Dreaming the Impossible

Seattle Mennonite Church Sermons

What if God still dreams? What if that’s the truest, surest thing we can say and know: God is still dreaming? What if we devote ourselves, collectively, with dreaming beyond the probable, beyond the ‘realistic’, beyond even the possible? What if - even now - God’s shalom dream for all of creation is somehow, strangely, mysteriously coming true?

Sermon begins at minute marker 4:56

Scripture: Isaiah 11.1-2, 6-9

Resources:

• Poem: Todd Davis, “Fishing Jesse's Branch,” Drawing Near: A Devotional Journey with Art, Poetry & Reflection, ed. Eileen R. Kinch and John D. Roth (Herald Press, 2025), 183.
• “Kin-dom of God” origin: Most credit Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Cuban-American Mujerista theologian, with introducing “kin-dom” language into theological discourse. “Isasi-Díaz’s theological vision of the kin-dom of God became part of theological discourse, but she desired more than simply adding new jargon to theological language. Her belief in the possibility of ushering into the world a true kinship of humanity never wavered. Any injustice gave her the occasion to pursue the kin-dom with passion, love, and hope — that every act of justice brings the kin-dom closer to reality. As a Cuban theologian, the struggle for that which is yet unseen — la lucha in the “now” with the hope of the “not yet” — was no abstract notion.”
• Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams, God’s Dream, ill. LeUyen Pham.
• Image: detail from Randy Horst, “A Shoot Will Grow Up from the Stump of Jesse,” Drawing Near: A Devotional Journey with Art, Poetry & Reflection, ed. Eileen R. Kinch and John D. Roth (Herald Press, 2025), 182.
• Hymn 209 - We Dream of a Turning Text: Adam M. L. Tice (USA), 2008, © 2009 GIA Publications, Inc. Music: Scottish traditional; arr. Kathryn Harsha (USA), © 2019 Kathryn Harsha Permission to podcast the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE, license #A-726929. #65474. All rights reserved.