July 24, 2024
| A Pause for a Little Reflection |
| Last week we began a series on the Nicene Creed. And we jumped ahead. Instead of starting at the beginning, we jumped into the middle. This week, we pause. A little moment offered as we pick up again next week from the actual beginning of a series about the Nicene Creed. Given that it is a time when we are still in the long days of summer, but looking ahead to the fall season is close we offer an excerpt of a reflection by Joan Chittister. You can read the full reflection with the link: https://joanchittister.org/content/newsletters/monastic-way/issue/january-2023 |
| Of Dreams and Memories, an excerpt |
| I spent a great deal of time as a child sitting on the bluff overlooking Lake Erie, staring across to Canada, dreaming of what it must be like to see other lands and to live the way other people lived. But most of all, I spent the time thinking about my own life and its future. The problem was that I didn’t know then the difference between a dream and a plan. A plan is a strategy; a dream is an idea. The distinction between the two is subtle but determining. The fact is that without dreams, no plans are possible. Whatever happens to the pastiche of dreams that live and change and fade away in the young me—a desire to see the world, or fly an airplane, or be an athlete— it is the dream that dominates my life that really counts. Dreams are not plans. Dreams are destinations toward which we bend our lives, not possibilities unfulfilled. The dream of becoming the fullness of myself drives me from yesterday to tomorrow—not stuck in memory, impervious to today, an invitation to a future yet in process. Dreams are the life blood of becoming. When I stop dreaming, a level of what it means to be alive ends in me, as well. A plan is within my control; a dream is hope in the mist. I hope to go around the world; I hope for an education, a job, someone to love, something to save me from what is. Dreams show me the quality of my ideals. It is the willingness to dream on, to dream higher, to pursue a dream that enables me to live beyond “what is” for “what could be.” In every dream lurks the bittersweet siren call of “perhaps,” and “if only,” and “because,” and “I must.” They carry me on angels’ wings from one time to another, however impossible either past or future may seem. But dreams are not certainties, they are the ideals by which we live our lives. The difficulty with dreams is that if we suppress them, we may live to regret the present. The worst of all possibilities is to go through life mourning the dreams we never pursued. At the same time, if we refuse to adjust our dreams to the reality in which we live, we may fail to see how much of what we want we have really achieved. The function of a dream is to give life a direction, not to give it pain. It is the difference between “I always wanted something like this…” and “I wish I had tried….” It all depends on us. |
Do you have any questions for the Camel? Questions about God, or Jesus, or the Church? About how to be Christian? Submit them via email to clergy@epiphanyec.org. Your name will be kept anonymous.
And a response will show up in a future Hump Day Message!
Children and Youth – enjoy our Sunday Summer Series through July during worship! Join us for worship at 10am!
Bring School Supplies and Shoes (“Soles for Souls!”) for the blessing scheduled for Sunday 8/4. Bins are in the narthex!
Come Saturday at 9am – Lake Anne Coffee House – at Lake Anne. Coffee & Conversation is offered again! Visit with the Rev. Dina and whomever comes along for a relaxing chat and to the weekend!
