DREAMERS AND DULLARDS

Genesis 37:1-38:30; Matthew 12:22-45; Psalm 16:1-11; Proverbs 3:27-32

“When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him.  ‘Here comes the dreamer!’ they said.  ‘Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!’”

“Then a demon-possessed man, who was blind and couldn’t speak, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see.  The crowd was amazed and asked, ‘Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?’  But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, ‘No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.’”

“You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.”

It is astounding how hard the world and many of those in it work to take away and destroy dreams.  Maybe it’s not malicious; maybe it’s just humanity reaching for the lowest common denominator.  Maybe it is “sin.”  Whatever, those who dream have taken a real beating this week, except for those who favor nightmares.  Thanks to simple human greed, Lehman Brothers is in bankruptcy, and Merrill Lynch was sold for pennies of its former worth.  Unemployment and foreclosures are up – way up.  Everywhere we look, there are shock headlines.  The stock market dropped over 500 points in one day.  And to top it off, even though hurricane damage in the Gulf was minimal and the price of a barrel of oil dropped over five dollars, the price of gasoline has gone up as much as $.15 a gallon in some places.  They say misery loves company.  Misery must be feeling quite pleased with itself this week.

Folks, are we going about all this the wrong way?  The media gives us bad news because that is what sells newspapers.  We see dreamers with new vision and shake our heads in sympathy for their anticipated, and expected, disillusionment.  For almost every new thing we think of that could be done, we find ten reasons not to do it. 

“Hopeless” is the password for the Despair Club.  Dreams are the price of admission.  Sadly, there’s a line at the door to get in. 

Call me utopian, but I would prefer not to join.  My trouble is, I get sucked in.  I let go of my dreams too easily when I get tossed in the cisterns of life.  Ignoring where true power comes from, I focus on my own powerlessness.  I know I can’t prevail, but forget God can, and already has.  In short, I just forfeit.  And each time I do, Satan wins.

It is a terrible thing to live without hope.  Let’s not do it anymore.  Let’s show the dullards of life, the defeatists, those who hate dreamers, a better way.  It is tough to be a shining light in the middle of a constellation of black holes.  But Christ says we are to be the lights of the world nonetheless, and it is time for Christians to “own up” to His calling.  The Holy Spirit gives us vision and optimism, and tells us to share.  So, instead of a defeatists’ club, let’s reinvigorate a “club of hope.”  I think that’s called “Church.”