Tuesday Sermon: Listening to God

          Do you remember your dreams?  My son has vivid, technicolor dreams that are very detailed that he remembers.  Me, my memory of my dreams are bits and pieces of stuff that make no sense, and often involve words in another language that have me searching for dictionaries upon awakening.  My husband, on the other hand, had prophetic dreams.  He would dream about things that would later happen to other people. 

          Dreams are a fascinating subject that get into more psychology than we have time for here this morning.  But modern-day psychologists would tell you that within a dream, each important aspect is some part of your own psyche, trying to communicate with you in some way.  It seems that the concept of dreams over time have changed.

          Dreams and visions – or waking dreams/daydreaming – are methods by which God communicates with us.  In the passage in Daniel, not only was Daniel expected to know the dream the king had without being told, but to interpret it such that it made sense to the king.  Daniel explains that the reason he can do this is because God gave him the power to interpret visions and dreams because he has kept his body and soul clean. 

          And here is where the letter from Paul to the Ephesians comes in, that tells us not to be foolish or to get drunk with wine, but rather to experience the wisdom and joy that being filled with the Spirit can bring.  The thing is that Paul is not speaking only about inebriation, but the "busy-ness" that we often fill our time and minds with, leaving no room for the Spirit to enter.

          I don't think God has stopped communicating with us in dreams and visions.  I think oftentimes, we have forgotten to listen, to put down our technology, our clubs, our work and activities - and to exercise the wisdom and discernment we can have when we pay attention.  For one week, try this exercise:  keep a pen and paper by your bedside.  Before you go to sleep, pray, and end with asking God to tell you what you need to know.  If at any point during the night you wake up after dreaming, write down what you can remember before you go back to sleep.  The next morning, sit in meditation with what you've written.  See if there's some part of you trying to communicate a message, or if perhaps God has answered a question you had.  Then open your Bible at random and read something on the page.  You might be surprised at the answers you receive.

          God has never stopped communicating with us.  We just have to be ready to listen.