Once a month I have to attend a mentor group as part of my candidacy for ministry process. The group has good people in it and the conversation is interesting but last night I did not want to go. It was dreary out, the holidays have been overwhelming and all I wanted to do was curl up and watch the Bachelor. But I went b/c I am required.
Marilyn, our mentor, shared that her church didn't celebrate Epiphany the day before so we were going to celebrate epiphany.
I had just preached on epiphany the day before so I was sure I knew everything she had to say (I can get ahead of myself a bit). I was surprised at how much I learned or thought about last night. Things I knew or had read but didn't put much focus on really stuck out to me. The Bible is interesting that way. When you read a passage over and over again you often find different themes or words popping out at you that you didn't ever hear before. It is what makes it possible for Pastors to preach on the same text over and over again.
Last night, Marilyn, made a point to mention each time the scripture said the word "dream".
1. Joseph has a dream telling him that Mary will have a child conceived by the Holy Spirit and he is to name him Jesus.
2. The wise men have a dream warning them to not go back to their home land through Jerusalem as they had come in fear that Herod may harm then.
3. An angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream telling him to take Mary and baby Jesus to Egypt b/c Herod is trying to have them killed.
4. An angel of the Lord appears to Joseph again in a dream telling him it is safe to return to the land of Israel because Herod had died.
Dreams. What if Joseph and the wise men hadn't listened to their dreams. The whole narrative of the Bible would have been different. Mary would have been a single mother, shunned by her community raising the Christ child alone. The wise men would have gone back to Herod and either been killed for keeping the location of the child a secret or Jesus may have been found and killed due to them telling Herod where he was. Mary, Joseph and Jesus may not have fled to Egypt where they found refuge and they may not have returned to the town of Nazareth where Jesus would be raised and start his ministry.
So much would be different. Dreams have significance in our lives. It is amazing what kind of answers or guidance you can get from them if you are open to what they are saying.
Several times in my life I have had dreams that helped to change the course of what I was doing. Before I went into ministry I had dreams of being a Pastor. Too many to count but it took a significant event in my life, the death of my father, for me to finally listen to them and choosing to listen changed my life forever and for the better.
Two stand out to me the most. Right after my cousin Skyler died, his sister, Brittany, asked for our Bari Nani (great-grandmother) to come to her in a dream. That SAME night she came to me. Bari Nani was young and beautiful wearing a pink suit- which I later found out from her daughter that she owned a pink suit- and she was sitting with a young blonde blue eyed boy. She told me that she had Skyler and that all was well. When I told Brittany about the dream she froze, she didn't tell me that she had asked for Bari Nani to come to her and it was overwhelming what peace it brought to both of us.
The second was about a year after my dad passed. I wasn't doing okay. I was struggling on a daily basis and everyone saw it. I tried to hide it and pretend like life was normal but it wasn't. I had a dream one night where my dad showed up in my doorway, looked at me and said "It will all be okay". I woke up the next morning and had energy like I hadn't in a long time, I felt okay. I called my mom and told her about the dream and she, like Brittany, was silent. She then told me that she was on the back deck the night before yelling at my father to find a way to tell me everything would be okay. From that moment on, everything was. It changed me.
Dreams can change us. Dreams are so significant in our lives and often times we dismiss them as our minds wondering or as nothing. Yet when we hold onto the dream, listen to what it was saying, maybe just maybe we will be hearing the voice of God through the ones that we love. Guiding us, helping us and holding us.
I for one am glad that Joseph and the wise men listened to their dreams. They had faith and trusted in that faith. Enough to change the course of their life. When we do this, when we put our full trust and faith in God it is amazing what it can do for your life.
Listen to your dreams. You never know what it may do for you.
Blessings to all
No comments:
Post a Comment