“Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” – Genesis 37:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 22, 2015): Genesis 37

I have a dream …

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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 today! (Martin Luther King – August 28, 1963)

The words of Dr. King continue to ring through the pages of history. A dream, not of things as they are, but of things as they should be. A dream of racial equality. It is a dream that we need as much today as on the day that Dr. King spoke his memorable words.

But not everyone shared the dream – so they decided to kill the dreamer. After all, it is the ultimate test of a dream – whether or not the dream can survive without the dreamer. In the case of Dr. King, we caught the dream. The dream went from belonging to a Black Civil Rights leader to being the dream of people of all colors. They could kill the dreamer, but not the dream.

The murder of Dr. King was not the first time that a dreamer was killed in order to try and kill a dream, I wish it was the last, but somehow I doubt it. The first time might have been the attempted murder of Joseph. His dream was that he would be the leader of his family. The dream, without context, seemed to be the product of pride out of control. It was a dream of pure arrogance. The thought that this younger sibling would one day rule the family was a dream that needed to be erased. And if the dreamer was dead, then he would not be in a position to rule any longer.

But what the brothers failed to understand was that the high position of their younger brother would one day be necessary if the family was going to survive. This was not a dream of arrogance, it was a God dream that would protect the family – and the future nation – of Israel. And because it God dream, it could not be killed.

I have a dream. It is a dream where all of us are equal, where hate is a thing of the past. I have a dream of a society where we are simply willing to love each other in spite of the things that separate us and make us different. I have a dream of a world where black and white and every other skin color in the spectrum of races simply doesn’t matter. I have a dream. It is a dream, not of things as they are, but of things as they should be. It is a dream that refuses to die – and one that, I believe, the fate of our world depends on.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 38