Dream

​ Intro to Sermon: Return to the idea I gave us earlier: Anyone remember the text?
God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased.
(Genesis 1: 31)
Before the world was made God dreamed a dream over your life – and when he was finished he was very pleased…
Today we begin a teaching series called “Drawn In”. It teaches about our Creator – who draws us into the Divine Creativity of Life (Books available)
 
Can you hold a picture of God taking great delight in planning you?
God happily whistling as he sorted through eye colours – and landed on exactly the right colour for you
God thinking about your skin color – giving you a skin that is exactly right for you “I don’t mind my skin color – I just wish that it was a bit thicker”
And God chuckling as he gave you your ears – or your crooked smile – or your amazing figure.
You bring a smile to the mind of God!
The Book of Genesis tells us that when God finished making you he stepped back and “he was very pleased”!
 
Sadly – we forget that God has dreams for us: because there are times when we listen to people who crush our dreams. And we allow the opinions of other people spoil the dream that God has for us:
And people can be really unkind:
People tell you that you need to fix your face, or fix your figure, or change the way you speak,
And we anxiously change our appearance, or dress in clothes that make us uncomfortable, or we shrink into a corner and hope not to be noticed.
Sometimes this runs deeper:
We suppress our creative joy, or we give up on something that is life-giving because someone disapproves, or we pretend that we are not LGBTQ in order to keep everyone happy.
And in the process we lose the sound of the voice of God saying that we are the way we are – because God made us exactly like that.
Here is the good news for today:
Jesus comes to remind us of the dream of God:
Let us go back to the words I read earlier:
 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
 
Jesus speaks of “the year of God’s favour”: God’s favourite year! –
But Jesus is quoting the prophet Isaiah: and Isaiah’s words in Hebrew do not limit this to a year: it is better translated like this: “Proclaim God’s favourite time”
And here is the truth:
God’s favourite time is when our poor hearts leap at good news
God’s favourite time is when people who are captive to their fears, or oppressed by the people around them, (God’s favourite time is) when such people are released to be who God made them to be
God’s favourite time is when people who are blind to God’s creative work have their eyes opened to see the beauty of God all around us
 
Here’s the core idea for today: We serve a creative God: but this is not something that happened at the beginning of time: God is constantly speaking new creative life into our world
Every sunrise – is God creating a new day
Every rainfall is God speaking new life to our plants
And every moment of laughter and joy is God speaking new life into our souls.
And we are part of proclaiming this creative time of God…..
Do you know someone who needs to be released / someone who’s captivity prevents them from flourishing:
Ask what you can do to make a way for God’s love to break through.
Do you know of someone who is so blinded by their circumstances that they cannot see any sign of God’s love
Be the love of God that breaks into their world and lets them know that they too are God’s favourite.
 
Today I am inviting us to be part of God’s favourite time:
 
First of all: to be open to God speaking new life into us. Be open to God creating new things in your life in 2022…
Say to yourself: God was pleased when he made me!
 
Secondly: In the same way, let us be open to the people around us who need to hear God’s creative invitation: say to others: “I love the way God has made you!”
 
Remember the oilcan – nothing is ugly or useless – everything can make beautiful music for God.
 
Song: Jesus loves meIntro to Sermon: Return to the idea I gave us earlier: Anyone remember the text?
God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased.
(Genesis 1: 31)
Before the world was made God dreamed a dream over your life – and when he was finished he was very pleased…
Today we begin a teaching series called “Drawn In”. It teaches about our Creator – who draws us into the Divine Creativity of Life (Books available)
 
Can you hold a picture of God taking great delight in planning you?
God happily whistling as he sorted through eye colours – and landed on exactly the right colour for you
God thinking about your skin color – giving you a skin that is exactly right for you “I don’t mind my skin color – I just wish that it was a bit thicker”
And God chuckling as he gave you your ears – or your crooked smile – or your amazing figure.
You bring a smile to the mind of God!
The Book of Genesis tells us that when God finished making you he stepped back and “he was very pleased”!
 
Sadly – we forget that God has dreams for us: because there are times when we listen to people who crush our dreams. And we allow the opinions of other people spoil the dream that God has for us:
And people can be really unkind:
People tell you that you need to fix your face, or fix your figure, or change the way you speak,
And we anxiously change our appearance, or dress in clothes that make us uncomfortable, or we shrink into a corner and hope not to be noticed.
Sometimes this runs deeper:
We suppress our creative joy, or we give up on something that is life-giving because someone disapproves, or we pretend that we are not LGBTQ in order to keep everyone happy.
And in the process we lose the sound of the voice of God saying that we are the way we are – because God made us exactly like that.
Here is the good news for today:
Jesus comes to remind us of the dream of God:
Let us go back to the words I read earlier:
 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
 
Jesus speaks of “the year of God’s favour”: God’s favourite year! –
But Jesus is quoting the prophet Isaiah: and Isaiah’s words in Hebrew do not limit this to a year: it is better translated like this: “Proclaim God’s favourite time”
And here is the truth:
God’s favourite time is when our poor hearts leap at good news
God’s favourite time is when people who are captive to their fears, or oppressed by the people around them, (God’s favourite time is) when such people are released to be who God made them to be
God’s favourite time is when people who are blind to God’s creative work have their eyes opened to see the beauty of God all around us
 
Here’s the core idea for today: We serve a creative God: but this is not something that happened at the beginning of time: God is constantly speaking new creative life into our world
Every sunrise – is God creating a new day
Every rainfall is God speaking new life to our plants
And every moment of laughter and joy is God speaking new life into our souls.
And we are part of proclaiming this creative time of God…..
Do you know someone who needs to be released / someone who’s captivity prevents them from flourishing:
Ask what you can do to make a way for God’s love to break through.
Do you know of someone who is so blinded by their circumstances that they cannot see any sign of God’s love
Be the love of God that breaks into their world and lets them know that they too are God’s favourite.
 
Today I am inviting us to be part of God’s favourite time:
 
First of all: to be open to God speaking new life into us. Be open to God creating new things in your life in 2022…
Say to yourself: God was pleased when he made me!
 
Secondly: In the same way, let us be open to the people around us who need to hear God’s creative invitation: say to others: “I love the way God has made you!”
 
Remember the oilcan – nothing is ugly or useless – everything can make beautiful music for God.
 
Song: Jesus loves me