What do We Dream of?

God called Samuel in his dreams, repeatedly. It’s not surprising that God had to be so persistent. Samuel was young and “not yet familiar with the Lord.” Though he served the prophet Eli, Samuel was an unlikely candidate to become a prophet himself, since he was not Eli’s son and heir. Nonetheless, God called three times while Samuel was asleep in the temple. With the help of his master Eli, Samuel figured out what was going on and on the fourth call, he finally answered “Speak, for your servant is listening.” The Lord, we are told, remained with Samuel, “not permitting any word of his to be without effect.”

Joseph, the patron saint of our parish, also heard God speak in his dreams. Joseph did not permit the word he received to be without effect, following four divine commands that he received in his dreams to take Mary into his home, to flee with his wife and newborn son to Egypt, and finally to return and make a new home when and where it was safe to do so.

For Samuel and for Joseph, dreams were no idle matter. Dreams are where Samuel and Joseph encountered God, where they heard God speak. For Samuel and Joseph, sleep was a sacred space, a ‘liminal’ space, a threshold between what they heard in their dreams and effective action when they woke up.

We too are poised on a threshold, even, many possible thresholds. We are in between an uncontrolled pandemic and herd immunity. We are in between the results of November’s election, a mob siege of the US Capitol and the inauguration of Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris. We are even in between in our parish community, between Christmas and Lent, and under the pastoral care of an interim administrator between pastors.

This particular in-between Sunday, this second Sunday of Ordinary Time in year B of the church’s cycle of scripture readings, also happens to be the national holiday designated to the memory of Martin Luther King. Dr. King is best remembered for the stirring speech he delivered on August 28, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, with its pounding refrain, “I have a dream!” Dr. King began that speech by referring to the ‘rude awakening’ of a nation unfaithful to its American dream of the riches of freedom, the security of justice and the promises of democracy.

And so it seems to be an especially propitious time to ask ourselves, what do we dream of at night? What is God saying to us in this liminal, in between time? Can we hear echoes in our lives of the dreams of Dr. King, of Joseph, and of Samuel? What guidance might their experiences offer us?

Returning to the first reading (Samuel 3b:3b-10, 19) we find a number of things to keep in mind. First is, as noted, that God calls repeatedly. On the one hand, this is good news indeed: God doesn’t speak to us one time only; if we fail to pick up on the first ring, we haven’t missed God’s call. On the other hand, it is a reminder to listen constantly. Even if we consider ourselves unlikely conversation partners with God, we must be willing, like Samuel, to become ever more familiar with the God of all creation who calls each of us by name.

Joseph’s dreams suggest some criteria for how to respond to our dreams. Joseph’s response was unexpected, risky action, undertaken to protect the hope born in Jesus. When we consider what Joseph was asked to do, we may well wonder if we could do the same. Could we, as Joseph did, take into our lives someone who appears to have betrayed our trust, someone who might expose us to public criticism, like an inexplicably pregnant fiancé? Could we uproot the family and flee to a foreign country? Could we ever feel safe enough to return to the place that was dangerous to us? To be a dreamer like Joseph requires both the faith to listen to God and the faith to commit ourselves boldly to something far greater than ourselves. Joseph’s experience is a strong reminder that dreaming with God is no idle matter.

And what of Dr. Martin Luther King’s dreams? It is well worth re-reading the whole text of his landmark speech, or better yet, listening to him preach it, both of which are readily available online. I use the word preach deliberately, for King speaks not of his own personal dream, or even the shared dream of the civil rights movement. His speech is a thorough examination, a critique, of the “American dream” in the light of Scripture, in light of the teachings of the Hebrew prophets and the Gospels. You can hear this when King speaks of his dreams of ‘the table of brotherhood’ of his dreams of transformation, and as he builds toward his climax with the familiar words of the prophet Isaiah, that “one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight. . .”

This too, is the responsibility of dreamers: we are to evaluate what we hear in light of the holy traditions that we share. Critical reflection on our dreams checks our self-serving ambition, and it simultaneously guides us toward a community built on a shared dream, a common vision. Thorough-going examination of the dreams we hold dear is also the most difficult and necessary task that we–as a nation and as a faith community–face today.

The past year—and the past few weeks—have provided ample evidence how far Dr. King’s dream is from fulfillment for so many people. It remains our task to carry on his work of infusing the best of our American dream with the vision that God calls us to.

We will need to keep the dreamers Samuel and Joseph in mind. Listen, for God speaks even to the least and most unlikely of us, often when we don’t expect it. Act as boldly as Joseph. Only then might the words that God speaks in our dreams have a real effect; only then might we make these dreams come true.

—BJ Brown