The Audacity to Dream By: The Minister Nicholas C. Christian, M. Div

 

The Audacity to Dream

Proverbs 13:12, NLT

Triumph Baptist Church

1648 West Hunting Park Ave.

The Sacred Desk

January 18, 2021

The Minister Nicholas C. Christian, M. Div

 

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

    but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.”

 

In 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood before 25,000 people and delivered one of the most famous speeches in history. The speech was delivered at the March on Washington. However, while it is widely regarded today as the “I Have A Dream” speech, in its delivery Dr. King dealt with so much more than just his dream. To begin the speech that would later have him labeled by the FBI’s domestic intelligence division as the “most dangerous Negro of the future in this nation from the standpoint of Communism, the Negro, and national security” Dr. King stated:

“Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.”

In other words, Dr. King began his speech discussing the hope of Blacks in this country. He delineated to the nation that the hope of blacks concerning freedom has for far too long been deferred. Tragically, it has been 58 years since Dr. King stood and demarcated the truths concerning Blacks in America, and Blacks still sit suffering from the sickening symptoms of the same deferred hope. That is what Solomon writes about in our text found in the book of Proverbs 13:12. Solomon writes in this book of wisdom that follows a two-line verse structure that “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.”

My brothers and my sisters, it is so often when we read the scriptures of the Bible that we may need to go to a commentary, leverage a study bible, or peruse the pages of a lexicon to get help or a better understanding of exactly what a text is intended to mean. Sometimes we may change from the King James Version of the Bible to the New Living translation or even switch from the New Revised Standard to the Message Bible to gain a better understanding of the context or content within a respective pericope. However, the words that Solomon describes in Proverbs 13:12 requires us to do no such thing. That is because today, many of us can testify to the wisdom that Solomon shares when he suggests that hope deferred makes the heart sick.

Since February of 2020, this country has been in the vice-grips of an air-born virus that has taken nearly 400,000 lives and infected over 23 million more. As a result, daily we have lived with the hope that this pandemic would end, and that the COVID-19 protocols would be removed, allowing us to go back to life and business as usual. However, instead of things getting better, and instead of our hope bringing forth fruit, or our dreams coming true of getting-back-to-life as we know it, we instead experience hope deferred. Daily we get notifications to our phones of the new death totals, updates on the news of new cases, or worse, a daunting diagnosis from the doctor that reminds us that we’re still not on the other side of this pandemic. Our loved ones are dying and are not afforded the home-going services necessary for us to process our grief. Businesses are closing that took a life’s work to open and to successfully build. Mortgages and loans are defaulting, jobs are being lost, bills are piling up with little to no help from the government; and to make matters worse, the news outlets report there is a new and more deadly strand of the virus that we just found a vaccine to cure. I think we all can testify to what it means and feels like to experience hope deferred.

However, what becomes intriguing within our text is, Solomon does not end the text with the sickness of the heart. Solomon declares that “hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.” In other words, in just two lines within the book of Proverbs, Solomon suggests that he recognizes the sickness and pain that is married to the deferment of one’s hope. However, he also declares that if we have the audacity to dream during this nightmare of an experience, that there will be a reason to celebrate in the end.

When Dr. King stood and delivered his speech in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln, he knew hope deferred. He had experienced racism and bigotry as often as the sun rose every morning and set every night. He had dealt with politicians “whose lips dripped with the words of interposition and nullification.” Even further, he had faced and endured death threats on his own life, and the lives of his family members and friends. Hope deferred was the order of the day for Dr. King, but he kept on dreaming. Despite all that he and those around him experienced, he still had the audacity to dream even in the midst of a nightmare.

I believe this is a relevant word for somebody on this Martin Luther King Day. Yes, we all have experienced hope deferred, but we cannot allow the deferment of our hope to stop us from dreaming even while living amid a nightmare. God has proven to us that even though our hopes may be deferred, God can still bless us anyhow.

While our hope was deferred, and our heart was sick with the direction of this country after the failed leadership and competency of the first two-time impeached President Donald J. Trump, God showed up in the mess, met us at the polls, and blessed us with the first black female, South Asian US vice president-elect in US History – Kamala Harris. That’s hope deferred, but a dream fulfilled anyhow. 

While our hope was deferred and our hearts were sick because of the coup that took place at the U.S. Capitol that reminded us that there are two different Americas for whites and blacks, on the other side of the country, God allowed 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else's cotton to go to the polls and pick her youngest son to be the first Black United States senator in the state of Georgia. That’s hope deferred, but a dream fulfilled anyhow!

Finally, while this world was sinking deep in sin, God showed up in the middle of chaos and condemnation and sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, would not perish, but would have everlasting life. That’s hope deferred, but a dream fulfilled anyhow!

God can show up in the middle of our mess and bless us anyhow. That’s why we must not let the deferment of our hopes stop us from dreaming. That’s why we must keep on dreaming anyhow. There is no secret what God can do. What He has done for others, God will do the same for you. Just keep on dreaming anyhow!

 

The chimes of time ring out the news, another day is through
Someone slipped and fell, was that someone you?
You may have longed for added strength Your courage to renew
Do not be disheartened, I have news for you
It is no secret what God can do
What He's done for others He'll do for you
With arms wide open, He'll pardon you
It is no secret what God can do

 

There is no night for in His light, you'll never walk alone
You'll always feel at home, wherever you may roam
There is no power that can conquer you while God is on your side
Take Him at His promise, don't run away and hide
It is no secret what God can do
What He's done for others He'll do for you
With arms wide open He'll pardon you
It is no secret what God can do