Crazy dreams about preaching
July 8, 2008
I have only just started preaching, and not anywhere close to regularly, but have had a couple strange dreams about preaching that I thought I should share, hopefully to prompt some reciprocal sharing.
In the most recent dream I was to preach at my home church and found myself sitting in the congregation without any pants on. I was sitting next to my brother and tried to convince him to give me his pants so that I could preach. “Oh, you don’t need any pants to preach,” he said, “no one will notice.” (all I remember)
In a less recent dream I was preaching somewhere and my sermon, for some odd reason, was written on pieces of PVC pipe. Nothing seemed unusual about this at the time either. Successfully delivering the sermon depended on me carrying the pipes to the pulpit, laying them out in the proper order, at the proper height, and in the proper rotation, and not knocking the pipes off of the pulpit. The pipes were all oriented vertically, while the text was written normally, left to right, so the pipes had to be at the right height, and not turned too far one way or the other. It worked fine the first service, didn’t seem at all awkward, but at the the second service, the pipes started rolling off the pulpit mid-sermon and I struggled to continue the sermon. It was, needless to say, distressing. (all I remember)
What about the rest of you? Surely some of you more seasoned preachers (and I am not at all seasoned) have some funny dreams to share! What about recurring dreams?
July 9, 2008 at 12:09 am
I’ve had several dreams about losing my notes or continually dropping them off the pulpit or not being able to see them.
Your dreams were very, very interesting. No pants?
Thanks for sharing,
Mark
July 9, 2008 at 12:44 am
Yours are the dreams of a perfectionist.
July 25, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I haven’t had dreams about preaching, but I dream nightmares a lot before big events like WOW, conferences, Connect, Student Forum, occasionally even term paper deadlines, presentations, and finals. I always forget to take or do something vitally important and the event or test is a disaster. Because of those dreams, I have yet to forget something so vital!
July 29, 2008 at 2:09 am
Personally, I don’t remember many of my dreams, nor would I even begin to claim that I am a veteran of preaching, but I do know a thing or two about speaking truth in front of people. Forgive me for being presumptuous, but these dreams seem to reveal a bit of your character. I would suggest that the pants-less interaction with your brother at your home church may indicate discomfort and uneasiness at the vulnerability of being scrutinized by others, who know (or have known) you intimately. I am intrigued by your PVC pipe dream, though! It only seems to make sense that delivering something like a sermon would require a particular methodology of delivery as well as the preparation process, such as the meticulous arranging of the pipes. The understanding of success is, like an earlier reader commented, a measure of perfectionism (not that this is necessarily negative). And seeing how distressed you became in the dream when everything fell apart might be a sign to reevaluate your attachment to perfection and its connection to faith in God. Truth, and life, for that matter, is not clean cut and picture perfect. I would imagine that you are fully aware of the ‘technical difficulties’ that inevitably happen with any public speaking, so you’re no stranger to this either. I believe you will know what you need to do. Good luck with many subsequent sermon-givings!
September 20, 2008 at 7:54 pm
i recently had a dream that i walked into an office somewhere and there was a man sitting at the desk and 2 men standing to the right of the desk.I began preaching to them about jesus and the message of repentence and was being laughed at which didnt bother me i kept preaching repent and accept jesus as saviour and lord then i woke up just thought i would share that thanks im not a preacher at all just love god anyway god bless yall.