“. . . and your old men shall dream dreams.”
(Acts 2:17 & Joel 2:28)
When I was a seminary student and a candidate for ordination in the early 80’s I attended a meeting of my Presbytery where one of the pastors preached a sermon that bore the title that I have borrowed for this essay. I cannot remember the text on which the sermon was based; nor can I remember much of its content, but the title has bored its way into some deep space in my memory and imagination. I have thought of it often throughout my years in pastoral ministry and come to see it as one of the more important Divine promises to us. What I see in this promise is an invitation to dream dreams. The invitation comes as a response to the truth that the God who made us for relationship with himself, with one another and with all of creation has always been with us and will not leave or forsake us.
It is good to know that we never need to stop dreaming dreams. As a 20-something anticipating ordination I was one of those young men with visions that Joel and Luke also speak about, and now as a mid-60-something anticipating retirement I am one of those old men who can still look ahead and dream dreams. The diminution of youthful energy doesn’t diminish the hope born of the steadfast love and faithfulness of God toward us and while I may be stepping out of active service in the church, I am still very much involved in the drama that is being played out in our world. And I have come to realize that it is the responsibility of the old to invite the young look into the unknown that is ahead of them, not through the lenses of fear and despair, but in the assurance that Jesus Christ will be with us “even to the end of the age.”
In saying this I in no way wish to imply that inviting the young to see the openness of the future is merely a matter of adopting a positive attitude. If we invite the young to gaze into the unknown future in denial of the way present circumstances are inviting us to despair and anxiety, we do so to the detriment of our society. If we merely point to some ultimate promise of heaven or resort to the simplistic invitation to relax because “God is in control,” we invite the apathy and passivity that comprise the soil in which selfishness and narcissism flourish and so waste the energy they have to be active reflectors of the love of God in our world.
In these days I take my inspiration from old folks like Simeon and Anna (Luke 2:25-38) who can hold an all but anonymous baby in their arms and give voice to the promise he embodies. I aspire to be like Gamaliel (Acts 5:33-39) who invited younger Pharisees to step back from their righteous indignation, murderous rage and mission to purge heretics, and to take a long hard look at what God might be up to. I want to be like the woman described in Proverbs 31 who wears clothing made of “strength and dignity” and who can “laugh at the time to come.” Age gives us the benefit of a loose grip. We simply do not have the energy to be a part of the tug of war that attempts to pull everyone over to our side. We must instead resort to the gentleness that is born of the truth that “the Lord is near” (Philippians 4:4-7) and invite those around us to zoom out and take in the bigger picture that always dwarfs our particular affections and observations about the world in which we currently find ourselves.
What I am talking about is the choice to move forward in faithfulness as we respond to God’s faithfulness toward us. I’m talking about the choice to “go out in joy and be led forth in peace.” The call of Jesus is always forward. Always, as C.S. Lewis wrote, a call to move “further up and further in.” It’s a call to dream dreams because as we journey forward we are in the embrace of God and thus always facing into an open future confident that God is about to show us a new thing.
“For you shall go out in joy and led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
Isaiah 55:12-13
David Rohrer
01/14/2024