A Preacher's Groundhog Day

Was it because it actually was near Groundhog day or was it due to the natural anxiety that anyone has about being caught "not prepared?" I've been told that the "naked dream" is common when it comes to our shared human condition.

You know what the naked dream is do you not? It is when you dream that all of a sudden you are in a group of people and you do not have any clothes on. So you hide under a desk or in a closet or you hear the laughter of those who observe. The resulting panic and embarrassment leads you to wonder just how in the world did this happen? Whose fault is it?

Those who make their money writing books about anxiety and worry and dream interpretations say that this "naked" condition represents being "exposed" in a state of being unprepared. The pop test is put in front of you and you have no idea what the subject matter even is. It is time for a speech and the audience is waiting and your name is called but you did not know you were giving the speech. It is time to pay the bill but you have no money. You are "naked."

Well I had a kind of strange naked dream last night. It was a version of the movie "Groundhog Day." It started with me marching into a crowded church and giving the same sermon every day. Each time I marched into the sanctuary the crowd was the same, the people lining up to go into church were always in the same line with the same expressions on their faces. They didn't seem to much care to be there but the conversation never changed.

And...I kept giving the same sermon...and I got the same reaction...sort of bland but acceptable...nothing really special but then the time was over and...well...it stared all over again....same crowd...same sermon...

And then...

I was walking into the same church but the person walking beside me was different, the crowd seemed like mostly the same crowd as before but all of sudden it was "the next day" or something...but alas I had that same sermon that I had been preaching to the same crowd over and over again...but this time I was supposed to preach a different sermon but....you guessed it I was "naked." I had no other sermon. What I had was that same old, tired sermon that was about to drive me crazy. I was tired of hearing myself all those days...but this crowd had not heard it like I had. They were expecting not the sermon from "yesterday" but a fresh new one "today." But all I had were yesterday's words...If I preached it "again" I would see the expressions of their faces of bewilderment. "Doesn't this clown know he preached that same sermon yesterday...what's the matter with him?" Naked!!

I did not have time to run to the "file" and find an old sermon that I could give in a fresh way that the crowd had not heard. I did not have time to "compose" new material. All I had was the old "Groundhog" sermon.

The great thing about the "naked dream" is that you wake up, usually with "some" clothes on. So I woke up, laid there a minute tyring to figure out if this really happened, and then took a deep breath that it was after all a dream.

But then I got up and saw my shadow....O my

Bless you...and Happy Groundhog day
jody