Be afraid

Today’s Halloween. So as a responsible Christian parent, I’m going to do all I can to protect my children and make sure that they don’t come into contact with any of the following:

Witches
Demons
Ghost stories and Spirits of the dead wandering about
Mediums and séances
Horror stories.
Graphic and bloody descriptions of violent acts.
Torture and execution
Psychopaths
Magicians

So that leaves at least a third of the bible that they can still read.

It’s wonderful that more and more churches are running alternatives to Halloween. But is there a danger that our ‘Light Nights’ and ‘Hallelujah Parties’ will backfire? That the message we send is a choice between the scary, dangerous horror movie ‘world’ out there, or the tame, safe Disney movie ‘church’ in here.

I’ve probably “lost the plot”, but next year I’d love to run a seriously scary Dream Halloween party. Maybe in the gothic splendour of Liverpool Cathedral at night. With the lights low, candles flickering, and the kind of music in the background that send shivers down your spine, we’d read one of the terrifying stories that Jesus told. Like this one:

There once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption. A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep. All he lived for was to get a meal from scraps off the rich man's table. His best friends were the dogs who came and licked his sores.
“Then he died, this poor man, and was taken up by the angels to the lap of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell and in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham in the distance and Lazarus in his lap. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, mercy! Have mercy! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool my tongue. I'm in agony in this fire.’
“But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you got the good things and Lazarus the bad things. It's not like that here. Here he's consoled and you're tormented. Besides, in all these matters there is a huge chasm set between us so that no one can go from us to you even if he wanted to, nor can anyone cross over from you to us.’
“The rich man said, ‘Then let me ask you, Father: Send him to the house of my father where I have five brothers, so he can tell them the score and warn them so they won't end up here in this place of torment.’
“Abraham answered, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets to tell them the score. Let them listen to them.’
“‘I know, Father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but they're not listening. If someone came back to them from the dead, they would change their ways.’
“Abraham replied, ‘If they won't listen to Moses and the Prophets, they're not going to be convinced by someone who rises from the dead.”

dream to go 3 - God's not enough

by richard w

God’s not enough.

I need you.
You need me.
That’s the way
It’s meant to be.

In lots of bookshops, the “spirituality” section is right next to the “self help” section. Self help. We like to keep faith and spirituality very private. “Its just about me and God”.
In the long run though, that never works.

I find that pretty well every time I try to beat my addictions or my habits or my struggles on my own, I lose. Then I beat myself up, and then I give up.

When I take the risk of letting someone else, maybe you, become part of the story, I still often lose battles. But then I see that you’re “going for it” too, and your honesty and determination creates hope in me. So that instead of beating ourselves up, there’s the possibility of building each other up, and giving each other the gift of hope. And carrying on.

Being alone is the first thing in the bible that God ever said was not good. For Adam, God wasn’t enough! He needed someone like him. Another person to be with and work with.

We can’t do this alone.

I need to know that you’re going for it. Because then I can too.

I find it really scary to trust someone else enough to let them into my story - the bits of my story that I wish could be edited out. But that’s the whole point. The big, scary, ugly monsters in my room, when it’s dark and I’m on my own, change when someone else comes in and turn on the light.

Follow Jesus – you will be disappointed

by richard w.

A spirituality centred on Jesus, is one where we are called to not just to hope, but to hope, disappointment and then hope again.

True community will only flourish if we’ll go through the pain barrier of “getting our hopes up” even though we remember only too well how last time they were let down. And it still hurts.

Going against the instinct to play safe and avoid the risks of disappointment in relationships can at times feel like death. It’s one of the very real ways that we follow in the way of the cross.

Which doesn’t mean that we become lazily naïve. We don’t, and shouldn’t, trust everyone to the same extent. It’s quite right that we build up different levels of openness and intimacy.

But if we just stay comfortable because we’re unwilling to go through any of that ‘death’, we’ll miss resurrection and new life in that part of our lives too.

We often talk at Dream of our desire to create a ‘safe space’. It’s central to our ethos. But if that’s all we ever are, then we’ll miss something vital. Yes ‘gatherings’ must be open, welcoming and non-threatening so that anyone can engage as much or as little as they want.

But the kind of faith community I need, must also have places and ways where it becomes risky, uncomfortable and downright dangerous at times. Where I get close enough to people to get irritated, disappointed, and hurt by them, at the same time as I also irritate, disappoint and hurt. A community where we nevertheless continue to love and grow together, because we’re anchored into a deeper hope.

We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God (Hebrews 6:19)


You might like to reflect further on hope, disappointment, trust and risk.

-Maybe arrange to get together with one or two friends. Share your own experiences, discuss how it connects with where you’re at right now. Perhaps include some time to sit quietly or pray for one another.

- Or give yourself a half hour mini-retreat. Find a quiet space. Put on some music/light a candle/whatever helps you to focus. Then simply sit quietly in God’s presence for a few minutes. When you are ready, reflect on your thoughts, impressions and feelings in response to these issues. You might like to journal your answers as a written prayer

Dream to go

A few people have asked for some extra Dream ‘stuff’ to use either on their own or together with a few others between our main meetings. In case it’s any help along that route, I’m going to aim to write some sort of reflection each week.

These won’t be in any particularly structured order, although they might often be along similar lines to a Dream gathering that month. We’ll see how it goes.

I’ll probably both email it out and also post it on the Dream blog in case anyone wants to comment.

And just in case you are beginning to get your hopes up that this could be good, we’ll start with a look at disappointment!

tiny is the new small - by richard w

Newsflash: Andrew Jones aka tallskinnykiwi goes public with our plans for world domination through tiny churches.

Is it (in his words) "your bag"?

life's not fair - by richard w

Last Sunday evening I was licensed as "Pastor of the Dream Network" by the bishop of Warrington. It took place as part of a Dream service at Liverpool cathedral.

Reflecting back on a lovely evening, I can't help but be even more convinced that life's not fair.

-Some people have no job, some have jobs they hate, some have jobs they put up with - I get paid to play with friends!

-Some have to work alone, some have to work on 'teams' who are obstructive and draining - I get paid to play with friends!

-Some have no place of belonging, some faithfully stick it out at deadly "churches" week after week - I get paid to play with friends!

Of course Dream is only half of my job, but its beginning to look like for the other half I'll get paid to play with friends!

I realise that this is a very unbalanced summary:
-Actually I do and will continue to work hard.
-Some of my friends can be almost as much of a pain in the arse to me as I am to them.
-The way of the cross will be one of self-sacrifice.

But I really am doing a double take that I get to live this life, and serve this community and spend so much time playing with friends.

Thanks you lot.