The Church as a Bank: dream from 2-20-2006

This morning I awoke with a dream about a pastor not having time nor agreement to let me use my talents to serve in his church.  I hesitated to write about it, asking the Lord for a verification as to the meaning of the dream and why it was sent.  His answer was to remind me of the following dream, which was given 9 1/2 years ago.  Here it is:

There was a bank.  A lady was hired, and it was the leader’s desire to get her obligated to his “side” by marrying her, so he wooed her.  She did not know he was evil.

The day came for a meeting between the leaders of the bank (the president, vice president, and upper rich leaders), and their employees.  The room was set up like a court room.  Near the front was a large square container, made of see-through glass.

The person preparing the room put a key in the arm of a chair, turning it as if to start something.  The ceiling let down coins with a thunderous sound, which filled up the container.

Then I saw in the bench-seats of the audience area many elderly people. Each had a sock used for saving money, but the socks were empty.  One lady walked from her seat down the aisle with her guitar case.  She went forward, where the glass container full of coins was.

A man said “can’t you take the guitar for her debt to me?  I would accept it.” But the leader said “no.”  Each person had paid a fellow-employee’s debt but in turn had their own debt paid the same way, and the leaders owned the collective debt.  I understood finally that this was how the evil leader held onto their employees all their lives, and that the debt would never be paid.  I was the new employee who was being wooed, and was aghast at the evil of the leaders. 

All the elderly employees let out a cry.  It was a great commotion, asking to be forgiven.  I marveled, and thought they were like the people one would see in heaven.  End of dream.

Interpretation:

The bank is the Church, and the coins that let down from the ceiling were talents.  The Church holds the ability to receive talents, and forgive the debts of sins.

The people in the bench-seats were the congregation.  They had left the holdings of their talents with the leaders of the Church and were impoverished.  They also did not know the forgiveness that comes through Christ.  In both these areas the congregation felt bound to the Church.  They were elderly, representing a passing generation that sits as spectators in the Church but does not use their talents.  The leaders of the Church do everything that manages and runs the business of the Church.

The man in the congregation recognized that the lady’s guitar was a talent that she was going to give to the leaders of the Church.  That is why she went forward.  She was not allowed to minister in music, and he was not allowed to minister to her. Also, though the people forgave each other, the Church would not pardon them from their sins. The Bible says to owe no debt except to love one another (Rm 13:8), but the leaders stood in the way of each member ministering to the others through their gifts.  Though the body of Christ should nourish and build each other up, each through the gifts they have received (Eph 4:16), the leaders held onto people’s talents and would not let them use them.

My ministry to you:

I want to encourage you to minister, using the gifts you have been given to build up the body of Christ.  Do not let anyone impoverish you by causing you to be their spectator, nor by making you feel indebted to their ministry.  Be faithful to the Lord, who has purchased you for a price and Who has provided you a rich inheritance in Him.  Church leaders and churches do not hold the key to who you are and what you have to give; Christ does. Amen.