It seems natural for human beings to have dreams for the future. We seem to need to have some hope for our future in order to keep us going. Sometimes those dreams can be wild and wired. In my younger days, I imagined playing rhythm guitar in the world’s best folk-rock band. But I didn’t really do anything about it. I never even joined a band. And so that dream came to nothing! At some stage I imagined being a priest. That dream is still alive and it requires ongoing imagination and dreaming as to how it can be lived into the future. Some of us dream for a better tomorrow. Some dream for less pain in our illness and ageing. Others dream for an end of suffering for loved ones. Some dream for a better life, a new career, a little less stress, a few more dollars. Our dreams can project us into the future. They can inspire and motivate us too. Our dreams and hopes for the kind of future we want for ourselves, and those around us, can lead us to push ourselves further, to make that extra effort, to go that extra mile. Our dreams can focus our priorities, direct the use of our time and bring us a sense of purpose and meaning.
During the season of Advent, the biblical readings and liturgical texts hold before us the dream that our God has for the world. This dream is summed up for me in the psalm for this coming Sunday, “Justice shall flourish in his time and the fullness of peace for ever” (Psalm 71). The prophet Isaiah shares the dream with even more provocative imagery as he describes the arrival of the awaited one, “integrity is the loincloth round his waist, faithfulness the belt around his hips”. Isaiah goes further, “The wolf lives with the lamb, the panther lies down with the kid”. The dream of justice and peace envisaged by Isaiah is for the entire created world. It includes nations, the animal kingdom and indeed the whole of creation.
In a time when we are coming through a pandemic, when we witness ongoing war in the Ukraine, and regular fires and floods threatening our planet, it can be tempting to loose hope. In our own lives when things go wrong, when our relationships let us down, when our plans amount to little, when we are confronted with unexpected challenges, we too can loose hope. Not so, says the season of Advent. Advent is the season that stirs our hope in the future once more. Advent is the time when we join with the biblical voices of the past and call out again, ‘come Lord Jesus, come’. Advent is the season when the vision for a renewed world is held before us and we call on the Lord of life to come and complete the work of creation begun so long ago.
And advent is the time when we can join our dream to God’s dream. For Christians it is a time, and a call, to align our dream with the dream of our God, in joyful hope. I wonder what could happen if the communal dreams of our community aligned. Could God’s dream for justice and peace to flourish actually become a reality. Advent says, yes.
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Bernie and Maureen Parker says:
That is a great reflection. It is so good to be filled with hope – Just have to pass it on to others!
Thanks so much for the lovely evening last night. It was most enjoyable especially as we love Paella. The weather also played a part!