“What if in your sleep you dreamed.
And what if in your dream you went to heaven…
And there plucked a strange and beautiful flower.
What if you then woke up,
And held that flower in your hand.
Ah, what then?” Samuel Taylor Coleridge
When we look to our dreams as gift, it is like awaking holding a beautiful flower that blooms before our very eyes.
God has spoken to humankind through visions and dreams since the beginnings of time. In all cultures there flows an understanding of the treasure of information and inspiration that comes as gift through our dreams.
For those of us who are Christian, our story is laced with instances when God spoke to ordinary people through their dreams. Those individual’s willingness to look to the truth in their dreams and hold it as holy gift allowed them to become extraordinary people in our story. Mary, Joseph come to mind...
Even Job knew the power of dream: “God speaks first in one way and then in another, but no one notices. God speaks by dreams and visions that come in the night, when slumber comes to humankind, and the individual is asleep in bed. Then it is when God (maybe because sleeping is the only time our defenses drop) whispers in the ear of the person, may even frighten them with fearful sights to turn them away from evil-doing, and make an end of pride, to save the soul from the pit and life from the pathway to Sheol.” (Job 33: 14-18)
In OT language, Job is saying that God works for our good through our dreams to bring us fuller awareness of what is really going on within us, which often stays hidden in our conscious times….information and inspiration that can save us from ourselves…and keep us from projecting our unconscious needs onto others.
So we will gather on zoom for 4 consecutive Tuesdays starting April 18th to explore the nature of dreams...and our dreams!
When they ask what happened here, we’ll simply say God came by and we dreamed all together. We joined hands and hearts and noticed God’s dreams for each of us. We remembered, we explored, we named, we laughed and cried. We will continue to be with each other, and join in God’s dream for the wholeness of life.
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