2nd Sunday after Epiphany
January 20, 2019
Drawn In: Week 1
Genesis 1:1-2:3; Luke 4:13-21
Before Disney adapted the fairytale of the Snow Queen
into the hit movie “Frozen,” they released their version of Rapunzel’s story in
a movie called “Tangled.” Instead of a prince, it is a young thief named Flynn
who helps Rapunzel escape her tower. Their first stop is a shady tavern called
the Snuggly Duckling Inn, where the other patrons recognize Flynn from his
wanted posters. In order to get them to
release Flynn, Rapunzel asks them if they’ve ever had a dream and off starts
one of the funnier songs in the movie. The guy with the hook for a hand has
always dreamed of being a concert pianist.
Another guy, who acknowledges he’s
got some very weird physical features, dreams of making a love connection.
Others dream of being a florist, an interior designer, a mime, a baker, and so
on, all these activities you wouldn’t normally associate with these big,
rough-looking guys. Rapunzel gets them all to recognize that everyone has a
dream and Flynn is helping her to reach her dream of seeing the floating
lanterns. The guys sneak Rapunzel and Flynn through a secret tunnel and
encourage her to live her dream.
There are times Disney gets it right, and everyone does have a dream. Whether you’ve
thought about it in a while, or acknowledged it. or buried it, or lived it is
up to you. But everyone has a dream, because that’s where everything starts. Mr. Patrick told me his
grandfather had a dream for his family to be in church and that’s why he gave
the land across the street for the first Lisbon UMC building. The village of
Lisbon started as the dream of Caleb Pancoast in 1810.[1]
Creation all starts with a dream. Before you make something, you have an idea
for it. You may not know all the details or how exactly it’s going to turn out,
but that’s because dreaming is large scale. Dreaming is big; it’s a vision. And
we dream and have visions because we’re created in the image of God, our
creator.
In the beginning, God had a dream. “All creation began
with the dream of God, the will and intention for life to exist in the void.”[2]
God dreamt, and then God spoke, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And
then there was sky and land and seas and vegetation and living creatures. Last,
God made us, in his own image, and we were instructed to take care of the
earth. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul says, “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ
Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Other
versions say “we are God’s masterpiece.” We were created in Christ Jesus to do
good things, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. We are God’s
dream come true.
Jesus is also God’s dream come true. In Luke’s Gospel he
begins his public ministry with this visit to Nazareth, his home town, where he
goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath, as he usually does. Jesus volunteers to
read the Scripture for the day and the scroll for Isaiah is handed to him. He
skims down to Isaiah 61:1-2a, and reads, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is
on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He
has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s
favor.” Jesus rolls the scroll back up and hands it to the attendant. Then he
adds a line by saying, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your
hearing.” In other words, this dream is
now come true. The Spirit of the Lord is on me, to proclaim good news, to bind
up the brokenhearted and heal the sick, to release those held in darkness, to
proclaim this is the year that God is acting. And if you read a little bit
further in Isaiah, Jesus was also sent “to comfort all who mourn and to provide
for those who grieve… to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the
oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of
despair.” This is why Jesus came: to offer hope, to heal, to speak a good word,
to banish the darkness, to proclaim freedom and release. A lot had happened to
God’s creation since Genesis 1, a lot of water under the bridge, a lot of
people not in healthy relationships with each other, with themselves, with God,
or with the rest of creation. Jesus offers hope that it doesn’t have to be that
way. That God’s dream can be restored.
God provides for this restoration throughout Scripture.
God’s dream takes the long view of things. Remember, dreaming is big, large
scale. In Jeremiah 29:11-14, God says, “For I know the plans I have for you… plans
to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then
you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will
seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by
you… and will bring you back from captivity.” Release for the captives, right
there. God knows the plans he has for you. It’s similar to Psalm 139:16, where
the psalmist tells God, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.” God’s got a plan for his dream, and it was
written down a long time ago. In Isaiah 43:18-19, God says, “Forget the former
things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs
up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in
the wasteland.” There are lots of places where God says, “I’m making a way
where there seems to be no way. I’m moving mountains. I’m opening windows.
Don’t dwell on the past. Look at this new thing I’m doing!” God’s dream and
creation always have room for re-creation, for redeeming, for being made new.
This is the God who made us, who created us to also be
creative. Look at all the creativity here among us – we have people who make
candy, people who make soap, we have knitters and crafters and woodworkers and
bakers. We have people who restore broken things back to how they were created
and people who take old things and make something new out of them. We have among
us far more talents and skills than I am yet aware of even after a year and a
half of living among you and walking with you. God draws us in, just as God
creatively draws in all things. And when you’re drawn in to something larger,
when you live as part of the larger grand creative work of God, when you’re
connected, then you find creative inspiration and productivity.[3]
Then we have new things happening in our midst. Then God can do his new thing,
perhaps through you!
Everyone has a dream. What is your dream? Where does your
dream meet God’s dream? And, more likely than not, there’s scripture that goes
with your dream. In Martin Luther King, Jr’s famous “I have a dream” speech he
quoted from Amos 5:24, “let justice rolls down like waters and righteousness
like an ever-flowing stream,” and from Isaiah 40:4-5, “every valley shall be
exalted, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all
people will see it together.” That was, in broad strokes, his dream, for racial
equality and justice.
If
you ask me, I have two guiding scriptures, Isaiah 58:6-7, “Is not this the kind
of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords
of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share
your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when
you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and
blood?” That was the Scripture that I tried to make come true when I served in
Nicaragua, to say, “Today, this is fulfilled in your hearing.” The other one,
that became important during seminary, is John’s vision from Revelation 7:9-10,
“I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count,
from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and
before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches
in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” It’s people from all different
backgrounds, all worshipping God together; even while speaking different
languages, still all worshipping together. It’s become a vision, a dream, for
how do we all be the church together? Even when we disagree, even when we have
different viewpoints or politics or preferences, we can still worship together.
We can still be the church together.
If you were to ask me about our church, knowing our
values of hospitality and community, there are two Scriptures that come to
mind. One is Hebrews 13:1-2, where we’re encouraged to “Keep on loving one another
as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by
so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” I’ve
been told, by the leaders of our church, that this is a place where everyone is
welcome. Entertaining angels unawares, as the old King James puts it, because
we welcome strangers, is a dream come true. Another Scripture for our church is
Hebrews 10:24-25, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love
and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of
doing, but encouraging one another.” I preached on this a while back, and I’m
not giving you a second sermon today. Simply that encouraging each other,
spurring each other on toward love and good deeds, and meeting together are
also a dream come true.
I have shared quite a few different dreams. Let’s go back
to the question, what’s yours? Before we enter into silent prayer, I want to
encourage you to dream, to put words or pictures to a dream, to write down your
thoughts on your bulletin or elsewhere, to comb Scripture to find the verses
that verbalize your dream. I have a song we’re going to play while we do this,
and when the song is over, we will simply move into silent prayer, to offer up
our dreams and thoughts and hopes to God. Afterward, I’ll invite you to join me
in intercessory prayer with the response printed in your bulletin and then we’ll
end together with the Lord’s Prayer. Let’s dream…
[2]
From Week 1, Dream, Drawn In: Living Out the Creative Life with God worship
series by Dr. Marcia McFee
[3] Drawn In: A Creative Process for Artists,
Activities, and Jesus Followers by Troy Bronsink, p. 7
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