The American Dream

We began our Forum Class this year with the topic of "The American Dream."

Each of us shared what The American Dream means to each of us. It was quite surprising how different  many of our views were and how different generations had different meanings. Overall there were some themes:

• Prosperity
• Upward mobility
• Hard work leads success
• Individualism
• Acquiring wealth

We were asked to consider the following queries:

1. What is The American Dream?
2. Is it alive?
3. I wonder....

Some points from our discussion of these queries:

• What responsibly to God's people have to promote systems that provide?
• We need to have conversation
• There is a breakdown between others, self, and God (i.e. breakdown in relationships)
• Shift the tide, change the economic paradigm
• What is the alternative to the systematic track of The American Dram?
• What are our dreams for each other?

In our second week, we focused the discussion on taking a Kingdom view and using scripture to understand The American Dream in light of what God wants. We all had a lively and productive conversation, each person able to build on what the last person shared. The scripture we discussed the most was Psalm 67.

NIV

¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us
    and make his face shine on us—^[b]
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
    your salvation among all nations.

³ May the peoples praise you, God;
    may all the peoples praise you.
⁴ May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
    for you rule the peoples with equity
    and guide the nations of the earth.
⁵ May the peoples praise you, God;
    may all the peoples praise you.

⁶ The land yields its harvest;
    God, our God, blesses us.
⁷ May God bless us still,
    so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.

MSG
^1-7 God, mark us with grace
    and blessing! Smile!
The whole country will see how you work,
    all the godless nations see how you save.
God! Let people thank and enjoy you.
    Let all people thank and enjoy you.
Let all far-flung people become happy
    and shout their happiness because
You judge them fair and square,
    you tend the far-flung peoples.
God! Let people thank and enjoy you.
    Let all people thank and enjoy you.
Earth, display your exuberance!
    You mark us with blessing, O God, our God.
You mark us with blessing, O God.
    Earth’s four corners—honor him!


We concluded week 2 with the following plan for discussion in week 3:

• Meditate on Psalm 67 throughout the week.
• Reclaim some of the words and ideas associated with The American Dream ("prosper" could be like "flourish").
• Vision your own Kingdom dream, starting with your household and moving out to your neighborhood and close friends, the church, Silverton, and beyond.
• Consider visioning for today. Instead of always dreaming toward something that is always a dream, consider the tangible and the present.

We will share our meditations and visions in week 3 and begin to move toward the practical and possible experiments for the group to consider.