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The Chibi News Daily Reflection
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Hello, my name is Marjorie and I'm a Baptist minister in Sheffield
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We are now in the season of Epiphany and tucked quietly inside the Christmas story is something many of us overlook
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It is this, God spoke through dreams. Early on in the Christmas narrative, we read that when they had gone
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an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 2
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Joseph didn't get thunder or burning bushes, he got dreams. A dream told him not to be afraid and to take Mary as his wife
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A dream warned him to flee to Egypt and a dream called him back home
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and the wise men too were warned in a dream not to return to Herod. God used the nighttime whispers
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man subconscious to guide the birth and protection of the saviour of the world
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Most of us want God to speak to us loudly and clearly with neon signs in the sky or a loud
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audible voice but the Christmas story reminds us that God often speaks in the quiet in the places where he has our full attention Interestingly that requires something of us maybe We need to
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take time to be quiet, to dial down and to listen and to seek God. Sometimes he nudges our hearts
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with a longing or a burden. At other times he plans a dream, an idea, a calling, a sense of
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direction that won't leave us alone. And sometimes, yes sometimes, he actually speaks in dreams
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in the still hours where our defences are down and our hearts are soft. But here's the key thing
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Joseph didn't just dream, he then obeyed, he acted on what he dreamt. Because dreams from God
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aren't always just to comfort us, sometimes they move us in a good direction, a nudge to turn to
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God or maybe to put wrong things right. Whatever it is, there's an invitation to listen to God
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and to respond. Christmas teaches us that God is not silent. His guidance may come gently
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but it is sure and certain
