have never been made. Let’s imagine songs that have never been played.[5] Let us find the dream that scares us, yet that can propel us through the hard times and into God’s beloved community. Amen.

Works Cited 

[1] Isaiah, New Interpreters Bible volume VI, page 551.

[2] More on silence and a Jewish perspective on it can be found here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/rabbis-without-borders/the-sounds-of-silence/

[3] Jeremiah 1:5

[4] I heard this phrase in a sermon by Rob Bell when I needed to hear it: https://robbell.podbean.com/e/what-she-knows/

[5] Paraphrase of lyrics from Nickel Creek’s “This Side”

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