‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; by Clement Clark Moore
“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas… “ by Irving Berlin
I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams. by Kim Gannon & Walter Kent
The Advent/Christmas season is a time for dreaming – dreaming of sugar plums and packages under the tree, festive reunions with family and friends, and cozy moments of candle-lit calm, even peace on earth.
Sometimes we get so focused on our own dreams, however, that we forget that Advent and Christmas are ultimately about God’s dream which is not just for us, but for the whole world. God has been dreaming since long before Jesus was born, since the very beginning of time when God created the universe and called it good. And God continues to dream of a world filled with hope, peace, joy, and love in which all life can flourish as God intended.
In the Christian scriptures, God’s dream was most clearly articulated by the prophets of the Old Testament who prepared the way for the prophetic words and actions of Jesus. And then Jesus gave the job of proclaiming and working for God’s dream to the church, the Body of Christ on earth. This Advent, we will be exploring God’s dream, especially as we hear it in the prophets of old and today. Our Advent theme, Wake Up to God’s Dream, invites us to use what the great biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann called our “prophetic imagination,” the sacred practice of seeing beyond what is and envisioning the world as God dreams it to be – full of justice and peace and flourishing for all life on earth. God’s dream is not an escape from the real world, but rather a deep commitment to this life and a faithful resistance to all that denies what God intends for all of creation.
Throughout the season of Advent, we’ll be looking at how the prophets shared God’s vision and prepared the way, not just for Jesus, but for God’s dream to become real, here and now. This Advent, let’s open our hearts and minds anew to what God has done, is doing and will continue to bring to birth in the world around us – God’s dream of a world filled with God’s hope and peace, joy and love.
Dreaming with faith and hope,
~Tami & Chip