"A Dream"
Matthew 4:23 – 5:11
First Presbyterian Church
Andrea Hickey, Minister of Youth, World & Gospel
January 14, 2006
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“I’ve been to the mountaintop and I’ve seen the
Promised Land,” Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. exclaimed in his last
speech, the day before he was shot. He
had seen the progress being made in the struggle for African American’s rights
to be the same as those rights of their Caucasian brothers. The promised land of freedom and equal rights of the African
Americans, King likened to the Israelites seeing the Promised Land as they came
out of slavery from Egypt. We
know of the civil rights movement that King was largely a part of and a leader
for. We know of his assassination
and the hate of his ideas by some who wanted to keep things the way they were.
There are always people who struggle with change and differences.
There is a fear of someone whose skin is a different color or whose ideas
or beliefs are not the same as the majority.
But things do not always stay the same as they once were.
Change happens and Reverend King was a part of a major change in United
States history. A change for
freedom and equality. A change that
required love, not hate and fighting, but peace.
Reverend King was purposeful in his calling for peace to change the way
for African Americans, not aggression.
The community of African Americans at this time was a
people looked down upon because of the color of their skin. They had been placed
as slaves, working for others who believed themselves to be better because of
the color of their skin. Discrimination
because of wrongful understanding. Skin
color does not make one higher than another.
Skin color shows a beautiful difference in that which it is, different
color.
The most widely known of Reverend King’s speeches is that
of “I have a dream…” This
dream was inclusive of both blacks and whites sharing fellowship together.
Children of black and white skin playing together, holding hands together
without misconception and dislike. Part
of King’s dream was that for his children to be judged by their character and
not by the color of their skin. A
future for his children. A future
of peace and not war. A future that
sees differences as attributes that bring people together instead of separate
them.
These words that Tom speaks in the benediction at the end
of the service each week always stick with me, “that God may be with you,
those you love, and those no one loves, save for the sake of God.”
It makes my heart hurt to think of those who do not have love from family
or friends around them. I know that God’s love is ultimate, but it pains me to
think that for some there is no one who shares the love of God with them.
For we are all called to love as the event of God creates love within us
and around us. Love is not only a
feeling, but an action, a dream that is acted upon.
Just as Reverend King called for love to act on his dream of acceptance
and equality, we are called to act on love towards and for our brothers and
sisters. We are called to make a
space for love in our lives, love for those closest to us: our children, our
parents, our siblings, our friends and also for those whom we do not know: the
person we walk by on the street, the one asking for money, the mother who comes
into the doors of our church seeking guidance, and the person whose beliefs are
not the same as your own.
As Jesus spoke of the beatitudes, Jesus spoke of different
ways of love, of being love, and of showing love. “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” Those who seek God and find God’s love within themselves
will share this love. Those who
question, find answers, question again and sometimes struggle with those
questions for all of life, seek God. They
live with the questions and even though answers may not be found, love is found.
Those who mourn find the quiet spirit of God working, working in ways of
healing, although there still may be pain, love does not fail.
The peacemakers, Reverend King being one seek peace and change through
love.
Just as Reverend King had a dream of peace and acceptance
through love, God seeks a dream of love. Tom
spoke of God as an event last week. It
is the event of God that creates love and causes love.
It is God as event that moves us to love.
Love has many layers and can be very complicated, yet it can be simple as
well. It is an action, but also
simply just being. Love as action can be working for equality as Reverend King
did. Sitting with those who are
mourning or in despair is also love. Recognizing
and accepting a person for who he/she is, is love.
I’m going to play a song for you titled, “Baby.” The words are printed in a bulletin insert for you to look at if you like. It is a song of being trapped in loneliness, but also a song of love. This song shows us that those people who are around us in our daily lives may be the ones who are lonely and not loved. It may be someone sitting next to you in this congregation or someone who you work with. It could be someone sitting next to you in class or your teacher. This is a song which calls us to love and to show and tell of our love, not to keep love locked within ourselves. This is God’s dream.
BABY
HER
SHAVED HEAD AND HER PIERCED NOSE, HER BIG ROTWEILLERS AND HER TIE-DYED CLOTHES.
HER DR. MAARTENS WITH HER BIKER TIGHTS, HER LONG BLACK LEGGINGS ON A HOT
SUMMER NIGHT.
AND
NOBODY CALLS HER BABY, NOBODY SAYS, “I LOVE YOU SO.”
NOBODY CALLS HER BABY I GUESS SHE’LL NEVER KNOW.
HIS
WORKING BOOTS AND FLANNEL SHIRTS, HIS SYMPATHIES BURIED AS DEEP AS HIS HURTS.
LONG LONELY WALKS WITH NOWHERE TO GO AND HIS ONLY APPOINTMENT IS WITH A
TV SHOW.
AND
NOBODY CALLS HIM BABY, NOBODY SAYS, “I LOVE YOU SO.”
NOBODY
CALLS HIM BABY I GUESS HE’LL NEVER KNOW
EIGHTY
POUNDS SHE'S HARDLY WHOLE, LOSING HER BODY TO GAIN SOME CONTROL.
HOURS
ALONE IN SOME TANNING SALON, TRYING A SMALLER AND SMALLER SIZE ON.
AND
NOBODY CALLS HER BABY, NOBODY SAYS, “I LOVE YOU SO.”
NOBODY
CALLS HER BABY I GUESS SHE’LL NEVER KNOW
HIS
PIN-STRIPED SUITS AND HIS WING-TIPPED SHOES, LAP-TOP COMPUTER AND WALL
STREET NEWS, HE MAKES
HIS PLANE AND KEEPS HIS PACE. HE HIDES HIS PAIN BEHIND A POKER FACE.
AND
NOBODY CALLS HIM BABY, NOBODY SAYS, “I LOVE YOU SO.”
NOBODY
CALLS HIM BABY I GUESS HE’LL NEVER KNOW
BUT
SOMEBODY LOVES THOSE BABIES. SOMEBODY LOVES WHAT WE CAN'T SEE.
AND
IF SOMEBODY TOLD THEM MAYBE THOSE BABIES WOULD BE FREE.
BY LOST AND FOUND
COPYRIGHT 1982 LIMB RECORDS
© 2007 First Presbyterian Church