I AM sure that most people have had vivid dreams. I find that I often cannot remember them when I wake up. I am told that dreams have become more dramatic during this pandemic period. Psychiatrists attach great importance to dreams and this is certainly true of ancient times such as we see in the Old Testament.

Day Dreams are also important because they inspire us to plan for the future and this is so important now as we plan a post coronavirus future for ourselves, our country and the world.

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, in his Easter message, urged us to have ambitious imagination and to dream of what it will be like in the future. “To dream a new normal, make it possible, grasp it, create it in partnership with God and with one another.”

I am reminded of Martin Luther King’s dream speech on August 28, 1963: “It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment…. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy…. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed that all men are created equal…. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character… I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

There is a hymn by John Oxenham (1852-1941). “In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide world. Join hands, united in the faith, whate’er your race may be; who serve my Father as their own are surely kin to me.”

I love the Welsh hymn by E.A. Dingley (1860-1948):

“Rho imi nerth i wneud fy rhan,

i gario baich fy wrawd,

i weini’n dirion ar y gwan

a chynorthwyo’r tlawd.

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Ehanga ‘mryd a gwared fi

Rhag culni o bob rhyw,

Rho imi weld pob mab i ti,

Yn frawd i mi, O Dduw.

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Anselm (1033-1109), Archbishop of Canterbury is recorded as having a dream:

He dreamt that a farmer and his seven sons were able to move a huge stone that was preventing progress with his new monastery.

Anselm woke from his dream and rushed out of the monastery to get the help of a local farmer to continue building his new monastery on the top of the hill. The farmer had seven sons and there really was a large stone that obstructed further building. He asked him to bring them to help.

When he came, he only brought six sons believing the seventh was too young. They failed, so Anselm asked him to get the youngest and they then succeeded.

He said to them, “Remember, when you take on a great task it is always the last little effort that brings success.”

A prayer: Help me Lord to dream the dreams that come from you and give me the strength to put them into practice so that I can help to bring your Kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven. Amen

Rev John Powell

Retired vicar of Cardigan