Dreaming of Days to Come
By Griff Martin
A
Sermon on Isaiah 7:10-16 and Matthew 1:18-25
For
the Fourth Sunday of Advent (Dec 22, 2019)
For
the Beloveds of First Austin: a baptist community of faith
Incarnate and Coming Christ, we ask
that you once again take the Word and transform it into a living and breathing
new reality we can all together experience. Make us aware of your presence here
in this space and in these words God, for if we are present to you then nothing
else will matter, but if we are not present to you then nothing else will
matter. In the name of the Creator, the Christ and the Comforter. Amen.
One
of my favorite Anne Lamott lines: “If you want to make God laugh, tell her your
plans.”
It’s
amazing how quickly the future we have planned can change. You dream of this
(you fill in the blank here), and then it all changes with one phone call, one
kiss, one bad medical diagnosis, a job promotion, a positive pregnancy test, a
freak accident, an unexpected inheritance… Suddenly, life can pivot.
For
instance, you are head over heels in love, and the person whose blue eyes have
captivated and captured your soul is now the one on whom your entire future
finally rests. He is the one you picture building the perfect home with; she is
the one you picture walking hand in hand with on the beach from your dreams; he
is the one you picture rocking your firstborn to sleep at night; she is the one
you dream of… usually.
Or
at least, that is how Joseph’s dreams had been going, when he could remember
them. Although he was sure that he dreamed all the time, Joseph rarely
remembered his dreams. He was too busy. His work was hard work: building all
day, lifting lumber, nailing, sawing, sanding. It was hard physical work that
left his muscles aching and his eyes heavy as soon as the sun set.
And
on top of that, he was recently betrothed. Which was exciting, as well,
thinking about the life he would build with his new wife. So much energy was
going to anticipation, as well as building a home for them to share, and adding
a room onto his parents’ house, as was tradition. This, too, was hard work.
A
lot was going on. And with all that, Joseph usually fell asleep the minute his
head hit the pillow and he slept like a rock all night. The few dreams he
remembered were vaguely about Mary and the life they were going to share… until
that dream.
It’s
a dream we know little about. We know the message of it, we know the point, but
we don’t know the details. And dreams are made of details. You don’t wake up
from a dream remembering the point of the dream, you remember the story and
from there you do the work of finding meaning. We dream in narrative and then
work to meaning. We don’t know what kind of story Joseph dreamed, but it must
have been a doozy because he did the work and he understood the point of the
dream: Don’t be afraid to stay with Mary, to marry her still even though she is
pregnant with child. This baby is going to be named Jesus and he has a very
important task, maybe the most important task of all time.
Now,
I think we miss this part of the Christmas story often; we think of Joseph
going to sleep knowing nothing and waking knowing everything. But brain science
has me rethinking that more traditional interpretation. We now know that our
brains need time offline to process and to learn new things, which they do
during the sleep cycle. The brain often tries to solve problems and complete
processes while dreaming that could not be solved and completed in
the waking hours.
Which
makes me think that Joseph went to bed knowing that Mary was with child and
trying to figure out what he was supposed to do about that. You see, when that
pregnancy test went from white to pink and then the little positive sign
appeared, the future Joseph and Mary had been dreaming of suddenly changed.
And
he goes to bed with all that on his mind. He probably did not sleep much at
first; you know the routine when you go to bed with so much on your mind that
you can’t sleep? You toss and you turn and you try to put all your thoughts to
bed, but your thoughts are ready to pull an all-nighter, so you just watch the
clock tick by, minute by minute, and you begin to debate using that one Ambien
tablet you have saved in the medicine cabinet until, miracle of all miracles,
you are asleep.
And
then your brain does the work that it was designed to do once you get out of
the way. It has everything to do with the ego and control and worry and anxiety
and how those things often blur the very voice of God and of reason. It’s why
sleep might be a very real form of prayer, a spiritual discipline and practice
of letting go.
Joseph
finally lets go and drifts off and there he finds the dream of God; there he
finds a new future. Or maybe it’s not exactly new. Listen to the first passage
we read this morning from Isaiah: “the young woman with child will bear a son
and shall name him Immanuel.”
The
problem is that Joseph’s dream leaves him with some terrible decisions to make.
Will Joseph obey Scripture (which would tell him to divorce Mary – a strange
sequence of words there), or to follow the voice of God? Pay attention to that;
sometimes following the voice of God means changing the way you have always
understood the Word of God. All truth is paradox.
The
second decision is whether or not he will sacrifice his own dreams (which
certainly did not include a marriage that would, in those days, be considered
shameful) for God’s dream (and pay attention again – God’s dreams rarely worry
about our shame).
I
think it’s two questions we are often called to face, as well: Will we obey our
traditional and often limited view of Scripture, or follow the voice of God?
Will we follow our dream for the future, or God’s dream for the future?
Joseph
surrenders to God’s future. He sacrifices his own so that he can be part of
God’s plan. And that is not all he sacrifices – to be part of God’s future,
Joseph not only gives up his own personal dreams and plans, he gives up all the
thought he knew of God and laws and holiness codes and traditional systems and
the way things should be and the limited reality he knew then. He surrenders
what he thought he knew about God in order to actually know God.
And
in doing so, he got to be part of God’s dream. He used all the verbs that God
tends to favor – he trusted, had faith, surrendered, had compassion, he loved…
and because of all that, he got to play a role in the most important story we
have: God’s kingdom coming to earth.
Joseph
says yes. And God’s kingdom here is not built by bricks but is built each time
we say yes to God’s calling; a kingdom of our yesses.
The
more I have thought about Joseph over the past few weeks, the more I realize
the incredible influence he must have had on Jesus Christ. Perhaps Jesus Christ
learned this incredible act of self-sacrifice for love, trust in really scary
callings, faith in a future that God is promising, compassion and not
judgement, learning to read Scripture more truthfully based on God’s character…
I think Jesus learned that from his earthly father.
Joseph
and Jesus both doing the hard work of following God… trust, faith, listening,
loving. To each of those, we answer yes.
But
before we answer yes, we have to face a hard reality that begins with this
question: What’s our dream? I would guess that it is something close to what we
have all too selfishly called the American dream: a nice place to live with a
guest room or two, a happy marriage that is as perfect as it looks, children
and grandchildren that are just delights, a job that is meaningful and provides
some extra cash on the side, and that we will all live happily ever after.
I
think this is probably humanity’s dream: a nice life with meaning and comfort
and a happily-ever-after ending.
And
church, we have heard this dream so often we now actually think this is God’s
dream for us. Hence, the entire tragic prosperity Gospel movement.
And
I hate to burst your bubble – and I struggle here all the time because I want
this dream as much as anyone here – but here’s the truth: this is our dream. This
is not God’s dream.
God’s
dream has never changed. We have heard it over the last few weeks from the Isaiah
text, and it has nothing to do with a big house but instead everyone having a
home. The happiness of a perfect marriage is exchanged for every person living
in perfect unity and community, children and grandchildren extend to be every
child… it’s a big dream of peace, love and belonging.
During
Advent, I have to tell you something about our God. I think our God is still
dreaming dreams and I think God is still giving us those dreams.
It’s
our choice how we respond to them.
To
trade our understanding of God for a bigger picture of God and God’s love.
To
trade our dreams for God’s reality.
And
I think God’s dream is still similar to the one God gave Joseph: I want my
child to be born into this world, I want My story to be told, I want people to
know how much I love them, I want to find a way to communicate My truths to
people.
God
wants to be continually reborn in us. To let us live out that story. For us to
live God’s dreams into reality.
The
choice, First Austin, is ours.
This
Christmas season, will we release our dreams to accept God’s dreams?
May
we be so bold as to say ‘yes’ with Father Joseph, and ‘let it be’ with Mother
Mary. Amen and Amen.
*artwork: Unto Bethlehem, painting by Mark Jennings, mark-jennings.pixels.com
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