When I was growing up, we often lived on Air Force Bases, since my Dad was in the military.  They were pretty great places to live, usually having amenities like a big swimming-pool where all the kids took lessons in the summers, and a small movie-theatre, and the best part of all – my very favorite – was a library!  I loved libraries when I was a kid, and still do, because they were always lovely and quiet … and no-one thought it was weird if you liked to sit there and read … and because they were filled with treasures – with all those wonderful, amazing books that took you to whole new worlds, and taught you things you never knew before.

            The year I was 11, I started reading biographies … and I remember that although the library wasn’t very big (about the size of the former Fruita library, in what’s now the Chamber building), it had one whole book-case filled with biographies.  Now, that being the 1960s, most of those biographies were about men … and I read avidly about famous men like Abraham Lincoln, and Albert Einstein, and Joseph Lister, and lots more …

But tucked among all those stories about men were a handful about women … and one of the first I read was the story of a woman named Maria Sklodowska … better known to most people as Madame Curie.  She was the scientist who discovered the elements polonium and radium, and who is the only person to ever win two Nobel Prizes in two different sciences – chemistry and physics.

            But the thing I loved best about her – and most identified with – was her passion for learning.  She grew up in Poland, while it was under Russian domination.  And even though she was brilliant, and graduated at the top of her high-school class, she wasn’t permitted to attend university ... the Russians had passed laws prohibiting any women from having access to higher education. 

            But Maria had a dream … she was a passionate learner, and desperately wanted to study further, so she got creative, and with some fellow students (both women and men), created what they called a “floating university.” Their classes met at night, in always-changing secret locations … and the students knew if they were discovered they could be arrested or shot … and despite the danger, she began to learn more about the science and math that she loved. 

            As she learned more and more,  she realized that she had to move elsewhere in Europe so she could enroll in a real university.  But she didn’t have the money … so she got a job as the governess for the children of a beet-sugar factory owner, where she worked for the next four years, until she had earned enough money to move to Paris, where she enrolled in the Sorbonne. 

            She was desperately poor – she only just had enough money to pay for her tuition, and to rent a small, unheated attic-room, and to buy the most meager of food.  I remember creating vivid mental pictures of her as I read – sitting at night with her books, wrapped in every garment she owned, trying to stay warm, eating only a small meal a day, of bread, an egg, and perhaps a piece of fruit – which I learned later were very accurate mental pictures of precisely how she lived. 

            She finished her undergraduate degree in two years; and a master’s degree the year after; then her doctorate – the first earned by a woman on Europe – a few years later.  And in the middle, she began the research that would ultimately lead to two Nobel Prizes, and transform the future of humanity. 

            Marie Curie had a dream … that energized and sustained her through incredible hardship and struggle … she knew that what we dream – and are willing to work for – is what becomes our reality.

Pastor Dan

            I, like Sharyl, love to read biographies of my heroes, and one of my greatest heroes is Martin Luther King Jr.  I greatly respected him as a leader for his commitment to non-violence and the fact that he never asked anything of anyone else he was not willing to do himself.  Always tenacious and full of energy, he worked tirelessly towards his dream of ending discrimination for all races, a dream that caused him to endure stoning by an angry mob, beatings by Southern police officers, a government-led smear campaign and having his house bombed.  

            His greatest moments came during the great March on Washington when he delivered his “I have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, and when he received the Nobel Peace Prize.  In his passion for justice, he continued to speak out against a number of other injustices, discrimination in the US North, the Viet Nam war, and unfair labor practices.  In fact, it was during his support for striking city workers in Memphis, Tennessee, that he was shot and killed as he stood on his motel balcony.   

            Unfortunately, he was never fully able to realize his dream of ending human prejudice, but his tireless work for equality resulted in the passing of this country’s primary civil right laws, and helped to make us more aware of the effects of discrimination.  He had a dream, and he knew that if he did the work, it would become reality.

Pastor Sharyl

This idea that what we dream becomes our reality isn’t a new one … although in some ways it’s a very hot one right now in our culture!  I’m wondering how many of you have seen The Secret?  For those of you who haven’t, it’s a sort of documentary about what is professed to be an ancient secret … something called “the Law of Attraction.” 

            Forms of this “law” are found, interestingly,             in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity … even, some proponents argue, in quantum physics.  The basic idea is that our thoughts (dreams, visions) have either positive or negative energy, and they attract like energy.  So, people who have negative thoughts and attitudes (energy) tend to attract negative things to themselves … and people who have positive thoughts and attitudes (energy) tend to attract positive things to themselves. 

            For example, the person who’s always grouchy, always complaining, always down about everything and everyone is also the person who goes out to dinner, and usually ends up the terrible waiter, the overcooked steak,   or the dried-out calzone.  The person who is generally up-beat, grateful for the good things in life, and pleasant to be around is the person who walks into a bakery, and is given free cookies.  In other words, what we dream -- bad or good – is what becomes our reality.

            It’s precisely what Paul is talking about in that piece of the letter to the church at Colossae that you heard this morning.  What he’s telling them (unlike his letters to many of the other early churches) is “you done good[1].”  This was a church full of people who were apparently hungry to learn more and more about the Gospel … and not just to hear the Word of God, but to live it out.  As Paul puts it, he has heard (via a fellow named Epaphras) “how thoroughly love has been worked into your lives by the Spirit.”  What that church had dreamed – had become their reality. 

            But that wasn’t the end of his message to them.  He says, “you done good,” but he also says “and you can do better.”  He reminds them that dreams are not enough – that for dreams to become realities, we have to be willing to do the work – to be willing to work hard – to make it so.  And he reminds them that the life of faith is a journey – a journey that’s sometimes joyful, and sometimes a long, hard slog.  But that whatever it’s like, that it’s crucial to remember the dreams that God calls us to dream, and to bring into being in the world.  Paul knew that what we dream – if we do the work – is what becomes our reality.

Pastor Dan

            Like the church in Colosse that Paul was talking to, we have had dreams in this church, and we have "done good."    

            Our Foremothers and Forefathers had a dream of becoming a church as they celebrated worship in a Gospel Tent donated by a church in Boston as part of their mission of bringing God to the “Wild West.”   We realize their dreams today as we celebrate paying off our building loan. 

            Our Foremothers and Forefathers had a dream of educating and supporting youth with the beginnings of the first youth group and Christian Education program in 1894.  We realize their dreams for children and youth with our Christian Education and youth programs today. 

            Our Foremothers and Forefathers had a dream, of a wonderful musical ministry with the first full-time choir beginning in 1898, and the dedication of the first pipe organ on the Western Slope.  We realized their dreams with the gift of the beautiful Grand Piano, the start of the hand-bell choir in 1985, and the continued blessings of the voices of our choir and the gifts of many talented musicians today. 

            Our Foremothers and Forefathers had a dream, of active mission work and service to others. From the outset they supported community and worldwide causes.  We realized their dream with the resettlement of a family from Cambodia, and we continue to realize their dream with our support for the homeless shelter, the Catholic Outreach, Katrina Victims, and Southeast Asian Tsunami Victims.  

            Our Foremothers and Forefathers had a dream, of a long life in this community.   We realized their dreams with the celebrations of our 50^th anniversary, and our 100^th anniversary.  We continue to realize their dreams as we look forward to our 125^th anniversary as a part of this community.

Our Foremothers and Forefathers had a dream, of many ways to worship and celebrate their relationship with God.  We realized their dreams when we purchased the canvas Labyrinth and celebrated the dedication of our permanent outdoor labyrinth last fall. 

We have been and continue to be a church of creative dreams, realized through faith, hard work, commitment, and the blessings of God’s abundant Grace.  From this we know that what we dream, if we do the work, it will become our reality.

Pastor Sharyl

I encourage us here this morning to take Paul’s words to heart:  We done good.  Today we celebrate an extraordinary accomplishment in the life of this church.  And we should celebrate!!! 

            And we can also do better.  Despite everything we’ve accomplished, we haven’t arrived any more than the church at Colossae had, or any more than any other church that’s doing it’s work does  … because again, our faith is not about a destination, but about the journey. 

            Many of you can remember some of the hard times here.  Most of us can also joyfully recall some of the good times.  What is perhaps most important, though, is not the looking back – to good or to bad times – but the looking forward. 

            And as we do, we need to ask ourselves some important questions.  What kind of church do we want to be in this community right now?  What kind of church do we want to be in this community five years from now?  What kind of church do we want to be in this community ten years from now?  What kind of church do we want this to be for all those children who gathered up here this morning, and for their children?  What kind of dreams do we think God has for our church?  What kind of dreams do we have for our church? 

            What we dream matters – because what we dream is what becomes our reality. 

            If the dream (or vision) that we see is a continually shrinking congregation, that is what will become our reality.  If the dream (or vision) that we see is a continually shrinking budget, that is what will become our reality.  But if the dream (or vision) that we see is new people joining this body of faith … people who feel nurtured here … people who are excited to find an inclusive community … people who are delighted to find a church where their questions are welcomed … if the dream (vision) that we see is new ways of engaging students from Mesa State College … new ways of doing mission in our community … new ways of stretching the minds of both our children and adults … new ways of learning … and serving … and growing … that is what will become our reality. 

            It truly is about the choices we make.  The dreams we choose to dream – or not.  The dreams we are willing to work toward – or not.  It truly is up to each and every one of us:  so my question for each of you is, what will be our dreams, and what will become our reality in this place?  Amen.