Advent is About Dreaming the Dreams of God

During Advent I will be sharing observations from other blogs plus my comments. This one comes from Nick Francis Stephens, chief cultural architect of Mosaic Lancaster, a faith community being planted by the Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God.

“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas . . .”

by nick francis stephens

The sounds of the season are upon us, sounds that generate all sorts of conjecture and diverse response. For some of us they are fond memories of a childhood past, reminiscent of family, presents, cookies, and Christmas carols.

Yet for others the scenario is quite different. It's yet another reminder of our loneliness and unrelenting abandonment issues. A season of hope reveals itself to be nothing more than a season of despair. The little hope we have dissipates and contributes to the further deafening of our spirit and the continued paralysis of our souls.

I cannot say I’m a huge fan of holidays but I can say this, I’m a huge fan of humanity. There is just something about the image of God present in the human story. It’s fuel for my passions!

Humanity’s relationship with God may appear as a one-sided conversation, but to me, it is more akin to a dance between lovers: the creativity, the laughter, the lights, the music; it’s all the handiwork of God on display through God's most splendid grandeur . . . people!

I am captured by a sense of delight every time I hear the voice of Bing Crosby and the multiple renditions of his popular Christmas carol. Although we struggle through the hustle and bustle of the season, I’m certain we are moved by the genteelness and romance emanating from the words. . . “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”.

For some of us, I wonder if those words instill a sense of hope that this year things will be different, and for others perhaps it's simply the anticipation of the season. Whatever the response is nonetheless, the lyrics bring a stirring to our hearts worthy of overcoming the greatest of holiday humbugs.

My soul cannot help but wonder with the passing of another season, what really are the dreams that we hold onto, or perhaps better yet, what are the dreams that hold on to us?

When I meet people, I often inquire about their dreams (it’s a great way to start a conversation). I have come to realize through these interactions that so often our dreams are really all about us! Instead of having dreams that bring us to life, they bring us discouragement and hopelessness submerged in doubt.

Think about it? What are your dreams?

My tendency is to have dreams that are all about me! Accomplishing things by me for me! We all have dreams of belonging, becoming, and believing, but if we were to be honest with ourselves, how many of us leave God out of those dreams? Typically, we aspire on a daily basis to make our dreams a reality through egotistical ways, which to no avail only leads us on a cyclical journey of wasted effort, the hardening of our hearts and the loss of the dreams God has designed for our lives.

Given our human nature, it doesn't surprise me that we inherently focus on ourselves, but it certainly seems odd to me that we would choose a special day like Christmas to intentionally do so . . . Oh yea, that isn’t actually the reason for the season, perhaps our western ways of living have duped us while we were sleeping.

Like the dancing disillusion of holiday deception, is it possible that we have been deceived by our dreams as well? What if our dreams stopped being about us and actually began to focus on others? What if God created us to have dreams that inspired us to serve humanity? What would the world look like if all of us embraced dreams that moved us to live at our fullest capacity, celebrating the human spirit by serving humanity!

Jesus once said, “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men”. Jesus' invitation wasn't about safety or getting to go to heaven, but instead it was so much more! It was about living an abundant life now! It was about empowering us to engage life at its fullest and help others to do the same!

Jesus wasn't saying come, follow me and I'll show you what you can have, he was saying come, follow me and I'll show you what you have to give. Jesus’ intention was never to move us towards self- gratification, consumerism and isolation! Rather, just the opposite takes place; lives are transformed, marriages are healed, addictions are demolished, isolation becomes a thing of the past and intimacy becomes our present reality.

I am convinced that God’s dreams for you and me is to give our lives away and to use our lives to inspire the world to live by faith, to be known by love and to be a voice of hope to the world. Simply stated, when we live the dreams of God, our lives will find that which we long for the most: intimacy, purpose and meaning!

Steve writes:
I remember the first time Nick came and sat in my office to get better acquainted.  This was exactly the question he asked me and I immediately began sharing my dreams.  Ironically, I had arranged the meeting because I wanted to hear his. (We did get around to that.)  I believe the reason Nick and I have become friends is that the dreams we share are God's dreams for the particular faith communities God has called us to lead.

Advent is an expression of God's dream that His people would no longer be separated from Him by the chasm of their sin.  It was  not because of self-gratification, but because He knew would never be the people He created us to be unless our brokenness was ended and a right relationship had been restored.  But He also knew that sin blinded us to our own brokeness or simply wrote it off to imperfection rather than a fundamental flaw in the human fabric.  Our mad-long pursuit of consumption in a season that leads up the celebration of a homeless infant's birth is a symbol of that brokeness. 

And perhaps most powerfully, God expressed His dream coming onto the planet and into our broken lives to seek and to save - to serve.

Maybe it is time to stop chasing after and holding onto dreams that simply continue our enslavement to self-gratification and to embrace a dream that exists to serve.