"THE GREATEST DREAM"
a message by Rev. Dr. Bruce Havens
Coral Isles Church, U.C.C.
March 23, 2025
2 Corinthians 5: 16-21
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to God’s own Self through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to God’s Self, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making this appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God.
What is your greatest dream? I sometimes fear that I dream more about the scene on the cover of the bulletin than I do of more “holy” things. But when we take God seriously, when we really let the message of Jesus Christ and the example of how to live he showed us a beautiful beach with palm trees and waves lapping at our feet may seem a little less “great.” Who can forget the great dream that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s shared? His dream fueled a civil rights movement that seems to be in grave danger right now. But God calls us to have great dreams.
We might say the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s echoed Paul’s words about the way we see the value of every human:
“We regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view.”
Imagine that! Imagine if we viewed every person’s value not from our limited human attitudes that see skin color and think less of a person, that look at some nationalities as worthless, that see someone with diversabilities and think them less valuable? Imagine if we did not consider someone who has mental health challenges, or who loves someone of their same gender, or who is old, or young, and think they are of less worth. You choose the category because right now it seems it is free target practice on anyone you want to hate, exclude, diminish, or discard. But that’s not God’s point of view. How many times do we have to say it, sing it, preach it, demand it to get through – we will not view the value of a person through the lens of human bigotry and ignorance.
So this morning I have good news. God does not care about our limited, ignorant, hateful human limits on God’s dream, or God’s point of view. Paul says it clearly:
“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new”
Some people have tried to make this mean someone has to be a Christian, a follower of Christ for us to see them that way, as if the onus in on them. No! The onus is on us! First off, if WE are “in Christ,” or if Christ is IN us, then we are supposed to be a new creation and that should give us new eyes and new hearts to see others as of infinite value! Here’s a bit of pop – “ish” psychology for you, by the way. All this hateful stuff happening in our culture right now? It is driven by people who’s sense of self-worth, [ despite their claims of superiority or higher worth that others ], is terrible. They fear they are worth less and so they have to put others down to make themselves feel better. Now, that doesn’t really change anything or fix anything but maybe it will help those of us are filled with rage and hatred because of their rage and hatred towards “others,” to not give in to the rage and hatred, but keep seeing them through God’s eyes. And maybe together we can bring about God’s dream of a new creation, one built on God’s infinite love.
Now, back to my point. God’s dream is the greatest dream there ever was. And Paul is pointing us toward it. It is the dream that everyone will view each other not from a human point of view, or from a hate-filled, or prejudiced, or a fearful point of view, but see one another as siblings in Christ- a brother or a sister or a grandchild or a grandparent or even a crazy old Uncle Al, but one of us, not some “other” to be hated, feared, treated as an animal, or worse. Friends, we have a lot of work to do to restore relationships here in 2025. We have a job description you probably never imagined: to work on this restoration. Paul says our part of God’s dream is reconciliation work.
So here’s the first part of the stewardship part of this: we have been given this ministry of reconciliation, we are called to be Ambassadors for Christ. Remember what I told you? The word “steward” comes from “sty warden.” The keeper of the pigsty, not the owner. Stewards are the caretakers of the owner’s stuff. And even if those who are driving the hateful and unholy things that you and I hate, we are called to work to help them recognize and be reconciled with God’s real purposes and with one other.
Here’s the second part of Stewardship I’m supposed to talk about. We are committed to “seeing others from God’s point of view.” I believe this congregation is fully committed to that. I believe the ministries and missions we support are an expression of seeing others from Christ’s point of view – their value and worth. I believe you are committed to a church that lives out the theology of God’s infinite love for all creatures, and all of creation. I don’t have time to list all the ways we are doing it. We are not a megachurch in terms of numbers of people or have a megachurch budget, but we have a megachurch of love and you give so that we do way more than most church’s of any size do. I really believe that.
So I want to ask you to do a couple of things if you are not already doing it. One, I want to ask you to make a commitment to your giving towards God’s dream and our ministry and mission. When we ask you to fill out a Stewardship Commitment Card we are just asking you for an estimate of what you want to give for the coming year. We aren’t going to bill you, or come after you if you can’t make it, and we definitely aren’t going to guilt - trip you. But making a commitment is a faith act. It is an expression that you have faith that God will provide what you need to fulfill that commitment, and it may mean making a sacrifice here or there to fulfill it. Sacrifice between one value and another is a faith matter. Will God provide? Do I trust God for that?
In connection with that, the second thing I want to say about stewardship today is to keep God’s dream in your heart, and in your relationships. And keep trying to work for reconciliation for all those people who don’t understand God’s infinite, unlimited, unbelievably extravagant love. And dream more for us to do. For example, one of the dreams you spoke about when we did our strategic planning last year was to make our facility more accessible. We talked about making our front door one that those with maneuverability issues could feel was open for them. We are talking about ramps, or lift chairs or any other way we can make that happen. We talked about making our restrooms fully accessible. That’s going to take some work, and some money. But ask yourself this: how big is God’s dream?
As you know we have been spending a lot of time up at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. They have banners hanging everywhere that say, “miracles made every day,” or something like that. So, I am pretty aware of stories about people who are dealing with health issues right now. The Rev. Molly Baskette, [“Moral Beauty,” dailydevotional@ucc.org, March 18, 2025], serves a UCC congregation out on the West Coast. She shared this story recently:
“When [her] church had to rebuild after a devastating fire, they held a capital campaign. The first person to offer a giving testimony was Becky, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. That’s a pretty serious health issue. In a prerecorded video from the Mayo Clinic, she told us:
“In my life there are a lot of unknowns, but there also are some knowns. We know this building will help our congregation, and community, and people who haven’t even been born yet. … I worry I’ll need that money for retirement or medical bills. But I also know that money does more good when it’s shared with others than when we clutch it and hold tight to it.
“At the end of my life I want to believe that I was not a pew warmer. I was someone who stepped up and did as much as I could for the church. The church is more than a building. It’s a place where we honor, respect, and amplify what I still think is the greatest message ever, the message of Jesus.” And I would add, the greatest message gives us a clear view of God’s greatest dream: sharing the infinite, unbelievably extravagant love of God.
Oh, by the way, Rev. Baskette, added this: “One after another, other saints stood up and shared. We met our goal, and then some.” How big is your dream for this church? God’s dream for us is a mighty big dream, I can tell you I believe that with my whole heart. AMEN.
Comments