Like Those Who Dream

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 12/14/14


Read Psalm 126

Image courtesy of hermanoleon.com

Growing up in Richmond, I remember the excitement each year when the ballet performed the Nutcracker at this time of year. In fact all around the world this play is one of the most anticipated plays of the season. We love to watch the story of the little girl who is given a nutcracker on Christmas Eve and then at midnight is transported to a magical world. Everything around her seems to grow in size, the tree, the mice, and yes even the Nutcracker. My favorite scene growing up was the fight between the nutcracker and the Mouse King where it seemed as though the Mouse king was going to win, but thanks to the help of the little girl, the Nutcraker defeats the Mouse King. Because of her bravery the girl is taken to the land of the sweets by the Nutcraker who now turned into a prince. There she is offered dances from sweets all around the world, from China to Russia, from Saudi Arabia and France. This even includes a really weird scene where Mother Ginger is in a huge dress has all of these little kids come from out of here dress. The play ends however with the girl waking up and it all being a dream, and yet it all felt so real.

            Dreams can be funny like that; no matter how crazy, how wild, no matter how much it seems like science fiction or fantasy movie, it still feels so real. Have any of you had a dream like that?  Where something so amazing in the dream happens and then you wake up and it feels so real? Sometimes you can even wake up overwhelmed with the emotion of the dream, you can tell yourself it was all just a dream, but it doesn’t matter, it felt real. It doesn’t matter if there are fighting mice or dancing Sugar plum fairies, It doesn’t matter if a land of the sweets is something that never existed, once you experience it in a dream in part of your mind, in part of your heart it becomes real. There is something fantastic, almost magical about dreams.

            Occasionally something that happens in our lives can capture this awe and wonder that we feel in dreams. Something can be so real but feel almost as if it were a dream. The night you get engaged or the day you get married, the birth of your child, the promotion at work, or the new house you buy; in moments so powerful, so magical as these we will say if feels as if we are dreaming.  This time of the year as we prepare for Christmas seems to produce more than its fair share of these moments. The joy in the children’s face when they see snow for the first time on Christmas day, turning off the lights and lighting the Christmas tree and drinking egg nog while Christmas songs play in the background, going to church and lighting the candles and hearing our favorite hymns being played; sometimes these moments can put us in a dream-like state. For me, I have this experience each year at what has become a tradition for Heather and me of going to Busch Garden’s Christmas Town.  While it is always fun to go to Busch Gardens and ride the rides and see the shows, the magical moment happens when it gets dark outside and the park lights up with Christmas lights. Each country has its own theme, Ireland is decked out in beautiful green lights, France in a majestic blue and purple, and you can ride the little cable cars that take you through the air and just see the park lit up in celebration. The part that gets me the most is a part where and Angel is lit up over the water and as you walk over the bridge you are serenaded with a beautiful rendition of “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” Moments like these are magical, and we can feel like those who are dreaming.

            If you can, close your eyes and think of a moment or a time in which you had this dream like feeling. Think about what you saw, what you heard, what you smelled; and most of all think about how it made you feel. Hold on to that feeling now and try to imagine that feeling again as I read again part of psalm 126.

“When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.  Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.”  (you can open your eyes.)  Can’t you just feel magic in the words of our psalmist?  When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. These were people who were taken from their land and forced to live in captivity in Babylon. Many were separated from their families, and where exploited by the Babylonians for their skills and resources. Finally the day came when the Persians attacked the Babylonians and the Israelites were able to return home to Jerusalem.

            Our scripture for this morning was written a little time after this return home from captivity. The people had heard the promises of the prophet Isaiah of the coming Messiah and there was an expectation that Israel would once again rise to power. As time went on though this was not the case. Once again the Israelites began to fall away and disobey the Lord. The people were being tempted by the beliefs and the cultures of those around them. Israel was not prospering but instead was struggling, and many of the Israelites found themselves in oppressive and dire circumstances. It was in this moment that this psalm brought joy and hope to the people. Through this psalm the Israelites remembered the goodness of the Lord. “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.”  The Israelites were able to look back at their past and see what God had done for them, freeing them from captivity, and even in there despair of their current state, they were able to experience joy. When they remembered the time in which the Lord restored their fortunes, they had that dream like experience. In their hearts they could experience the reality of God’s goodness, even when their current situation felt otherwise.

            This is what makes dreams so special; that though it is only a fleeting moment, though it is no longer your current reality, you felt something, you experienced something and even the harshness of reality around you can’t take that away. There may not be any dancing nutcrackers or land of sweets, but you felt that joy, you had that experience, you dreamed that dream, and you don’t want to let it go. It’s the same way with these real life dream-like experiences. You may be paying for a new furnace on your house now, but you still remember that feeling when the house was first yours. Marriage can be a daily struggle, but that wedding day captures all of the feelings of the commitment you make. There are day in which it feels like the kids are going to make you go crazy, but remembering the feeling of holding them for the first time reminds us of the blessing that they are in our lives. Even something like taking in beautiful lights and music can help us for just a moment to escape the stress and hardship of work and just feel at peace. These fleeting dream-like moments help us to experience and remember joy in the face of harsh reality.

            And our reality is harsh. After 9/11 our nation has realized in our own vulnerability and how real threats to our country are. Many of us watched the news as the Twin towers in New York fell and as smoke billowed from the Pentagon.  It was an experience unlike any other for Americans except for maybe the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Ever since that day, the men and women in our military have been risking their lives all around the world to try and make sure that nothing like that happens again. This is only a part of the harshness of our reality. Thousands of lives have been lost in West Africa because of the deadly Ebola virus, and almost half a million lives are lost each year from Malaria. Here in the states it seems like our nation is split almost every issue. Republicans and Democrats have become enemies rather than colleagues who just have differing opinions, so instead of working together for the good of the nation, its seems like nothing ever gets done. Not only are there national struggles, but there are struggles here in our own backyard as well. Even though our unemployment rate in this area is slightly better than the National average, 16% of people fall below the poverty line, that’s compared to  only 11% for Virginia as a whole. The average salary of those in this area is also half, I repeat half of the average for the whole state. That means that although most people in our area have jobs, they still may not be earning enough to get by. Many children get their best meal all day while at school. And if the reality of all that is going on around us isn’t enough, the United Methodist church faces its own harsh reality. Attendance and membership is decline, more and more churches are closing, and there is very real possibility the Church could split over ideological differences.

            Reality is harsh, and sometimes these dream-like states can help us to escape, just for a moment from reality. Dancing sweets and nutcrackers are preferred over death, poverty, and conflict. In the middle of these harsh realities, we too remember the high points of our life and of our faith like those who dream. It is no coincidence then that this time of Advent as we prepare for Christmas is a time that for many causes us to dream more than any other time. It is no coincidence that this time is filled with a feeling of peace, and joy and love. It is no coincidence that at this time we become like those who dream, because like the Israelites, we have something to look back and remember with hope. Just as the Israelites remembered the time where they were set free from captivity, we can look back with hope and remember when God became human, born in a lowly manger, in order to save the world.

            The beauty of this is that it is not an individual dream, it is not something I imagined in my head one night and hold on to a personal experience. It is not a special moment shared between just you and a couple others, a secret shared between just close friends. This dream is a dream that the whole world shares, because Jesus Christ was not born just for you or for me, but was born so that all the world may be saved. Christmas is so special, so dream-like because it is a dream that has been shared not just across different continents but even throughout different times.

            Christmas is like a dream that the whole world is able to share. The joy and hope of Christmas does allow us to escape from the harsh reality of the world around us; that for these for weeks of Advent, and for the twelve days of Christmas, the message of the world is drowned out, and peaceful songs of hope fill our ears and our hearts. But like the Nutcracker, there is a surprise to our dream. When Clara wakes up after her time in the land of the sweets, she is desperate to find her Nutcracker. When she finds it, she finds that the arm that was once broken was now good as new.

            When this time of preparation and celebration for Christmas is over, we do not return to our day to day lives as if nothing has happened, because something has happened, our Lord and Savior was born. Though he died and rose again almost two thousand years ago, through our celebration of Christmas, we are reminded that what was once broken has begun to be restored. We are reminded that though there are wars and battles and deaths all around the world, there are also Christians worldwide who work for peace and justice, and through initiatives like Imagine no Malaria work to save lives. Though there is division and bickering across our nation, we see Democrats and Republicans alike holding candles and singing Silent Night. Though poverty is rampant in our area, we see Churches reaching out through food banks for the hungry, bell ringing for the homeless, and Christmas gifts for the needy children. At Christmas when we remember how the Lord restored the fortunes of the world, we are like those who dream, for we know that the Lord who came and began this work of restoration in the world, will come again to complete it. As John Lennon said, you may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” During this season, millions of Christians become like those who dream, and we live into the hope and into the joy of what it means that Christ has come, and that Christ will come again.