dream, dream, dream...

if you didn't know already, i am an extremely visual person. this comes out in my dreams as well as the rest of my life. i have dreams some nights that could be turned into novels. and i always dream in living color...in fact two weeks ago i was throwing bright green jello from a railroad push car...the jello going from regular to frozen fruit salad jello the longer i threw it!

sunday night i had a dream that seems to be a metaphor for what we do to folks who don't know the story yet...
the back story for the dream is this...
christ church glendale just updated the sanctuary...we didn't add screens and freestanding chairs ( i wish!) but the floors and pews were refinished, walls painted, new light fixtures added, and FINALLY a sound system! the first one in 150 years! sunday was all-saints sunday and the entire parish gathered for one service at 9:30am rather than the 3 different ones on a usual sunday. rob was actually the only member of our family to attend on sunday morning, so i haven't actually seen the re-done space myself, but somehow our discussion of church made it into my brain and into my dream.

the dream was in motion, i was at christ church for worship. the service was beginning and i entered the building but i couldn't see the altar. during the remodel, many side entrances and seating areas were now a part of the floor plan...you could no longer see the front of the church, you could no longer see the altar, the large stained glass victory window or see directly down the aisle. now there were all these separate spaces that a person either sat in to listen to the sermon or they had to walk through to get to the main worship space. these smaller rooms were painted bright white and the old woodwork was in stark contrast ... sadly the main worship space that did face the altar now was much smaller and rather cramped.

the dream didn't really have an ending, the alarm went off and i woke up.
but i woke up thinking about the metaphor of the dream...

the architecture of this building was designed to tell as story...if you look up the ceiling looks like an upside down boat...fishers of people, walking on the water, you get the imagery...
and in the episcopal church the altar is the focus...eucharist..communion being the center of worship even beyond the sermon...
so not being able to see down the aisle, is like not getting invited to dinner.
not getting invited to be with jesus...instead you're relagated to the kid's table or a closet,
not the main thing.
hum...
how often do we do this to folks...if you don't look like us, think like us, smell like us...you can't possbily worship with us.
also, we make it hard to know the way in... we like our holy huddle, we want our club to be small...not intimate, just closed and hard to get into. new comers, visitors, those who don't know the story, or don't know our language are left out or shut out...they aren't graciously invited in...

i'm sure there are metaphors for my own life here too...for example how easily i am distracted from the real focus of jesus and intimacy with him, instead i am wandering in the hallway, or somewhere in another room, when jesus is calling me to be at the table with him.

and speaking of tables...
as we're approaching thanksgiving, the table is a key symbol...the gathering of the family around the table to celebrate and to be thankful...being with folks we really care about and with folks who drive us crazy ...folks we might be with only on holidays ...
that's a little bit of the table of jesus...at the table we gather with folks we like, and folks we dislike, folks we see each week and folks we've never seen before.
at the table, in communion, we are brought together in the love of jesus to remember and to celebrate and to be thankful. it doesn't matter who you are, you're still invited to come.

Comments

[bobbie]

oh i dream about dreams like that lilly!

i have the most borking, sad, pathetic dreams. really. i pray for real dreams, so far nothing... sigh...

hey - cool to see your name on the list for the new radio station programming!! can't wait to hear more!!!

[natala]

i really love that image of the table... i am finally understanding communion....
much peace to you -
natala

[l.l.]

nice blog