Sometimes a dream is not a nightmare; it is a message from God that is received waking or sleeping and you cannot mistake it. Paul had a dream when he was asleep that he should go to Macedonia. It was so vivid and the voice of the man so urgent asking him to come over and help the Greeks that he got passage on a boat next morning (Acts 16:6-10). Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream when he was wide awake. God showed him that his children could be free and that people should not be judged by the color of their skin. It changed his whole life. Do you have a dream for your church or presbytery? Is there a strong sense that God wants something done and that it cannot wait? I have a dream for the church that is absolutely compelling. How it can be accomplished I do not know. My simple efforts to begin its realization have met with failure but I cannot give it up. * It is a plain vision of Presbyterians and peacemaking.
Sometimes a dream is not a nightmare; it is a message from God that is received waking or sleeping and you cannot mistake it. Paul had a dream when he was asleep that he should go to Macedonia. It was so vivid and the voice of the man so urgent asking him to come over and help the Greeks that he got passage on a boat next morning (Acts 16:6-10). Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream when he was wide awake. God showed him that his children could be free and that people should not be judged by the color of their skin. It changed his whole life. Do you have a dream for your church or presbytery? Is there a strong sense that God wants something done and that it cannot wait? I have a dream for the church that is absolutely compelling. How it can be accomplished I do not know. My simple efforts to begin its realization have met with failure but I cannot give it up. * It is a plain vision of Presbyterians and peacemaking. If I had a million dollars I would endow a chair of peacemaking in a major Presbyterian seminary. If I had more, it would be realized in every theological seminary. My dream is of future Presbyterian students learning the biblical messages of peace, studying war no more, discovering how nations really can turn their swords into plowshares or digital projectors, and then going out into the world to do God's work. My dream is of a seminary that teaches Christians how to work on conflict through mediation, negotiation, international understanding, and diplomacy, searching seriously for new ways to encourage non-violent resistance of evil, oppression and terrorism. My hope is for a department that would be established on its own, not one that is a part of something else, but one that is so important that it has to stand by itself as a clear beacon of God's determination to end wars and killing. I believe that Jesus Christ, as Ephesians 2:14 reminds us, is our peace and gives believers unique insights about their calling as peacemakers. We must make no mistake. Jesus wants more than wishful thinking. He wants us to do something. As Christians we are being challenged by the Prince of Peace to live his vision in every way possible. "Come over and help us," the Macedonian dream man said to Paul. I believe that God is calling some Presbyterians (a seminary president, generous donors, a consortium of churches or theological agencies?) somewhere to come and help a seminary make a dream a reality. Are they awake or asleep? EARL S. JOHNSON JR. is the pastor of First Church, Johnstown, N.Y. and adjunct professor of Religious Studies at Siena College. *I have explored this dream in greater detail in my book Witness Without Parallel, Eight Biblical Texts That Make Us Presbyterians (Geneva Press, 2003), Chapter 8, "He Is Our Peace."
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