Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
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Dreaming of Better Days Every Christmas and New Year’s Day
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“Here comes that dreamer!”
Genesis 37
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“Your old men will dream dreams.”
Acts 2
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“We had hoped He was the One to…”
Luke 24
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“I’m dreaming of a…”
“Visions of…danced in their heads…”
“Have yourself a merry little…”
“Chestnuts roasting on an open
fire…”
“And so this is Christmas; and what
have you done? Another year older and a
new one just begun…”
Maybe you’ve noticed, there are lots
of songs around this time of the year that express longings and dreams for
better days.
But just like Joseph with his
jealous brothers and Pharaoh’s hot wife or anyone who dares to dream dreams of
better days whether young or old, we like to kill dreamers with bottom lines
and balance sheets and reality checks and dwarfed or diminished hopes that too
often dash those dreams.
I had a dream about those dreams not
long after Advent 2016 commenced.
Actually, it started with a
nightmare.
It was about two of my first and
worst funerals.
The first was when I substituted for
another clergyman less than an hour before the service began. While people grieve in different ways, I
noticed this particular family was especially cranky. Not long after the service, I went to cash
the honorarium. A stop had been placed
on the check. I called the funeral
director and said, “Walter, a stop was placed on the check. Was I that bad?” “No, Bob,” he said, “my mistake. They stopped my check too. They wanted a rabbi.”
The second was another last minute
substitution. I didn’t know the
deceased; but I knew the children and said, “You know, it’s like puppies. The goodness of a momma is often reflected in
the goodness of the puppies.” Her
husband said just loud enough for everyone to hear and for me to turn purple,
“My wife wasn’t a dog.”
Fortunately, that was only the first
scene in the dream.
The second was about Jeff who will
always be older than me.
The dream recounted countless
conversations that we have had about better days when clergy got along with
each other and it was fun to go to presbytery meetings where there weren’t as
many litmus tests of fidelity as we have today and when clergy and elders and
deacons and trustees and members knew how to disagree agreeably. Yes, we could debate vigorously; but we never
even entertained breaking fellowship.
When Jeff and I talk about that to
younger pastors and denominationalists, they can’t relate because it’s not been
a part of their experience for at least 30 years; and I saw their collective
face of disbelief about such better days in my dream.
That part of the dream ended with
Jeff looking very sad as he said, “How are we ever going to convince the world
that Jesus is so good and saving if people who say they belong to Him keep
hating each other and separating themselves from each other?”
The third scene was frightening.
A very angry man – someone like the
gloaters and whiners and hardliners and cupcakes being in each other’s faces
since November 8 – yelled, “You are wrong about so many things! You are wrong about me needing Jesus and you
are wrong to have ‘What the World Needs is Jesus’ on your bank checks! We will never get along. And I won’t rest until you’re…”
It sounded like he really wanted to
do a Herod on me.
I wasn’t surprised; because we’ve
become so polarized in church as well as society. It’s not just Democrats and Republicans. It’s everybody. Nothing seems to bridge the gap and no one
seems to be able to bring us together anymore.
But then came the fourth and final
scene of my dream.
I saw the manger; and I saw animals
and rich and poor and different colors and classes and cultures looking really
warm and cozy and safe and happy and friendly and…saved.
I heard angels: “For to you is born
a Savior! He is Christ the Lord. He brings peace on earth and good will among
everybody!”
I felt hopeful again.
I felt…merry.
I felt like walking down every road
of life and saying, “Yes, He is the one who can fulfill our greatest dream for
it to be on earth as it is in heaven.
All we have to do is stop running away from each other and start
walking together with Him. Then we will
be warmed…strangely… wonderfully…and saved.
Waking up, I decided never to go back
to sleep.
That’s not an especially new dream
for me or you or anybody who longs for better days; and everyone seems to get
dreamy about it around this time of the year.
It’s a dream inspired by every
worship service where Jesus is Lord by the book; and just like the Father
enfleshed in the Son, it/He can happen just like that manger scene if we don’t
shut the door of our hearts and let Him in.
That’s the miracle of Christmas
then, now, and forever; and the only way to have happy new years.
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Blessings and Love!
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Salt! Shine! Leavenate!
Look up! Speak up! Stand up! Act up for Jesus!
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2 comments:
Dr. Bob,
1. In the first & worst funeral, was Walter the head of Labs Funeral Home, ie, Walter Labs?
Had I died at the Forks, he would have had my funeral.
2. You’ve GOT to get a new cartoon at the bottom of these KDs; OK, you love your old dog, but I want something NEW…I have itching ears like the people in Acts!!!
Brother,
1. It was Walter Johnson in Clark, New Jersey of, uh, Walter Johnson Funeral Home.
2. Well, it's hard. Kopper was/remains very special to me. He was a bad dog; but we really got along...even though... Miss him... I'd like to...but...
Blessings and Love!
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