A Worship Hour Outline: Dreams

Meditation of Preparation

Dreams woo the child, bewilder youth,
And tease the full-grown soul!
Dreams also shape the serving heart
And lead the wandering mind.
Dreams are the stepping stones
That pave a path and point the way
To where I’ll go, fulfilled, someday . . .

Call to Awareness and Joy

Leader: Guide us to dream a dream that lasts, Great Dreamer.
People: Teach us who seek to seek the things that matter.
Leader: Help us, O God of Joy, to choose fulfilling dreams; help us discern between fantasy and reality,
People: Falsehood and truth, authenticity and deception, what is empty and what is full of promise!
Leader: Sustain us also when our dreams are gone, or empty, to find new, rich, and hopeful dreams.
People: Dispel the selfish dream, the unworthy aspiration, and the timid search.
Leader: And thank you for the dreams that brought us to this day, with visions that inhabit our tomorrows and call us to abundant and fulfilling ways to live each day.
People: Dream on with us, O Spirit of all sacred dreams!

Lead Scripture: Genesis 37:3-8, 9-11 and Acts 2:17-18

Sermon Meditation: “Daydreaming and Dreaming”
The capacity to imagine and create thought is a powerful gift; dreaming and imagining are part of being in the image of God; God calls us through imagination, dreaming, and reflecting to participate in God’s purpose for life itself

Pastoral Prayer

We come to dream with you, Spirit of Hope. We confess that some of our dreams have been selfish ambitions, and that we have often been driven by personal gain and little interest in others or your will. Return us again to the greater purposes you designed for us by placing us at the center of your desire and plans. Help us shed shallow and distracting goals and dreams; assist us to discard expectations and dreams that don’t fit us. Sustain us when we harbor unfinished and difficult intentions, and comfort us when we must abandon dreams and hopes that are unattainable. Then, by your grace and mercy, lift us up to dream again, in richer ways, for better things, assisted by your creative presence and imagination. In your most holy name, we pray. Amen.

This post originally appeared in as “The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost” in The Worship Hour: Pastoral Resources for Congregational Connection by Daniel Bagby.