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{"id":540,"date":"2010-07-30T10:04:27","date_gmt":"2010-07-30T16:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raincitypastor.wordpress.com\/?p=540"},"modified":"2010-07-30T10:04:27","modified_gmt":"2010-07-30T16:04:27","slug":"dreams-impossible-improbable-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/07\/30\/dreams-impossible-improbable-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Dreams – impossible, improbable, important"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Of all the nuanced considerations of dreams, reality, and the blurred lines between them, the thing I\u2019m thinking about most is Don Quixote\u2019s perception of Aldonza in \u201cLa Mancha\u201d. \u00a0He sees her through a different lens, utterly. \u00a0His perceptions bump up against objective evidence, against the realists who taunt, against the woman\u2019s own self-perception. \u00a0In spite of everything, he sees her differently, and his seeing, naming, loving, in spite of all the contrary evidence, is what the story is all about.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also what Christianity is all about.<\/p>\n

1. We\u2019re seen for who we\u2019re becoming, not for who we\u2019ve been or are <\/strong>. \u00a0We\u2019re \u2018new creations\u2019 in Christ. Jesus renames impetuous, cowardly Peter, calling him \u201cThe Rock\u201d. \u00a0He gives us all new names, moving us from shame to forgiveness, lust to love, failure and fear to completion and courage. \u00a0Jesus is able to do this because he sees us as \u201ccomplete in Christ\u201d. \u00a0Like Michelangelo\u2019s \u201cDavid\u201d, the perfection is there already, with just a few rough edges needing to be chiseled away.<\/p>\n

2. We\u2019re called to see others through the eyes of faith.<\/strong> If God can see us as new and whole, by God, we\u2019d better start seeing others that way too. \u00a0\u201cFrom now on we regarding nobody according the flesh\u201d is how Paul puts it in II Corinthians 5. \u00a0We\u2019d do well to take it to heart, because our default eyesight regards people \u201caccording to the flesh\u201d all the time \u2013 putting people in boxes because of their wealth or poverty, fatness or thinness, beauty or ugliness, education or ignorance. \u00a0God help us. \u00a0People aren\u2019t these categories, and we need the eyes of faith to see differently. \u00a0\u201cLa Mancha\u201d reminds us of that.<\/p>\n

3. We\u2019re called to see the world through the eyes of faith.<\/strong> We\u2019re told there\u2019s a new kingdom here already, but the truth is that it takes the eyes of faith to believe it. \u00a0Things look pretty old. \u00a0Same old wars; same old greed; same old sins and failures, same old injustices scattered across the globe and our neighborhoods. \u00a0It all reminds me of Jesus hanging on the cross, with taunters taunting, while His eyes of faith saw this very moment of darkness as the beginning of wholeness. \u00a0Can we see with the eyes of faith, clearly enough to believe that God\u2019s good reign has begun, as little shards of beauty pierce the prevailing shroud of darkness, allowing the light of hope to break through? \u00a0We must see, in spite of the charges brought against us that we\u2019re just \u201cdreamers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Aldonza resists her new name, resists receiving love, resists believing. \u00a0I won\u2019t give away the dialogue, there\u2019s a moment when she asks, in essence, why this man see her as he does, why he loves her. \u00a0She knows her life, her story, her failures \u2013 knows that if it\u2019s just a matter of public record, then this man\u2019s insane, seeing things that nobody, not even she, can see. \u00a0Dare she believe though, that what he<\/em> sees in her is real?<\/p>\n

Dare I believe? Dare any of us believe?<\/strong> It\u2019s never just a play when I go to Taproot. \u00a0I\u2019m sitting there last night, weary from the day, and deeply aware of my own shortcomings. \u00a0When she asks him about what he sees, he sings. \u00a0 The song melts the shell of my soul, reminding me of how often I pull myself back into dungeons of accusing, condemning realities, rather than believing in Another\u2019s belief in me, believing in the assessment of the One who sees me, not for who I\u2019ve been in my failures and shame, but for who I\u2019m becoming. \u00a0That moment \u2013 that song \u2013 was the best sermon I\u2019ve heard all summer. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone is in Christ, they are a new a creature\u201d<\/a>. \u00a0We could tear this little verse apart, and I could explain to you the difference between the two kinds of \u201cnew\u201d in the Greek language, and what the implications are of these \u201cnew\u201d words, on this text. \u00a0I could explain how these words are used in classical Greek literature, and then suggest why Paul used one rather than the other in this letter. \u00a0I could toss in a story about newness \u2013 maybe a poem too.<\/p>\n

Or I could just say this: \u00a0\u201cAre you stuck in the land of accusation and shame this summer, or this year, or this decade? \u00a0Go see \u201cMan of La Mancha\u201d<\/em> \u2013 and dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cLa Mancha\u201d continues at Taproot Theatre<\/a> in Seattle,\u00a0through August 21st.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"