finger of god

finger of god

December 4/5 .06

i was with my parents, in a place i did not recognize. it seemed similar to the inside of a great building, but perhaps a hall way or a small chamber, anteroom. perhaps it was a church. my father was there, and my mother. this is the first dream i have ever had where my mother was with my father and wholesome and kind. my father was speaking words i could not keep, but i wrote them in gold thread upon a tapestry, cut like a page in a book. on another page, i embroidered light into a picture of many people leaning over a gallery wall, looking at the scene in the center, which i had the impression was the nativity of Christ. the golden thread was the shine in their hair, the edges of structures in the surround, the lining in clouds above, and the sheen in their garments. it was beautiful.

i stopped to show them my handiwork, and they both admired it with pleasure, seeing that it would be a suitable gift. i read again the page of my father’s words and still i could not translate them into my conscious mind. i knew they would elude me upon waking.

then i wrote again, as my parents watched. i was showing them a new tool. it was like a quill, and i wrote in golden calligraphy. the letters laid down a finely wrought and perfectly smooth and polished gold. it was as though the ink were molten gold, which hardened upon contact, and the words then gleamed as though perfectly filed and polished.

again, i do not remember what i wrote, but at the bottom of the page, i wrote the word Christ. we were happy.

later, i was with rob and justice, in a new place, i had not been before. it was a neighbourhood. the homes were quite unusual, and i marveled at their construction. we were visiting a new friend of justice’s home. it was built in the woods, and had a hallway that spanned a ravine like a bridge! it was beautiful, and they had company. we were all getting ready to go somewhere enjoyable. they were very nice people.

then there was a portion of the dream where i had auditioned for the lead part in a strange sort of musical play. i had been given the other part instead, because of my haircolour. the part i had wanted was dark haired, a jewess, but the part i got was reddish haired, and a gentile. the director had given us our parts in a sealed envelope, which was opened almost like an award ceremony.

i was excited to be in the production, regardless. i wondered if i would be able to memorize lines again, it had been so long, but i really looked forward to singing..

then there was a portion which included traveling, and i was making my way through a city, which seemed populous, like manhattan, but geographically contained, like bloomington. i was walking the same distance and tract as Kirkwood, from the square to the library, but it was named something else, and looked like something else, and there were many people. all of this seemed to exist in a strange sort of superimposition over the lay of the land that i am familiar with, as though bloomington as i know it in my conscious life, were somehow underneath it..

anyway, on my way i was looking for a christmas stocking to give as a gift to st. nicholas, santa claus- i wanted it to be embroidered with gold thread. i found one in a strange shop that was like a bar and a gift shop all in one. there were all kinds of people there. and cash registers all along the bar, where people lined up as though to get a drink, but really were purchasing these little odds and ends. there were old fashioned Christmas lights strung along the ceiling. it was odd. there were tables on an upper level, like a diner, and merchandise along the walls and on shelves. i found a stocking that would do, it was long, and red, with gold embroidery all over it. i took it to the cashier. it was crowded, and i was jostled this way and that by the number of customers.

i made my way out into the cold, and the dark. there were people all along the sidewalk. i waved to barbara streisand by the library. she had a body guard with her that pushed me away from her, off the sidewalk and into the bushes!

apparently, we lived next door to the people i mentioned before, in a new house. once inside, i noticed that i had a baby, and it was daytime. the baby was asleep in my arms, and i was sucking its thumb. it was a boy. i thought it was justice, - it looked like justice did when he was a baby. but justice was there with me, and his same age, eleven.

i was upstairs, and looking out the window at a hill which rose beside the house. in fact, the house seemed to be built into the hill. i saw neighbours outside on the grass, suddenly looking to the sky and pointing in fear, and running! i looked too. there was a long thin tornado coming toward where we were! it was big! the sky was brightly lit, the clouds puffy and white like a summer day in july, but this one dark swirling tunnel of wind was just spinning along like a tall top. i ran downstairs crying out! it’s a tornado! there’s a tornado coming straight at us! there was no time to do much. rob went outside to start the car, just as calmly as he would to cut the grass, or take out the trash!

the baby’s diaper was wet, and i remember thinking i would need his diaper bag. i ran upstairs to get it, and all the while, marveled at the stupidity of such a thing! returning to the living room in a flash, i told justice there was no time, and to get down, behind the couch or something heavy. i dashed for cover with the baby. all of this happened very fast. i looked out the windows, and saw the tornade, which i now knew was the “finger of god” go darting around our house in a circle, and then passing back into the horizon.

i knew we were safe. i stood up and the baby was still asleep in my arms. rob came in carrying a beautiful flowering vine, covered with white blossoms, which he held high to keep from trailing on the floor. i knew that spring was coming,

in my dream, i recalled the minister’s sermon last sunday for advent; looking for leaves on the trees, and christ’s admonishment that when you see the leaves, you know that summer is coming.

i felt happy, and peaceful. i felt that god was setting forth, his mighty finger terrifyingly destructive, but i was not afraid.

later this morning, i was looking up information about the robes that priest’s wear, and came upon this phrase, coincidentally

¹⁸ He gave to Moses, when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets, written with God's finger.