June 7, 1998

A while ago, Marlene Wanamaker gave me this story about an eight-year-old boy from Chula Vista, California, who was trying to explain God for a homework assignment:

The Kingdom of God, seen through the eyes of children, is a most amazing thing! In some ways, it is comically distorted by youthful naiveté. In other ways, it is full of a simple, but profound wisdom. I think Jesus was right when he said of children, "to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."

Today is a special Sunday in our church when we celebrate the presence of children in our midst. Some of them are members of our Sunday School which has just completed a wonderful year of adventure and discovery. Others are grandchildren who come to visit, many of whom participate in our Daily Vacation Bible School during the summer. Still others are those young people who live under the influence of our lives - both far away and nearby. They may be family members, or the kids that some of you mentor and tutor at Chestnut Ridge Learning Center. Many, many children are gathered under the large umbrella of who we are as a church.

And these children, who live within reach of our love, are - according to Jesus - key players in the coming of the Kingdom of God!

Now I wonder why Jesus said that. I wonder why Jesus specifically taught that the Kingdom of God belongs to three distinctive groups of people. You remember them, don't you? In the Beatitudes, Jesus says the Kingdom belongs to the poor. And a few verses later, he says the Kingdom also belongs to those who suffer for righteousness' sake. And here, in Matthew 19, despite the objections of the disciples, Jesus welcomes little children and makes the declaration, "to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."

The poor. Those who suffer for righteousness' sake. And children.

Mind you, not Congregationalists, Methodists, Baptists or members of the Community Church.. Not born again, Bible believing Christians. Not wealthy benefactors, morally upright folks, or members of the most attractive religion. Jesus could have said the kingdom belongs to any or all of these, but he didn't.

Instead, he said the kingdom belongs to the poor. Those who suffer for righteousness' sake. And children.

As I have been thinking this week about this humble trio of people, it strikes me that they all share something in common. You see, in some strange way, all these are people in whose lives has been planted God's dream for the world.

You may know that, one of the methods people have used over the centuries to keep others in captivity or slavery, is to take away their shoes. You can escape, but you can't go very far without shoes. This was one of the experiences of African slaves brought to America. Their shoes were taken away. And so it comes as no surprise that, among black Christians, one of the powerful traditional images of heaven became the promise of going to heaven one day where they'd be given shoes. You remember the old Negro spiritual, don't you?

Its a simple and humble dream - this idea of getting shoes! And yet it is a dream that is similar to the dreams dreamed by virtually every impoverished and oppressed people. A dream of a day of justice. A dream of a day of freedom. A dream that one day the poor will be vindicated and lifted up!

And the Bible teaches us that this dream dreamed by the poor is God's dream for the world.

Likewise, those who suffer for righteousness' sake reflect the dreams of God.

When Elisabeth Elliot learned that her young husband Jim had been killed trying to open up contact with the Auca tribe of Equador, it would have been easy to respond to that terrible blow by simply retreating and running away from what had started as a mission of God and ended as an unbelievable tragedy. But somehow, through some amazing inner strength, Betty stared into the face of her own suffering and went ahead to serve as a missionary to the very people who had killed her husband. For the sake of a larger righteousness, Betty endured her personal pain, and became a source of health and life and faith for the Auca.

Oh, there are those all around us who suffer because they choose to do what's right. Sometimes the suffering comes because doing what's right is painful in and of itself. Sometimes the suffering comes at the hands of those who have an interest in maintaining what's wrong. There is something very special about people who suffer for righteousness' sake! They have a vision that is larger than themselves.

And the Bible teaches us that the dream of righteousness they dream is God's dream for the world.

Same is true with children.

Harold Kushner says that one of the greatest discoveries he's ever made about faith came one day at the beach watching two little children play. They were building a sandcastle, and it was beautiful. It had moats and towers and all sorts of laborious detail. But all the while they were building it, the two little ones seemed oblivious to the fact that the tide was rolling in, and the waves were getting closer. Then, all at once, a frothy wall of salty water crashed over the sandcastle, and the product of two hours of loving labor was gone.

Rabbi Kushner says he watched these two children, waiting for them to burst into tears. But they didn't. They looked at one another and started laughing. And then, hand in hand, they skipped away from the water to a fresh piece of beach where they began to build again.

Children have this uncanny sense of creative possibility. Endings are not so much endings as they are new beginnings. Unknowns require exploration and experimentation. Why, even an infant knows that the way to find out what something is all about is to pick it up and put it in your mouth. Doesn't matter if its a toy, a stone, or the neighbor dog's doo-doo - its going into the mouth. I remember how upset my mother became years ago when my little brother Steve thought he'd make himself breakfast out of a nest of robin's eggs. My mother called the pediatrician to see if he'd be in any danger, and Dr. Fitzpatrick replied, "Not unless he starts to flap his arms." Oh, to be a child again, where life is full of glory to be touched, and tasted, and discovered.

And kids have wonderful dreams! Have you ever noticed that, if you ask kids what they dream about, they will never tell you they dream about yesterday? Kids are tilted toward the future, and what will be tomorrow.

And the Bible teaches that the dreams children dream are God's dreams for the world.

Dreams about vindication for oppressed people. Dreams about a righteousness greater than our own. Dream about hope and redemption and new beginnings.

These are visions of the kingdom of heaven, and they have been entrusted to the hearts of people..

In this morning's reading from the book of Acts, you and I are invited to learn to dream again. Even if the reality of age and the passage of years have lured us into thinking that there are no dreams left. Acts reports the promise of God through the prophet Joel, "...your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams."

One of the most important gifts of the Holy Spirit is the gift of divine imagination!

Would you like to receive this gift?

Today, there is a wide body of evidence that people begin to reflect what they allow themselves to take into their lives. Drink in a constant supply of negativity, violence, and selfishness and your life will begin to reflect those values. Allow into your life large doses of hope, redemption and faith, and your life will morph into those healing shapes.

So to become dreamers of the Kingdom of God, we need to let some things into our lives.

First, the poor. Identifying with them. Advocating for them. Learning to see life as they see it.

Second, those who suffer for what's right. Thinking about them, and identifying the right they're standing for. Learning to standing up for the right yourself. Speaking out about it.

And third, children. To be a kingdom-dreamer, you have to let children into your life. You have to stick up for them. Care for their needs even when they're not your own. You have to support their hopes, and learn to appreciate what the world looks like through their eyes.

And when you let into your life the poor, and those who suffer for righteousness' sake, and children, then you can ask the Spirit to help you discover in them the dreams of heaven. And the courage to take those dreams upon yourself. And the power to make them come true.

As you come to the Table today, let Christ into your heart. Embrace those in whom God plants the dreams of heaven. Come receive the gift...of dreams!