The Bible is full of stories about dreamers and visionaries.  People like Nathan, who dreamed a dream in which God called Nathan to confront David’s injustice.  People like Joseph, whose dreams got him sold into slavery, and thrown into prison, and into all kinds of other big trouble.  People like Mary and another Joseph, whose visions of God’s call led them to put their safety and their very lives at risk.  People like Paul, whose dreams led him to spread the message of Jesus Christ across a major portion of his world.  Over and over in the Scriptures, we see people dreaming dreams, imagining new visions of the way things could be … and then doing what was needed to help try to make those dreams into realities.

            Well, I’d never put myself in the same league as those folks, but a couple of years ago, I had a dream, too.  Most of you know that in my former life, I was a college professor.  And that as a minister, I used to teach at Iliff School of Theology in Denver … and then, when we moved to Grand Junction, I taught in the Theological Education Institute (a/k/a TEI), which is our joint UCC and Disciples of Christ (Christian Church) lay ministry training program.

            And after working with TEI students for about three years, it became pretty clear to me that the learning resources – especially the textbooks – that were available for ministerial training just were not what was needed for our TEI students – and the thousands of students like them in other lay ministry training programs across the country.  And so, I had a dream – that our UCC’s Pilgrim Press would produce a series of books for these students that were less theoretical, and more practical, less forbidding and more accessible, books written specifically with this group of learners in mind.  And the part I would do to help make that dream a reality was to write a book on pastoral care that could be used by those students in their preparation for ministry. 

            And with your support for taking a sabbatical in which to write the book – that dream came into reality.  And here is – hot off the press as of two weeks ago –part of the culmination of that dream, accompanied by some very hard work.  (And for those of you who want to see this book up close and personal, I am providing a copy for our church library.)

            Now, I don’t want to use this sermon time to just blow my own horn, as it were – I want to use it for all of us to reflect together on this whole business of dreaming and visioning – because I believe it is one of the deepest parts of our faith-call … and just as important to think about in our Lenten journey as those things we’ve been considering these last few weeks, like our discipleship … and our images of God … and brokenness … and suffering and loss.

            The first step necessary to make a dream come true is having a vision.  Knowing, in some way, what we want to make happen.  And believing, that if we do what we can, our dreams can come to pass.

And that is crucial whether we’re talking about Biblical folks like Moses and Miriam visioning the possibility that the Israelites might be freed from captivity, or Priscilla and Aquila visioning a new kind of church – the kind that would be called a “Christian” church, or more contemporary people like Margaret Sanger, who had a vision of women being able to make choices about whether or not they would bear children, or our own Congregational Antoinette Brown, who over 150 years ago had a vision that women might become ministers too, or the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had a vision that some day, in this country, the color of a person’s skin would no longer matter, or two college drop-outs named “Woz” Wozniak and Steve Jobs, who had a vision that some day all people would have something they called a “personal computer,” which would connect them all to the information they needed to live better lives.  In order for dreams to come to pass, they have to exist first as dreams that the dreamers believe in.

            And there’s a second thing that’s necessary for dreams to become realities.  And to help you understand it, let me share a story that someone sent me not long ago from the Internet.

            The story is about a huge group of tiny frogs who arranged a running and climbing competition to the top of a very tall tower.  The tiny frogs, in their hundreds, got ready to race, and a huge crowd gathered around the base of the tower to watch.

The race began, and the tiny frogs surged toward the tower, and began to climb – but after only a few minutes, some were already giving up.  People in the crowd hollered:  “Oh, this is WAY” too difficult!”  “They will NEVER make it to the top.”  “Not a chance they’ll succeed … the tower is just too high.”

            One after another, the tiny frogs began collapsing.  One by one, they began to fall from their places on the tower.  Down they fell, exhausted by their efforts, and giving up the attempt.

            Except for one tiny frog … who kept continuing to climb … despite the continuing calls from the crowd, “He’ll never make it.  It’s just too big a job.  The tower is just too high.”

            Well, the tiny frog kept climbing.  Even when he was the only one left, a few inches at a time, clinging on for all he was worth, he continued upward … until, panting, pale, completely worn out, he reached the top of the tower!

            Everyone cheered, most of the crowd astonished that he had actually made it, and when he climbed back down again, everyone wanted to know how he had done it.  How had he alone found the strength, and the will, and managed to reach the goal?

            After the reporter from the local news channel asked him these questions, the tiny frog looked puzzled … and finally said, “What did you say?”  You see, it turns out that the tiny frog who had succeeded was deaf.  The moral of the story – and there are a dozen Biblical examples of this as well – is that for dreamers to succeed, they have to stay focused on what is possible, and they have to turn their backs on the nay-sayers and the negative voices.

            The flip side of that is the third thing that is required for dreams to become realities.  And that is, dreamers need to have support from other people, who also believe in their dreams.

            In my case, with the book project, I first have a wonderful group of women clergy with whom I meet once a month for mutual support and encouragement in our work.  And they cheered me on, and helped me believe I could do this.

            And then, so did our congregation – by deciding to support me in my sabbatical, by providing funding, and love, and prayers, you all helped make this book happen too.  And so, I want to read to you what the very first paragraph of this book says, in the Acknowledgements:  “I have written much of this book wrapped in one of three ‘garments.’  One is a shawl knitted of soft blue-green yarn that looks like water, made by women in the Prayer Shawl ministry of our church.  As they and the rest of my congregation blessed me on my way to the sabbatical during which I would write this book, they wrapped me in their love, trust, care and encouragement.  I pray, in my work with you, my congregation at First Congregational United Church of Christ, that I return those gifts just as generously.”  I am deeply appreciative of everything you have done to support me in this project – while I may have done the hard work of giving the book birth, you all were serving as coaches in the background.

            Now, none of you may ever be interested in writing a book of your own – or, you may be.  But every single person sitting here this morning does have some kind of dream – maybe for your personal life … maybe for the life of our community … maybe for the life of our church. 

            And every one of our dreams – if they are dreams that serve the world well – are part of God’s dream.  And as people of faith, our call always is to help bring into being God’s dreams for the world.

In the passage we heard this morning from the prophet Joel, we’re told that when God sent God’s Spirit upon the people – and that’s not just several thousand years ago, but here, right now, today – God called – and calls – God’s people – the young ones and the older ones, women and men, rich and poor  – all of God’s people – to dream dreams, and to envision visions.  And once we’ve dreamed those dreams, and envisioned those visions, we’re called to do everything we can to make them into realities. 

            And that’s where Jesus’ parable comes into play.  Because what he’s talking about here – not tearing a piece off a new garment and using it to patch an old one … not putting new wine in old wineskins – is not about sewing or wine-making, but about dreaming and visioning and bringing new realities into being.

            It’s about recognizing that simply trying to patch what has long been in existence – maybe that’s old ways of thinking, or old ways of doing things – with some new “fix” or “tweak” – isn’t going to accomplish anything.  Concretely, if you use a new piece of fabric to patch an older piece of fabric, the first time you wash it, the new fabric patch will shrink, and it will tear up the very thing you were trying to fix.  Or if you put new wine – which is still fermenting, and producing gasses – into old, brittle wineskins, it will burst them open, and both the wine and the wineskin will be destroyed.

            Jesus’ point to his audience was that the new message he brought required a new way of living that was more than just “same old, same old.”  That the old ways of doing faith – the old traditional religious practices alone – weren’t enough to bring about the new kind of world that God was and is calling faithful people to bring into being.  Jesus was telling those people who surrounded him – and he’s telling us – that doing things the “way we’ve always done it” just isn’t enough if we’re really going to create the new kind of world that God is yearning for us to create.

            And so, my friends, as we move toward the end of this Lenten season, I invite you to think again about the kinds of dreams that God is calling you to personally – and calling us to as a congregation.  What is it that God would have you do – that God would have us do – in this year to come?

            And once we’ve identified those dreams, we need to remember to believe that they truly can come to pass … and to stay focused on the positive … and not to get caught up in nay-saying and negativity … but to follow the example of the tiny frog, and turn a deaf ear to everyone who says, “We’ll never be able to do that.”

            And most of all, we need to remember to support one another’s dreams.  That means supporting the dream of having a bigger Sunday School here by bringing your own grandchildren to church, and encouraging other young people you know to bring their kids … it means supporting the dream of wider community outreach by bringing food for our Community Food Bank, and baking cakes … and making salads for … and serving at the homeless shelter … it means supporting the dream of working for justice by buying Fair Trade coffee and chocolate to support third-world farmers and their families, and by showing up for next year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day peace rally.

            Whatever our dreams, may they also be God’s dreams.  And whatever our dreams, may we believe they can come true – and cheer one another on to make that happen.  Amen.