When Dreams Talk

The sermon preached by Fr. Ernie on Sunday, December 18, 2022.

WHEN DREAMS TALK

by Ernest Boyer

The bible gives us two separate versions of Jesus birth, one in the Gospel of Luke and one in the Gospel of Matthew. Each is told from a different perspective. The account in Luke focuses on Mary and what happens to her. It is there that we hear of the angel coming to Mary to announce that she is pregnant. It is there too that we hear of Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, and their shared joy of their coming births. It is also there that we hear Mary express that joy in the lovely poem that has come to be known as the Magnificat.

Matthew tells the other half of the story. It describes the events from Joseph’s point of view. Joseph, of course, had a set of feelings that were quite different from Mary’s when he learned that she was pregnant. To him this suggested, first, that they were not meant to be married after all, and second, that he must find a way to cancel their engagement quietly in a way that did not shame her. That’s not what happened, though, and Matthew’s account describes how his change of plans came about.  

It was all due to a dream. In Joseph’s dream an angel appeared to him. The angel told Joseph that he should not fear to take Mary as his wife. Mary’s child had been conceived by the Holy Spirit, the angel said, and the son she would bear would be like no other. People would come to call him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” Based solely on this dream, Joseph reverses course completely. He abandons all plans to put Mary aside and resolves instead to become her husband and protector. He resolves to be both a father and protector to the child that will  result too. He completely changed his course in life, in other words … all because of a dream.

It takes a lot to do something like that, to base a major life decision on something like an intuition or a dream. In order to do such a thing, you need to not only to trust in God, but you need to trust yourself too — to trust that you are correctly recognizing God working in your life. How many people today would simply have dismissed the dream, after all? “Oh, it’s just a dream,” we say. Or how many of us dismiss those little feelings we get at times telling us that something isn’t quite right — or, on the other hand, that is IS right and we need to do something about it now — right now. We need to do it even though it may mean making a major change. We live in an age when many don’t trust such things as dreams, gut feelings, or intuitions. And it is true that we need to be cautious of them. But I believe that it is also true that there are times when such things as dreams, intuitions and gut feelings do speak to us — and speak to us truly. All of these can be ways that God talks to us.

It can take a lot, though, to put your trust in something as allusive as an intuition or a “gut feeling” or a dream — especially when there is a lot at stake. It’s just essential to know when we can trust them. And that takes a special kind of insight. Take the case of Emily, for example. Emily is a close friend. I’ve known her since… forever … since early childhood. We grew up together and have remained in touch. Emily is not her real name. I was there for her wedding. I also got to know the three children that quickly followed her marriage, three lovely little girls all with the dark hair and dark eyes of their father. I was also one of the people she called when she had other news.

         “I’m pregnant again,” she said, as soon as I picked up the phone.

         “Oh, my goodness” I said. “Congratulations!”

         “Well, thank you,” she responded then sighed, “I wanted you to know. But I also wanted you to know that there are complications.”

         “Complications?” I echoed, suddenly uneasy. “What sort of complications?”

         “Well, you heard that with the girls starting school I began a nursing program last year didn’t you?”

         “Yes, I did,” I said.

         “It’s going very well, by the way,” she said. “I only have one more semester to go. But the thing is, a few weeks ago I was on a hospital ward with several other senior nursing students. We were there to observe some of their procedure’s, when all of a sudden there was a lot of commotion and a couple of doctors came rushing up to us accompanied by a group of nurses. As it turns out they had just discovered that we had all been exposed to something highly contagious and very dangers and they wanted us all to get vaccinated at once. They just needed to know that none of us was pregnant.”

         “Oh no,” I said, feeling sick.

         “Yes,” she said. “You guessed it. We all said no, and I said no along with the rest because I wasn’t pregnant — or rather I didn’t think I was — but about 10 days later I began to suspect that I was pregnant and had been for at least a few weeks. The test I took confirmed that it was true. I had been pregnant when I got the vaccine.”

         “What does that mean?” I asked.

         “Well, that’s just it,” she said. “I made an appointment with one of the doctors who had recommended the vaccine and explained to him what had happened. He was horrified. He said it was bad enough to get the vaccine at any time of pregnancy but that it was especially bad to get it so early. He told me had a 95% chance of giving birth to a child with serious birth defects. He recommended I get an abortion at once.”

         “Oh my gosh! I exclaimed. “What are you going to do?”

         “Well, that’s the thing, I just wasn’t sure. I mean, I really, really didn’t want an abortion, but on the other hand…a 95% chance of serious birth defects. How do you deal with that? Was it even fair to the child to carry it to term only to bring it into a life of endless suffering? What was right? I just couldn’t decide. I went back and forth for days… well, in fact, for weeks.”

         “Oh, you poor thing!” I said.

         “Yes, it was agony.” She said.

         “But you’ve decided?” I asked.

         “Yes I have.”

         “And…?” I prompted.

         “The thing is, I had a dream,” she said.

         “A dream?” I repeated.

         “Yes, a dream. And in the dream I gave birth. I gave birth to a beautiful little boy, perfect in every way. And you know what, he had blond hair and blue eyes.”

         “Like you,” I said. “But all your girls are dark.”

         “Yes, they are, but as you say, he was like me.”

         “So that means …” I began and waited.

         “It means I’m going to keep the child. I already know he’s going to be ok. He’s going to be a perfect little boy with blond hair and blue eyes.”

         “You’re sure about this?” I asked.

         “I’m sure. I’ve never been more sure of anything. I’m completely at peace with it.”

         “Wow!” I said. Slowly I exhaled. Unable to find words for my own misgivings, I waited than simply said again. “Wow!”

         “I know,” she said. “It’s a big step, but as I say, I’m completely at peace with it. I just wanted you to know. I’ll call again when I have more news.”

         Nearly eight months passed before I got that second call.

         “It’s happened?” I asked as soon as I heard her voice.

         “Yes,” she said.

         “And…?” I asked.

         “A beautiful little boy, perfect in every way. And you know what else?”

         “Blond hair and blue eyes?” I asked.

         “Just like me,” she said.

         We both laughed and I shook my head in amazement, then realizing she couldn’t see that, I asked: “I just don’t get it. How did you know?”

         “But I told you,” she said. “I had a dream. It was all right there. Everything I needed. The dream told me. I just had to listen. … And I did. ”      AMEN                

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