I had a dream
Acts 2:17-18
"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy."
... okay, so this is really weird and sacred to me, but I'm going to put this out there because I absolutely HAVE to record it.
Again, it's a long story, but hear me out.
I had a dream last night.
I dreamed that I went into a new church, and I was scared. I wasn't sure if I would fit in. I dreamed I went into this church, and I was surrounded by a bunch of people I recognized from throughout my life ... friends from the neighborhoods I had lived in growing up, people I knew from school, people I met in college, neighbors I had associated with through church, people I had encountered through various interest groups ... people from all of those different parts of my life were there together. People who looked familiar but I couldn't quite place them. There were also people there I didn't recognize, people who were quite different from me, people whose morals and standards and opinions and ideas I didn't quite agree with. I felt uncomfortable with them at church.
The service started, and the minister (? what would you call them?) got up and gave a simple talk ... it was about being honest and good and taking action to further good and truth in the world. S/he didn't mention anything about deity or faith, only inspiration. After the service, we split up briefly into groups where the children could learn something akin to school (an honest inquiry into history/science/literature sort of stuff) and all of the adults gathered together and .... just talked. We shared our ideas and opinions of things varying from social issues to science to science fiction to history ... anything we wanted to talk about.
At church!!
It was weird.
The discussions were uncomfortable. The ideas were painful. I disagreed a lot, but understood these people believed passionately and truly in whatever it was they were sharing with me. We all tried very hard to be respectful of each other, because ultimately our goal was to be together, share our passions, investigate truth, share what truths WE had found in our lives, and ... I don't know. Everyone was very kind and understanding and loving, even though we were all painfully different and came from different ideologies and different walks of life. It was the opposite of what I encounter in the mainstream LDS church - a lot of sameness and conformity and obedience to a set of rules and rituals. On the other hand, the people I met in this other church were diverse, complete, whole.
I felt overwhelmed. It was my first time at this church, and all I could feel was this overwhelming sense of love, compassion, and earnestness. I sat down in a chair and started crying. I leaned into the person next to me. He was this big, fat guy who smelled funny. I said something like, "Oh, I'm so sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable. I'm just feeling overwhelmed and I need someone to comfort me right now."
Despite his discomfort, the awkward guy put his arm around me and held me until I could put my heart back together and go home.
Before I went home, though, I noticed some people watching Lord of the Rings (or at least I saw Gandalf on a screen looking at me). I chuckled to myself, thinking it was kind of awesome they could even discuss Lord of the Rings at church.
..... Anyway. I woke up with a start and felt like it was really significant.
Is that how the world can ultimately be united in the future? Everyone was SO different and had SO many differing opinions, values, heritages, and lifestyles, and we all pretty much made each other uncomfortable because we were SO DIFFERENT but the thing that bonded us together was our mutual commitment to love, honesty, authenticity, acceptance, and truth-seeking.
"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy."
... okay, so this is really weird and sacred to me, but I'm going to put this out there because I absolutely HAVE to record it.
Again, it's a long story, but hear me out.
I had a dream last night.
I dreamed that I went into a new church, and I was scared. I wasn't sure if I would fit in. I dreamed I went into this church, and I was surrounded by a bunch of people I recognized from throughout my life ... friends from the neighborhoods I had lived in growing up, people I knew from school, people I met in college, neighbors I had associated with through church, people I had encountered through various interest groups ... people from all of those different parts of my life were there together. People who looked familiar but I couldn't quite place them. There were also people there I didn't recognize, people who were quite different from me, people whose morals and standards and opinions and ideas I didn't quite agree with. I felt uncomfortable with them at church.
The service started, and the minister (? what would you call them?) got up and gave a simple talk ... it was about being honest and good and taking action to further good and truth in the world. S/he didn't mention anything about deity or faith, only inspiration. After the service, we split up briefly into groups where the children could learn something akin to school (an honest inquiry into history/science/literature sort of stuff) and all of the adults gathered together and .... just talked. We shared our ideas and opinions of things varying from social issues to science to science fiction to history ... anything we wanted to talk about.
At church!!
It was weird.
The discussions were uncomfortable. The ideas were painful. I disagreed a lot, but understood these people believed passionately and truly in whatever it was they were sharing with me. We all tried very hard to be respectful of each other, because ultimately our goal was to be together, share our passions, investigate truth, share what truths WE had found in our lives, and ... I don't know. Everyone was very kind and understanding and loving, even though we were all painfully different and came from different ideologies and different walks of life. It was the opposite of what I encounter in the mainstream LDS church - a lot of sameness and conformity and obedience to a set of rules and rituals. On the other hand, the people I met in this other church were diverse, complete, whole.
I felt overwhelmed. It was my first time at this church, and all I could feel was this overwhelming sense of love, compassion, and earnestness. I sat down in a chair and started crying. I leaned into the person next to me. He was this big, fat guy who smelled funny. I said something like, "Oh, I'm so sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable. I'm just feeling overwhelmed and I need someone to comfort me right now."
Despite his discomfort, the awkward guy put his arm around me and held me until I could put my heart back together and go home.
Before I went home, though, I noticed some people watching Lord of the Rings (or at least I saw Gandalf on a screen looking at me). I chuckled to myself, thinking it was kind of awesome they could even discuss Lord of the Rings at church.
..... Anyway. I woke up with a start and felt like it was really significant.
Is that how the world can ultimately be united in the future? Everyone was SO different and had SO many differing opinions, values, heritages, and lifestyles, and we all pretty much made each other uncomfortable because we were SO DIFFERENT but the thing that bonded us together was our mutual commitment to love, honesty, authenticity, acceptance, and truth-seeking.