Dream God's Dream

A sermon for all wondering what comes next - for themselves and the church

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Transcript

Sermons from 

Mission Hills UCC

San Diego, California

Rev. Dr. David Bahr

david.bahr@missionhillsucc.org

November 23, 2025

“Dream God’s Dream”

Luke 24: 5-13 – Common English Bible

They came to the edge of the village where they were headed. He acted as if he were going on but they pressed him: “Stay and have supper with us. It’s nearly evening; the day is done.” So he went in with them. And here is what happened: He sat down at the table with them. Taking the bread, he blessed and broke and gave it to them. At that moment, open-eyed, wide-eyed, they recognized him. And then he disappeared.

Back and forth they talked. “Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?”

On the same day that Jesus was raised from the dead, two of his followers were walking toward the village of Emmaus. They were deep in conversation, going over everything that had happened in the last few days. It was the kind of conversation you have when your world has collapsed and you don’t know what comes next.

While they walked, a stranger came up alongside them and asked, “What are you discussing so intently?”  They stopped in their tracks and stared at him. “Are you the only person in Jerusalem who’s not heard what happened these last few days?”  “What happened?”

So they told him about Jesus of Nazareth. “He was a prophet, blessed by God and blessed by the people. We had hoped he was the one who would deliver Israel. But our high priests and leaders handed him over to be sentenced and on Friday Rome crucified him. He was buried in a tomb. But early this morning some of the women in our group went to the tomb and couldn’t find his body. They came back saying angels told them he was alive. Some of our friends ran to see for themselves and found the tomb empty, just as the women had said.”

The traveler listened and asked, “So why are you so sad? Why is it so difficult to believe the women?”  Then he began opening the scriptures for them, from the Books of Moses and all the way through the Prophets. He showed them everything that pointed to him. “Do you not see that the Messiah had to suffer, and only then enter glory?”

As they reached the edge of the village, the traveler started to continue down the road. They urged him, “It’s almost evening.  Stay and have supper with us.” So he did – and here’s what happened at the table. He took the bread and blessed it. He broke it and gave it to them. In that instant their eyes were opened wide and they recognized him.  It was Jesus!  And then he vanished from their sight.

They jumped up and raced back to Jerusalem. Breathless, they said to each other with excitement, “Were not our hearts on fire while he talked with us on the road?”

The disciples had left Jerusalem full of grief and fear. They were not only mourning Jesus, they were worried they might be next. But isn’t that where God meets people? Not when we feel strong and confident, but when we don’t know what to do next.  When we don’t know how we can carry on.  It’s then that God comes alongside us on the road we are already walking. Until suddenly we see God present in the grief and fear – sometimes revealed in supernatural ways, and sometimes ways that are quite ordinary. 

A little boy packed a lunch and walked to a park by himself – at least four blocks beyond where he had ever gone alone before.  It was the day after his grandmother died.  For this extra-long trip, he packed a larger than usual lunch – four packs of Twinkies and two cans of root beer. He took a seat on a bench where an older woman was already sitting.  Together, they watched the pigeons.  After a while, he was hungry and took out a pack of Twinkies.  As he was eating, he glanced over at the woman and offered her one.  She accepted it gratefully and gave him a big smile.  He thought she had the most beautiful smile in the world and wanted to see it again, so he offered her a can of root beer. She gave him the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

  
 For a long while, the two of them simply sat together on that park bench eating Twinkies, sipping root beer, and watching the pigeons.  Neither said a word.  Finally, the boy realized it was getting late and he should be on his way home.  He took a few steps and then turned back and gave the woman a big hug.  Her smile was bigger and brighter than ever.
  
 
 

His mother had started to worry, so she was relieved to see him walk back in the house.  She also noticed his mood had changed.  “What’d you do today?” she asked.  “Oh, I had lunch in the park with God.  And you know what?  She has the most beautiful smile in the world!”
 
 

 
 Meanwhile the woman arrived back home – or rather, at her son’s home.  Her husband died recently and she had moved in with him and his family.  It was the first time in a long time that her son had seen her smile.  He asked, “What’d you do today, mom?”  “Oh, I ate Twinkies and drank root beer in the park with God.  And you know what?  God’s a lot younger than I ever imagined.”

Like those two new friends on a park bench, the two disciples on a road leaving Jerusalem were grieving – worried what would come next for them. But in fact, that is where God meets people. Right when our hopes have been dashed and we doubt anything will ever be OK again.  It’s then that God comes alongside us on the road we are already walking. 

Edward Hays, in his book Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim, imagines another way the Emmaus story might have unfolded.

The disciples fled Jerusalem and at sunset stopped at a small inn on the edge of Emmaus for something to eat. They slipped quietly into a dark corner and kept their heads down. They spoke in low voices about the death of their Teacher and how they had hoped he would liberate their people.

A Greek servant woman came to their table and poured wine into their cups. She said, “Why are you so sad? You look like men who’ve lost a dear friend.”

Peter answered sharply, “We have. But that is no concern of yours. Do your work.”  “Sir, I too know the pain of a broken heart. I know what it’s like to lose someone you love. But death is not the end of love.”

Then, she lifted one of the wine cups and, to their surprise, she blessed it. And to their astonishment, she added, “Take and drink…”  John jumped up. “Rabbi!”

And at once the woman disappeared from their sight and they ran back to Jerusalem to tell the others.  Their story was not over but was still being written in that very moment.

Their uncertainty about what comes next is where our own story meets theirs. In hopes dashed, in our losses.  And today I am thinking how it seems like every day there are more stories magnifying fears that Christianity is crumbling in America – for lots of reasons and seemingly no reason at all.  We are indeed living in a time when the landscape of the church is shifting under our feet. The old structures are falling away. The assumptions we once relied upon no longer hold.  And in the midst of that, God asks us not to manifest those fears but trust that the Spirit is still being poured out. God asks us to dream with courage, promising as the prophet Joel said:

“And after that I will pour out my spirit upon everyone.
 Your sons and your daughters will prophesy.
 Your old will dream dreams.
 Your young will see visions.
 Even on the male and female servants,
 I will pour out my spirit in those days.”

It is to those dreams and visions that stewardship is how we say yes with our whole lives. God invites us to dream with imagination. 

• The future God offers is not the repair of what used to be. 
• It is not a return to an earlier version of the church we once knew. 
• Stewardship is not for the sake of nostalgia for a church that once was. 

It is courage for a church that is becoming. It is trust that God walks with us through grief and fear and invites us to share astonishment at what is being revealed and what is still to come.

We are grateful for our ancestors in faith and carry their legacy forward. But we honor the past by not enshrining it. Our call is to dream God’s future for the church – who simply asks for our hearts, our hope, and our willingness to walk the road together.

When you make a pledge to the church it is a spiritual act:

• Because instead of despair, you are choosing hope.
 • Because instead of fear, you are choosing generosity.
 • Because when so many choose cynicism, you are choosing courage. 

• And because in a world that is wounded, you are planting seeds of healing.
 
 

That is a dream worth pursuing because you are helping build a world that looks more like the heart of God.

And yes, stewardship pays the bills.

• It supports our excellent staff.
 • It cares for our beautiful sanctuary.
 • It makes possible inspiring music and worship.
 • It builds meaningful ministries for children, youth, families, seniors and all generations together.

•    It literally feeds people.

But stewardship is more than that:

• Your giving makes ministry come alive by surrounding people with love at life’s hardest moments.
 • Your giving makes ministry come alive by showing everyone who has been hurt by religion that there is a vibrant spiritual home for them.
 • Your giving makes ministry come to life by keeping faith alive in the next generation so that our young people inherit a church that is brave, bold, and beautiful. 

For them to keep writing our story.  

The Emmaus road is not behind us. It is the path we walk now. Dreaming God’s dream together – a story still unwritten.