One of the ways I receive feedback on my preaching comes in the form of sermon notes from our confirmands. They are required to sift through my words in order to come up with the main point of the sermon and then to describe how this applies to their life. It’s certainly enlightening to me to discover how well I did or did not communicate what I intended to communicate!

Sometimes, the sermon notes seem better to me than my actual sermon did—the young person adds their own element of creativity to what I said, and I’ll find myself thinking, “I wish I’d thought of that!” Last Sunday, Jan. 21, was Confirmation Sunday for one of our young people, Garrett Smith. I used the lesson for the day, from 1st Corinthians, to talk about what the church is and how we function as the body of Christ. One of our confirmands wrote something in her sermon note that I know I didn’t say nearly as well as she did! She wrote, “The point is that we are the body of Christ. We live out God’s dream by helping people and doing things that He would do if He were here as a human. This applies to my life because I need to know that I am living out God’s dream for me.”

What a marvelous insight for anyone of any age! God does, indeed, dream big dreams for us, collectively and individually. Are we, as a congregation, living out God’s dreams for us? This is one of the underlying themes we will consider as we have our Annual Meeting on Jan. 28, now several days in the past once you receive this newsletter. We’ll have discussed budget items and elections and events, but what we’re really discussing is how we are living out God’s dreams for us. What might God’s dreams for us in 2007 include? A Memorial Garden in bloom, complete with a mosaic centerpiece? A parish nurse? A growing Sunday School? Outreach to the Renaissance House in Duluth, as well as to transitional housing for abused women in Two Harbors? New members? New music? A church library? Who can tell what God is dreaming for us in this year to come?

I received in a newsletter from another church the following prayer, written by Saint Theresa, for the New Year that lies ahead. This is an appropriate prayer for each of us as we consider, as a congregation, and as individuals, what dreams God has in mind for us: