Dreaming: A Sermon for 2C Christmas

 

I've been having a LOT of dreams lately. Many of them I would classify as nightmares. 

I'm being chased, hunted down, by agents of the state. Or I am frantically trying to get others to places of safety as if I am some kind of 21st century Harriet Tubman. 

I associate all of this with the sword of Damocles hanging over the head of the country as we prepare for the sequel to the first DJT administration (I purposely do not use his full name as naming has power). I am dreading this administration, especially since I live in Florida where we have been experiencing the trial run of much of the MAGA agenda. It promises to be punishing, and the further one is away from the 'accepted norm' of heterosexual white male with money, the more painful it is going to be. 

We've already seen version one of this administration, marked by cruelty and chaos. It ended with a violent coup attempt on January 6, 2021, to stay in power. Don't let anyone tell you that the thousands who marched on the U.S. Capitol armed with bear spray and flag poles sharpened into bayonets were just typical tourists on a peaceful visit to the seat of our national government.

It is into this stark reality that I, and every priest, pastor, and preacher who attempts to follow the model of the Jesus found in the Gospels of the New Testament, find ourselves. 

My seminary taught us that we must "Seek the Lord, come whence it may; cost what it will." That's the inscription on my class ring that I wear every Sunday as a reminder that I am part of a community without borders with my classmates as we labor in our particular vineyards. I know that, for me, I am tasked with both speaking the truth of the Gospel, teaching not only the context of its story but finding in that story something that resonates with our current times. And when the current times are feeling uneasy I must return to the Gospel, go back to the Jesus who knew trouble and terror and bullies and tyrants...and still stood for the hope and the love that is beyond the reach of anyone to tear it down and destroy it..unless we give in to our fears. 

There's a reason the phrase, "Do not be afraid" gets said so often in both the Old and New Testaments!

How's that for a set up for this particular sermon? See what you think.

Text: Matthew 2:13-15; 19-23

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How many here dream?

And how many of you remember your dreams?

Dreams and dreaming are fascinating.

Scientists who study dreams say that when we dream…our brains are on fire.

While the rest of our body is relaxed and regenerating for the next day…our brains are whirring and stirring and processing bits of information that we have taken in during our waking hours and creating ways to deal with emotions or whatever is going on in our inner world.

For me…I know the dreams that I remember are usually the ones that feel super real or are profound in sometimes good and challenging ways.

I remember one dream that I had some years ago that I turned into a short film for one of my seminary classes.

I was sitting outside somewhere in Tallahassee.

The scene quickly shifted and I was transported to one of the courtyards of St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Suddenly…I saw a flash of light…and images of faces began popping up in my vision in rapid fire succession.

They were of people of all genders and colors and ages and animals of every kind.

And…as it often happens in my dreams…there’s some narrator voice that wants to direct my attention to something important.

So as these faces kept coming at me…the dream narrator intoned, “This is the face of God.”

When I woke up…I felt deeply moved by what I had seen and heard.

I had a profound sense of the reality that God was in the face of every being…every creature.

And that…in the words of Jonathan Myrick Daniels…”we are indelibly and unspeakably One.”

Today…we heard about a set of dreams that Joseph had…visions that guided him to keep Mary and the newborn Jesus safe from a jealous and ruthless King Herod.

Our Gospel picked up at verse 13 of the second chapter of Matthew.

Fortunately, you do have verses 1-12 in your insert as well.

To give you a very quick synopsis: some wise men come to Jerusalem from the East looking to pay homage to the “King of the Jews.”

Scholars believe that…despite the popular hymn “We Three Kings of Orient Are”…these men from the East were more likely scientists…astronomers specifically.

There’s a reason they’ve become enchanted by following this very bright light over Bethlehem.

This star piqued their interest and somehow, they knew it signified someone important had been born.

King Herod the Great is not happy to hear that there is some rival out there in the hinterlands and asks these Gentile strangers to please let him know where to find this newborn king so he could pay his respects.

They go.

They find Jesus and Mary and Joseph.

They’re in awe of Jesus…give him gifts…gold, frankincense and myrrh.

And then…they dream.

And their dream narrator tells them…don’t go home through Jerusalem because Herod is a bad guy.

There’s a LOT of dreaming in Matthew’s story about Jesus’ birth.

And the dreams seem to function as interventions…ways to avoid catastrophes.

The dreamers are receiving premonitions.

Jospeh seems to have had a dream similar to what the wise men experienced.

The angel who appears in Joseph’s dream lets him know that there’s serious trouble brewing and he needs to get the family out of the country and do it now.

It’s a good thing he listened to his dream angel.

Our lectionary portion decided to spare us the next gruesome part, but I think it’s important that we don’t gloss over what happens next.

Because the missing verses….Matthew 2:16-18…tell of the vengeful campaign the jealous King Herod waged on the families of Bethlehem.

Herod was angry that the wise astronomers didn’t spill the beans on the location of Jesus…so he decides to take drastic action to hunt down his rival.

Not knowing exactly which boy under two years old had attracted the wise men’s attention…Herod ordered all the Jewish boys two years old and younger to be killed.

The church marks that day on the calendar…December 28^th…as the Feast of the Holy Innocents…a remembrance of the reported 20-plus baby boys killed in Bethlehem.  

Children killed because of a tyrant’s petty fears.

Historically…there’s no evidence that this massacre really happened and…even if Herod did order such a mass killing…his overall record is full of indiscriminate brutality toward the Jews so this would have been just another bad deed by a terrible man.

But it speaks to the real dangers that existed in the world in which Love came down at Christmas to dwell with us as one of us in the person of Jesus.

It’s still speaking to us in the world in which we are living today.

Violence…especially violence against children…is still with us.

We have all seen the images from the war-torn areas of the world…Gaza…Ukraine…Syria…Sudan…with indiscriminate killings of civilians and children being the most vulnerable victims.

And even closer to home…we know that school shootings are becoming an all-too frequent occurrence.

In the same way the birth of a child represents hope…the death of a child can feel like a devastating blow to hope.

It’s into times and places and moments such as this that Jesus enters the world…and depends upon the faithful actions of human participants to pay attention to the messages in their dreams.

Joseph did follow the dreams…and did so despite it being a risky proposition.

They left their homeland…the familiar.

They were immigrants…refugees…on the run into a foreign land.

In fact… it was the land from which their ancestors had escaped from another tyrannical figure so many centuries earlier.

How strange that must have been to seek refuge in Egypt!

We might imagine the stress of this situation and how terrifying it must have been to have to flee from their country of origin.

I’ve listened to many reports about the dangerous trek of people fleeing gang violence in Central America to seek refuge in our country.

Just trying to get through the area called the Darien Gap…which is both a swampland full of snakes as well as jungles and mountains…where marauders hang out waiting to attack people running for their lives…is harrowing experience.

That anyone makes it through there is truly miraculous.

The holy family’s experience isn’t as well documented…but we get the idea that like today’s refugees…they too had to could never fully rest because there was always danger around the corner.

Even after Herod’s death…Joseph was still listening to his dream narrator telling him not to go back to Judea.

And so the family settled in the Galilean village of Nazareth.

This story reminds us of how much it takes sometimes to keep hope alive.

But that fragile and vulnerable hope is the Jesus that lives within each of us who have been brought through the waters of baptism and marked and sealed as Christ’s own forever.

And this Jesus…born in us…is the hope that we bring out into the world…into our homes…our work places…everywhere we go and encounter those faces of God seeking meaningful connection.

This hope is what fuels a dream of a world where there is health, healing, and hope with unconditional love.

As we enter into the season of Epiphany…a time of many great “a-has”…may it be a time where the Christ light in us grows brighter each day as we keep that fire of hope burning in our hearts.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.