It’s another one of those phrases that I just woke up having in my head: “The Church at the Edge of the World.”
And with it, I had a mental picture of a little off-the-road country church built on the precipice of a cliff with a long, deep drop-off and a stunning, enticing view beyond it.
Behind the little church, and almost as far as you could see in either direction, a split-rail fence lined the edge of that cliff, winding as it did up and downhill, in and out as the road wound on.
Then the fence stopped.
That was as far as the protection went.
Somehow, in my mind, I had a feeling that where that fence ended, someone was supposed to build another little country church on down the road that would be responsible for building a split rail fence that would extend protection from the fatal fall beguiled by the rough landscape – first in one direction of the winding road, then in the other. Then another, and another, and another ….
But there was just the one little church, and the one hand-made fence that only went so far.
I’m not sure I was fully awake when all of that came to my mind.
Maybe it was a dream.
Maybe it means something.
Blog In My Own Eye 
“Ask, and ye shall receive.” Thank you for posting, Keith.Interesting ‘dream’ there. What do you think it means?
Keith; being as well qualified as I am to interpret dreams, I believe you were influenced by the debate going on in politics (the dems) and the day. MLK b-day. “I have a dream”. now to the vision, the little church is representative of the small area in which the woman candidate and the black candidate can operate without being subject to condemnation by their own followers. the rail fence is just how far they can go without falling of the edge. and subjecting the country to another republican president. They haven’t gotten there yet but close. Ha đŸ™‚ see I bet I could have run old Dan a close second.
I’m not sure what it means. laymond may be as close in jest to a meaning, if any!I think, as much as anything else, this mental picture expresses my feeling that a church’s influence only goes so far geographically, and into people’s lives.Folks can still climb over the fence and fall.But there’s a responsibility to build the fence; and provide the sanctuary where folks can pause in the journey down the road and gather to worship and be recreated.(I guess there are folks who go rappelling off the cliffs to rescue the fallen, too. They need a good, strong fence to tie that line to.)
Interesting interpretations, both of you guys! Keith, I especially like the idea of someone rapelling off the cliff and tying the line to the fence. That thought <>never<> would’ve come to my mind. When I first read this, you said that you had the feeling that there <>should<> be another church and another fence, but that there wasn’t. The first thing that came to my mind was the idea that yes, each church has a responsiblity to build a portion of the fence. And though they may be differenct churches (prehaps even different denominations?) they must be connected at some point…they have to be willing to work together to some degree so that their fences will be connected to keep people safe from the world. Just my thoughts, for what they’re worth.
Interesting dream. Those vivid dreams I have scare me sometimes and make me think I should know what they mean. So I gave up spicy food before bed. Great post. Lance
Yeah, I had a dream last week that scared me. I mean seriously jolted me awake at about 4:00 in the morning, and it took me about 45 minutes to get back to sleep. This is very odd, in and of itself, because I rarely rememeber any of my dreams. And when I do remember, I only see bits and pieces. But not this one…I can still tell you everything that happened. But I won’t bore you with details–the short version is that I was in a strange house with some people that I didn’t know. But somehow there was a bear in the house that attacked one of the guys. The other guy (who had a gun and very easily could have done something) sat by and did nothing. He let this other guy get killed right before our eyes.I have no idea what this meant…I just know that I woke up both afraid and feeling guilty that we sat there and did nothing while someone died.