Dare to Dream

(An excerpt from a sermon preached on 1/16/11)

In the reading from the book of the prophet Joel, it is written, “And it shall come to pass, afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; and your sons and daughters shall prophesy; your old men (and women) shall dream dreams, your young men (and women) shall see visions.” (Joel 28)

How fitting it is that we hear these words this weekend as we celebrate the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If Dr. King was anything, he was a dreamer and a visionary, a man chosen by God to be a prophet in our midst.

We recall that in our nation’s capital almost 48 years ago, Dr. King shared his dreams and what he envisioned for our world. He dreamt, we recall, of a world where the descendants of former slaves and former slave-owners would be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood… a world where little children would someday live in a nation where they would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Dr. King envisioned a world where we would grow to see the face of Jesus in Blacks and Whites, Native Americans, Asians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and all other racial, ethnic, social, cultural or religious groups. He dared to dream and envision:
• A world of peace and love among all women and men, girls and boys...
• A world where we would study war no more…
• A world where poverty, hunger, and homelessness would be eradicated…
• A world where violence and abuse would exist no longer.

Toward the conclusion of his life in 1968, Dr. King wondered out loud about the dream he had articulated for America and the world in 1963, and whether his dream had become a “nightmare.”

It leads us to ask ourselves the questions, “What has really happened to King’s dream, and our own ability to hope and love and envision and dream? Where are our dreams and visions today?

The word of hope is this. We can all be dreamers and visionaries. Dr. King came not only to dream himself, but to prophetically challenge each of us to dare, in our heart of hearts, to dream and vision… knowing that through hope and faith, and steadfastness and courage, we could live a better tomorrow. He dared to dream.

In one of his poems, Langston Hughes encourages us to:

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

We can dare to dream, and Dr. King’s dreams can come alive for us today:
• As we advocate and work to address poverty and oppression…
• As we continue to fight for healthcare for everybody…
• As we commit ourselves to peace and justice for all humanity.
• As we work for a nonviolent society…
• As we hold before ourselves the belief in the words etched in our Declaration of Independence, that “all people are created equal.”

Indeed, we are called today to dream dreams and see visions. Dare to dream of what our families (and our young people)… and our churches… and our communities… and our governments… and our world will be in the days to come.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must work unceasingly to uplift
this nation that we love to a higher destiny,
to a higher plateau of compassion,
to a more noble expression of humanness."
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Abound in Hope

Today marks the third anniversary of the launching of the Baltimore-Washington Conference's Initiative to Address Violence in Baltimore and of Hope for the City, the Conference's strategic plan for ministry in Baltimore. In 2007, over 300 United Methodists and others from across the Baltimore region gathered to pray for the city and for those who had been victimized by violence during that year. In that year, there were 278 people murdered in Baltimore. This year, the number of people murdered in Baltimore has again exceeded 200, with 10 of those persons being children. Let us recommit ourselves to doing all that we can to being the change that we want for the city. In the book of Romans (15:13), the apostle Paul offers a prayer of encouragement for those in that city who were facing the adversity of their day: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." In the days ahead, let us abound in the hope that God will continue to work through the church to bring forth healing and transformation.

Haiti Mission Team

Please be in prayer for the Baltimore United methodist Regional team going to Haiti, Dec. 9-17, 2010. This team of 6, led by Rev. Gayle Annis-Forder, pastor of Loch Raven UMC, reports that they feel blessed to have this opportunity to serve during Advent, to embody incarnation by serving in the name of Jesus. Knowing of the harsh conditions endured by Haitians, beginning with extreme poverty, followed by an earthquake, a hurricane, cholera and unrest following recent elections, the team seeks your prayers for them and the people they will be privileged to serve.

The Church Lights the Way

"The Church Lights the Way" HIV/AIDS Conference was held yesterday, Saturday, November 13th at Grace UMC in Baltimore. Sponsored by the Baltimore Hope for the City Initiative and the AIDS Task Force of Grace United Methodist Church, the purpose of the conference was to afford an opportunity for people in local faith communities to learn, network and share resources pertaining to HIV/AIDS as it continues to impact our churches and communities. It was a excellent time of learning and sharing, with HIV/AIDS testing also made available for conference attendees and others wishing to be tested. In her closing address, Ms. Linda Bales Todd from the United Methodist Church's General Board of Church and Society, encouraged each of us to be like pesky mosquitos and to commit to doing something to help address the HIV/AIDS pandemic that affects us all. A reminder for all of us is that World AIDS Day is December 1st. Prayerfully, each of us will find a way to do something to help raise consciousness and move toward eradicating AIDS in our midst.

Suggestions on Becoming a Positive Deviant

In the final section of his book, "Better", Dr. Atul Gawande offers five suggestions for how we might make a worthy difference, or in other words how we might become "positive deviant." These are:
(1) Ask an unscripted question. Seek to learn something about others by asking questions.
(2) Don't complain. We all have plenty to carp about, but resist the temptation to complain.
(3) Count something. One should be a scientist in one's world. Whatever that world is, one should count something.
(4) Write something. It makes no diffrence whether you write five paragraphs for a blog, a paper for a professional journal, or a poem for a reading group. Just write.
(5) Change. Make yourself an early adopter. Look for the opportunity to change.

The Difference between Good and Great

One of the books that I had the chance to read during my Sabbath Leave this past summer was a book entitled "Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance" by Dr. Atul Gawande. One of the things that Gawande shares in the book is that the difference between being good and great is that great is being consistently good.