Scripture: Hear now the story of Jacob, who was also known as Israel, and of his favorite son Joseph, also known as a dreamer. I read from the 37th chapter of Genesis, verses 1-36:

Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. [2] This is the story of the family of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. [3] Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. [4] But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

[5] Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. [6] He said to them, "Listen to this dream that I dreamed. [7] There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf." [8] His brothers said to him, "Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?" So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.

[9] He had another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, "Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me." [10] But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, "What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?" [11] So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

[12] Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem. [13] And Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them." He answered, "Here I am." [14] So he said to him, "Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me." So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.

He came to Shechem, [15] and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, "What are you seeking?" [16] "I am seeking my brothers," he said; "tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock." [17] The man said, "They have gone away, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. [18] They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. [19] They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer. [20] Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams." [21] But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, "Let us not take his life." [22] Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him"-that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. [23] So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; [24] and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

[25] Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. [26] Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? [27] Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers agreed. [28] When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

[29] When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes. [30] He returned to his brothers, and said, "The boy is gone; and I, where can I turn?" [31] Then they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. [32] They had the long robe with sleeves taken to their father, and they said, "This we have found; see now whether it is your son's robe or not." [33] He recognized it, and said, "It is my son's robe! A wild animal has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces." [34] Then Jacob tore his garments, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days. [35] All his sons and all his daughters sought to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, "No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." Thus his father bewailed him. [36] Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard.

The prophet Joel came forward when a plague of locusts descended upon the Israelites about 400 BC. His brief message has two parts. The first part describes the locust plague, calls the people to repent, and promises the restoration of the land. The second part begins with the passage I am about to read. It predicts the outpouring of the spirit and describes the signs that will anticipate the deliverance of the people. Listen for the intimate way God communicates to the people. I read from chapter 2, verses 27-32:

You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame. [28] Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. [29] Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. [30] I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. [31] The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. [32] Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

SERMON:

Had Martin Luther King lived to this day, he'd be at least a few years into his retirement - for he would be 68 years old. In a way reminiscent of the prophet Joel, as a young man, King saw visions. Had he lived to retirement, no doubt he would have continued to dream the dreams which he sought to bring to life in the few years that were his. 'Your young folk shall see visions, and your old folk shall dream dreams . . . .'

King was brilliant in countless ways, not the least of which was the instinct which led him to link the dream of freedom for all who were oppressed to the American dream. As Americans, we did not know how expansive our own dream actually was until a black interpreter of dreams named King came a long. He helped whites and people of color, poor and rich, to recognize that in this land, it was possible for us to have a shared dream, and it was not necessary for any class of people to defer their dreams to a distant time.

King's focus on the need to expand and revise the American dream took on new depth in his final years. Having spent 1955-1965 focused on the singular goal of civil rights, he began to focus on the connection between racial and economic policies. He further expanded these connections until, in 1968, like the prophets of the Old Testament, he saw clearly the interconnection of war, poverty, injustice, political power, and prejudice. The wider his dream grew, the more comprehensive his analysis of what ails this country and the world became, the greater was his risk of death.

Like all prophets, King challenged the status quo. As the years went on, his challenge took on breadth and depth. He did this because he had a dream, a vision - inspired by the Bible but rooted in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights - of our entire country living out the principles of freedom and democracy more inclusively, and more faithfully.

This morning, in memory of Dr. King, I want to talk about dreams - not the ones we have when we're asleep, but the ones we have when we're most awake and alive. I think that we sell ourselves short if we say that only a few great leaders like Martin King are dreamers - and the rest of us merely do our best to fall into the proper line. I know too many of you too well to believe that. Each of us lives with dreams. Of course, we have our personal dreams - that our children might grow up and make something of themselves (or just grow up!); that someday we'll be able to acquire that to which we aspire; or that when we retire, we'll finally be able to do what we've always wanted to do . . . . But I believe that each of us also has a dream which is trans-personal, a dream which includes the whole family of God, a broad encompassing dream in which:

• the injustices of life are somehow set right;
  
  
• the infirmities of our bodies are somehow made well;
  
  
• the prisons of our lives are mysteriously broken open.
  
  

In this dream:

• the people who have been blind gain vision;
  
• those who have been deaf begin to hear;
  
• those who have been silenced are given to speak.
  
  

These sorts of dreams are easily crushed. The world both admires those who are courageous enough to put forward such dreams - and it despises them. Martin Luther King was one of the most loved, and hated, people on earth. Many wanted him silenced, among them leaders in both the Democratic and Republican parties. For them, King's dream clashed with the status quo. If King was right, then the way the world worked would have to change.

But it was not only his notorious opponents who wanted him to fail. As Dr. King's dream grew larger, less simple, more encompassing and complex, many of his own followers turned against him - not unlike the way Joseph's brothers turned against him in our reading from Genesis. They said that King should stick with what he knew-issues of racial prejudice - and not venture into the foreign fields of politics, economics, national security, and war. The dreams of these so called friends were limited. They could not embrace King's magnificently broad vision. I think it is the same with us. There is a place inside each of us in which we naturally generate such dreams.

• It is the voice of God within us.
  
  
• It is an echo of the unfamiliar but compelling truth that we are created in the image of God.
  
  
• It is that place of compassion in which, when we encounter a single person who is hurting, we also hurt.
  
  
• It is that place of identification, in which, when we learn of a single person who is jailed for her religious or political views, we feel the bars of the cell.
  
  
  

We have these grand dreams too, and we want to hold on to them; we want to love these dreams; we want to espouse them and help make them come true. But we also shrink in cowardice when it comes to standing up for these dreams, or sacrificing for them. And if - because you held on to a dream - you have lost a job, or a relationship, or a bundle of money . . . I would guess that there is also a part of you which despises such dreams.

Because the momentum is with the status quo, it is hard to hold on to such dreams. Many of us, years (or even decades) ago, chose a job, or a volunteer position, or a lifestyle which promoted equality. But after a period of time, we became discouraged by the sense that our contribution was merely a drop of fresh water in a salty ocean of thirst for freedom and equality. And as a result - although we still espouse the views which originally motivated us to work for VISTA, or Head Start, or Legal Services - we have re-focused our energy on providing for our own.

Others of us simply place our dreams on the shelf - neither in the trash barrel, nor on our desk top - but on the shelf. There, like a once read book, these great dreams gather dust. Occasionally, we see the news on TV, or read a book by Jonathan Kozol or a column in the paper by Marvin McMickle, and we go to the shelf, and dust off our dream. We may even share a part of it in conversation with a loved one or a friend. But the energy it takes to keep pressing forward with our vision tires many of us out, and we re-shelve our dream so that we can hunker down and take care of business.

The people I most respect are those who manage to keep the dream alive. Many are volunteers in programs like Plymouth's reading program at Buckeye Woodland School. Many have chosen to work in jobs that require them to confront these issues each day, and chip away at both the symptoms and the causes. Many are leaders in the business community - like my colleagues in Leadership Cleveland - who choose to broaden their focus to identify projects which are win-win - not only good for business but also beneficial for the marginalized of our city. Among these leaders are women and men, black and white, who recognize that none of us is free so long as any of us is assigned to a life of poverty, hunger or illiteracy.

Now all of this has to do with life in this community of Christians which we call our church. Part of the role of a church - in the midst of a secular society - is to be an incubator where the kinds of dreams I have been talking about are protected and fed so that they can eventually be born and become true.

• I don't mean dreams like winning the lottery.
  
  
• I mean dreams like living a life in which we are fully reconciled to our neighbors;
  
  
• a life free from the shame of hidden secrets;
  
  
• a life in which hoarding is replaced by arrangements which facilitate the sharing of resources.
  

Martin King talked with fondness and an almost mystical familiarity about the Beloved Community - by which he meant a community which lived the way people were supposed to live. The beloved Community would be characterized by the features I have just mentioned. In addition, it would be a family of relationships in which violence was exchanged for communication and creativity; a place where support and help were offered, with no strings attached.

You can find these qualities by reading the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible. You can see them in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. These are the values to which we must hold ourselves accountable. If they seem foreign, if they seem like a higher, more challenging standard - they are. Many times in his life, Dr. King delayed a march or a boycott because the people of the community had not yet reached a high enough level of discipline to make him confident that they could keep their eyes on the prize - even when being beaten, even when their homes were being blown up. He asked nothing more of them than Jesus asks of all disciples.

You see (and this may be the point of this sermon), we don't gather each week for the purpose of making our life in the secular world easier. We gather to experience, and share, and learn about how to live a radical alternative to that life:

• God does not promise, or even offer us, happiness in this world. God offers us Joy.
  
  
• God does not assure us of employment, or good health - and God does not even protect us from tragedy. What God offers is love and support in the midst of any and all successes and perils - love so deep as to provide us with the courage to address any and all challenges.
  
  

Let's not be mistaken. To participate in a community seeking to be faithful will never be easy; but the promises of the world pale in relation to the truth and depth available here.

All of this is to say that how we conduct ourselves in the church should be different from and a proving ground for how we conduct ourselves in the world. When you have a dispute with someone in the church, there can only be one path: to go directly to the person and attempt to resolve the problem. When you see that an individual or a group within the church is being treated unfairly, speak up! Raise the concern and pitch in to correct it. When a problem arises in Cleveland or in one of our neighboring cities, and we, as a church, are asked to address it, we need to be both creative and realistic - wise as serpents and gentle as doves.

A moment ago I referred to the church as a proving ground. As we cultivate these habits and values within the church, we are both humbled and empowered to export these attitudes, practices and dreams to our life beyond the community of the church. Our circle of kindness should not be confined by a confession of faith, nor should it be bound by the color of a person's skin or the security of a person's finances. The world is not kind to many of the values which guide our life here. Others may call us naive, or scowl at our attempts to be "do-gooders." We cannot expect the world to beat a path to our door. But we can be sure that our lives will be guided by the burning light of justice, that we will be refreshed by the flowing streams of gratitude, and that we will be spurred on -- in the face of apathy and defeat -- that we will be spurred on by the compelling dream of equality.

Martin Luther King can be criticized for having had too sanguine a view of American values. He can be criticized for being so naive as to think that the fundamental changes he sought would be embraced by a country with our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Yet he can only be admired for developing that dream in and amongst his people, and spreading that dream throughout the land. And so far as we in the church are concerned, he can only be praised as one who outlined for all to see the marks of the Beloved Community - an outline to which all Christian individuals and communities must aspire. AMEN.

Rev. Jim Antal 1/19/97Page 6
Martin Luther King, Jr Sunday, Year BUnedited Sermon for Personal Reflection