Dear one,
To hope … to dream: within these days of political unrest, I took a moment to reread Martin Luther King Jr.’s, “I Have a Dream.” When I did, once again I found the quality and depth of his words striking—even prophetic; and when I did, I then had occasion to consider his hopes in relation to a recent dream I had:
Aware of a large, flaming, wooden crate, seeking to extinguish it, I darted into an adjoining street, only to discover that the street and its buildings were aflame. I then heard Hamlet’s words:
“… what dreams may come/ When we have shuffled off this mortal coil/ Must give us pause” (Hamlet, III,i).
As I have given thought to hopes and dreams, I sense that both are a present, forward-looking desire based upon a past reality or experience. Moreover, if the hope or dream is well-founded, then its realization is probable; however, if it is ill-founded, then its future realization is most improbable. When I compare my dream to the Dream of Dr. King (i.e. racial equality and/or justice), mine becomes ephemeral—so much fog, based upon the vagaries of my personality; whereas his dream, I believe, is founded upon a faithful, living-but-ancient, Biblical tradition of those who have suffered greatly. My dream is uncertain; his is sure:
“I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character … I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places shall be made plain, and the crooked places shall be made straight and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. [Isaiah 40] / This is our hope” (A Testament of Hope).
Likewise, I believe the Apostle Paul knew much about dreams:
“[We] also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,and endurance character, and character hope, and hope does not shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:3-6).
The hope of the Christian faith rests upon the present love of God experienced through His Spirit, as based upon Jesus’ death. For two millennia this hope has transformed lives and cultures: Dr. King’s dream, I believe, rests upon this hope.
Dreaming,
Stan