Dreams

“In your dreams honey.”

It’s a common enough phrase, a hallmark of a cynical interaction. It means, “whatever it is you think is coming your way has no basis in reality.”

Curious isn’t it; because this Christmastide is the season of dreams. I know, I’m all grown up, and I’ve been through a lot in life. But still, at this time of year, I bop along thinking there is good reason to expect the best. And that expectation in the back of my mind turns to hope in my heart, and that turns to “Merry Christmas” on my lips. And I think that’s how this season is supposed to work.

So what about dreams? Dreams are real enough, even though what we dream often is not. The science of dreams is uncertain about many things, including where they come from and why they take the forms they do. But we do know that they are vital to our survival as humans. Dreams come during the deepest part of sleep, the part that heals the body and fortifies it for the next day. Likely, dreams come during the time when the body is completely in “reboot” mode—so the psyche takes a little reboot time too.

But what about this business of expectations? If we are really grown up people—especially if we are grown-up gay and lesbian people—we have a mixed bag of expectations at this time of year. We look forward to sweet moments with our loved ones. We dread those interactions with family where our sexuality might (will) be challenged. But still we hope, still we dream, that there might be acceptance, that there might be more than acceptance, that there might be actual affirming love, in those interactions.

If you want to have a look at the scripture appointed for today, go ahead and do that; you can find it at the Lectionary Page. You will see a reading from Isaiah, in which God cannot get Ahaz to believe. And finally God says “okay, I’m sending you a sign anyway.” And the sign? A young woman will bear a son and name him Immanuel, which means “God is with us.”  In the letter to the Romans, Paul asserts boldly the facts as he knows them in his soul—Jesus was promised, delivered, and exists in flesh and Spirit as the Son of God and the Lord Christ. If ever a dream was fulfilled, that was it. And in the Gospel, Matthew recounts the story of how the angel came to Joseph in a dream, and told him Mary was with child from the Holy Spirit.

Well, we don’t know what Joseph was thinking. We don’t know what this dream looked like or felt like. But we do know that this was the sign God had promised, that a young woman would bear the Son of God, who was, and is, Jesus—Immanuel—God with us.

And by all of this we know that God is with us, now and always. And that is the promise, the expectation, of this season. Presents? Good cheer? Light in the darkness? Yes, of course—that’s the promise God’s creation brings to us in this season. But the real promise is the promise of a lifetime of love—being loved, being created in love, being created to love. That is why God has put us here. That is what God expects of us. That is what we can expect of God.

Okay so have a look at today’s prayer (the “collect”—that’s an old word from English worship meaning literally a prayer that “collects” the spirit of the congregation together). It says we should clean house, so when Jesus comes he will find a mansion within each of our souls. I’d say it means be true to whom God has made you to be, clean out the cobwebs, let Christmastide open your heart and your soul to the promise of being made constantly new. Get ready my friends to let Jesus in.

© 2010 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

Fourth Sunday in Advent Year A 2010 (Isaiah 7:10-16, Psalm 80: 1-7, 16-18, Romans 1:1-7, Matthew 1:18-25)