“I will call them my people,
Which were not my people;
And her beloved,
Which was not beloved.”
Romans 9:25

Beloved people,

Langston Hughes’ question, “what happens to a dream deferred?” is being answered again in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya. Something has “exploded” as Langston imagined it might when dreams are deferred. But the explosion is not horrific. The explosion is beautiful, even in the struggle, as it reveals to us once again that the essentials-- love and freedom--cannot be extinguished. In fact, we are discovering as Paul did that all of us are “my people.”

For the last several weeks, we have been watching people realize that their choseness is not in the hands of dictators and kings, but in the awakening to the same power and presence that all of us understand in our hearts; that we are beloved. It is a power which is not of our making, and it calls forth dreams of being chosen when all the evidence around us would suggest otherwise. So we root for the Libyans, and we trust that far from the cautious words of our chosen leaders, their freedom will only make us freer.

Pray for one Libyan tonight. Pray that her dreaming be deferred no longer. Pray for her continued awakening. Pray for her courage to endure the suffering that comes when we awaken to the power of knowing we are chosen and beloved. And, look around your own little world, who can you “choose” who has become certain that they are not chosen; and who can you love, who knows it not? Set them free.

Be good to yourself,
See you Sunday, 11:10 AM,
Pastor Shawn