Our Dreams as Christians

            Our present sermon series should best be entitled "Our Dreams as Christians".

These are not our dreams as a Congregation per se, except to acknowledge that our Congregation has dreams of who we hope to be in Christ Jesus.  Rather, these are our dreams as Christians, each of us a person of faith.  That is what the present sermon series is focused on.  Using the Love of God and the Love of Neighbor as our guide, interpreting each through the lens of loving with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, these are, for our Neighborhood in the Kingdom of God, how we seek to come closer to Jesus.

In my mind, I was calling these our ‘aspirations’, what we aspire to be as Christians, which is fine for how far it goes.  It is better than calling these our ‘value statements’, because Value Statements, to me, are benchmarks of behavior for what is important to us.  'Aspirations', things we hope to achieve as people of faith, are better seen as hopes and goals.

Aspiring to be Mystics and Contemplatives and Stewards and Theologians and Pastors and Social Workers…sounds like we need multiple advanced degrees in multiple disciplines to get close to the Lord Jesus.  And 'aspiring' to them, sounds...well...rather highbrow if I stop to think about it.  Because the last thing I want is for these titles to devolve into some kind of sense of how many "Ph.D.’s in Jesus" we need to accumulate to be true imitators of Christ.

Having said that, there are some amazing Christians known for being Mystics and Contemplatives and Theologians and all the rest.  But none of them is a 'one trick' Christian.  Because loving God and loving neighbor with heart, soul, mind, and strength, the Dream, the Greatest Commandment Jesus has given us, that's a package deal to a ‘well rounded’ faith (Sounds like an advertisement, doesn't it?)

Maybe this is a better way to put it.  We are all called upon to be close to God, to pray to God, to give of our gifts to God.  We are all called upon to treat our neighbors in a Godly way, to care for our neighbors, to do for the world in need of justice and support and the basics of every day living.  As we dream of creating a Neighborhood in the Kingdom of God here on Earth in the pattern of the Kingdom in Heaven, these are the things we can do, the skills and attitudes we can build to get there.

God has a Dream for us, one accomplished in the work of Jesus Christ.  So too should we have a dream for God in our lives.  We are Sent, we have a clear statement about that.  As a church, how about a clear statement of who we dream to be in Christ as we are sent as well?

Peace

Pastor Pete