During Lent we
have been exploring Spiritual Renewal in our Lenten Journey and exploring
different ways we can be open to how God is speaking to us and guiding us on
our journey. As we are each unique
children of God we are each going to experience different ways in which we can
connect with the divine so it is important that we experience different ways in
which people have found helpful.
Two Sundays ago
we explored Lectio Divina— Holy Reading and for those who would like to
experience that more fully we have a Lectio Divina Group that meets at 9:30
before the service on Sundays. Last
Sunday I introduced you to the Labyrinth which is a moving prayer. When you experience the Labyrinth it is
important to take your time and not rush through the journey. As in life it is also the journey and not just
the destination which is important. Today I want
to explore another way which has a long tradition of being a way in which God
speaks to us but one like the labyrinth was lost to our culture for many
centuries. This is listening to God
through our dreams.
The Old
Testament lesson from Genesis recounts Jacob’s dream of a ladder between heaven
and earth. In biblical times people
generally understood dreams to be a way in which God communicated with people. Many of the prophets of old received dreams
and visions from God and shared those experiences with their people.
Dreams as a
way of God speaking to the people of God occur many times in the bible. Can anyone give me an example of God speaking
to people in dreams……..
I especially
like the story of Jacob’s dream of a ladder between heaven and earth.
I particularly
like this passage because it is about a dream and it describes the way dreams
work. We have angels – messengers from
God going between heaven and earth. It
is interesting that the angels are ascending first and then descending. My understanding of this is that Jacob was initially
ready to receive a message. He was
therefore prepared for receive the messages that came to his from heaven.
Although
dreams were recognized in biblical times and in the early church as a way God
communicated with people it became discounted and lost to us in modern
times. This happened for many reasons. The church hierarchy did not like the idea of
people having direct communication with God.
This bypassed the authority of the church and the clergy wanted to
maintain control over people’s understanding of God’s message. In addition, the enlightenment began to
discount anything that could not be measured and weighed and had a material
foundation. Dreams became what can be
called God’s forgotten language.
In the
modern era there began to be a recovered understanding of dreams as a way of receiving
messages about ourselves. Beginning with
the founders of depth psychology—Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung—a new
understanding of dreams and a rediscovery of the meaning of dreams has occurred
which I want to explore with you briefly.
How many of
you dream?..... I should probably have
asked how many remember their dreams.
Everyone dreams but not everyone remembers them. However, everyone can with the right
conditions. It is also important to
understand how God speaks to us through dreams.
God can speak to us as God did in the bible—with direct messages—these
might be called big dreams. God also
speaks to us through dreams giving us information about what we need to know
about ourselves. Dreams can help us
become more fully the people that God intends us to be. Dreams provide information when our lives are
out of balance. They can point to how we
can develop more fully the part of ourselves—aspect of ourselves that we have
not acknowledged even though they are part of who God creates us to be as
unique individuals.
In
understanding dreams a good way to begin is to be aware that all the aspects of
the dream— from individuals you know and individuals you don’t know to
inanimate objects such as cars or houses are usually aspects of the
dreamer. It is important to know where
the energy is in the dream and where the movement is. In
remembering your dreams the most important aspect is having the intention of
remembering and paying attention. Have a
pen and paper available to record your dream.
That is the next step – write it down and consider the images in the
dream. What is your associating with them? Write down any associating with the people or
the other images.
One figure
that is the easiest to recognize in dreams—and one of the most important—is the
shadow. This figure, which is usually
the same sex as the dreamer will be dark and probably not someone you know in
waking life, will have characteristics that represent aspects of yourself that
you do not want to recognize. They will
be rejected parts of yourself that are presented to you in dreams. The purpose is to acknowledge those aspects
of yourself and relate to them consciously. These are often characteristics
that you consider to be negative but also can be positive. These are aspects of who God made you to be—a
unique child of God.
Of course
there is much more to say on the approach but I will stop there. If you would like to find out more I would be
most interested to talking to you at another time. Finally it is important to understand that
all dreams come in the assistance of health and wholeness of the dreamer – even
ones that don’t seem that way. I have
graduated from a program as a facilitator of dream groups and would be most
willing to talk to people who might be interested in having a group at St.
Anne’s and St. John’s. I will close with
the prayer we use in dream groups.
Holy Dream Maker,
Creator of All,
Be with us as we open
our hearts and minds
to the divine wisdom in
our dreams.
We thank you and honour
You.
As you guide us in the
way to health and wholeness,
may we be open to the blessings of your
message
Amen
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