Dreamless

I've been thinking about Sunday's teaching on dreams for the Kingdom. If you missed it, what I got out of it (and this is probably totally wrong) is that God gives us visions for what we'd like to see happen in the Kingdom, and that we should pursue dreams in the knowledge that God will give us the power to fulfill them.

Now, maybe I'm wrong, but when I hear dream, I think something along the lines of big accomplishment, with the dreamer at the center.  Like, ending poverty in the tristate area or being the motive force behind ending slavery worldwide.  So, when I was asked Sunday afternoon what my dreams were, I said that I didn't really have any.

Possibly that isn't exactly true. There are some things that I have passion for, but they are sort of nonspecific. I have a desire to worship and to aid other people in worship. I don't really have a vision for the endstate of what I want worship to be like or to become - just that I want to do it and gather more people into doing it.  I love talking about the fundamentals of the faith and of helping people understand them, but I don't have a specific goal in mind with this. Do these qualify as dreams?

I don't know. I know that this isn't what Jonathan said on Sunday, but the whole idea of dreams and goals as believers smacks to me as an Americanization (or, maybe, an American Idolization) of the Gospel.  It makes me feel like the church is saying something like "you can be a star, too, just in the church!"

In the New Testament we certainly have the examples of Paul and Timothy and Barnabas pursing their individual destinies in the Kingdom - but what about the thousands and thousands of other believers?  Did Paul exhort them to pursue their dreams?  Is saying "pursue your dreams" the same as saying "now in the Body there are many parts"?  Isn't the emphasis in the epistles much more on community and not on individual accomplishment? It seems to me that what Paul emphasized was more sacrificing of the individual to the greater good.

Maybe I am reading too much into this, or misinterpreting this.  I look forward to your take on this.