That hero of the hardwoods, that ageless sneakered saint, Michael Jordan, was speaking this week about his new basketball team, the Washington Wizards, and the impact he will have on their success. You know, the unknown is dangerous. Everyone speculates, but no one knows — and I think that’s a part of the challenge.

Indeed it is. But let’s just pick that apart, shall we? The unknown is dangerous. Well, maybe. I hardly think the outcome of the Washington Wizards’ basketball season is an unknown danger. But since September 11, danger and the unknown seem closer linked than before. When Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a warning of an imminent terrorist threat this week but couldn’t give details, well, it made me feel a little like a little boy who was terrified of a monster under his bed. It probably wasn’t there, but you never know. On the other hand, isn’t it possible that the unknown could be treat rather than a threat? Ever think safety may be found in what is hoped for instead of what is known? That maybe the way things are is just the problem? That maybe holding on to things that are smothering us is death and not life? That taking a chance on love or friendship or what might be might be just what your heart needs?

Well then Jordan says, Everyone speculates, but no one knows…. So what’s the difference between one who speculates and one who dreams? Speculators look at the unknown and guess about it; dreamers look at the unknown and commit themselves to it. Speculators are spectators; dreamers are daredevils. Speculators bet on the future; dreamers invest in it. Speculators offer opinions; dreamers offer themselves. Speculators have hunches in their gut; dreamers have visions in their head.

Daniel was a dangerous dreamer, not a safe speculator. He risked his neck instead of saving it. He had visions in his head — he didn’t dream them up, they were given to him by God. He spoke his dreams in the midst of uncertain times to give hope to his people. And the speaking of them marshaled faith and opposition at the same time.

So, who was this dreamer, Daniel? He was an Israelite captive of Babylon in the sixth-century B.C. He made a mark with his young friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego by being bright and successful in government service to kings like Nebuchadnezzar. At other times they were a royal pain in the royal palace, unbending in their allegiance to the God of Israel. It landed Daniel in the lions’ den and his friends in the fiery furnace. But each time, God delivered them.

Some think four beasts of Daniel’s dream the four regimes of Assyria, Babylon, Media, and Persia. Some think Media and Persia go together and the fourth was really off in the future unknown to Daniel — the Greeks or the Romans or whoever in our future even will arise before the end of all things. (This is one of those texts that show up in all those end of the world books.) My take is the fourth beast is the monster Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who defiled the temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C.

The key point in the dream, however, is not the identification of the four beasts but the holy ones of God — all saints, don’t you know?! — that will follow their defeat and receive the kingdom of God forever and ever. These saints are those who remain faithful to a vision of a kingdom none had seen in their lifetimes but of which God had spoken through words and dreams.

Daniel could have settled down in Babylon and had a pleasant career as a government bureaucrat, serving the powers to be. He could have played it safe. He could have served the empire and waved the flag to his own advantage. But he was a dreamer. God gave him a vision he couldn’t get out of his head, a vision that wasn’t just meant for him but for all of us to follow. A vision that there is a kingdom that we are called to long for and live for, a kingdom God is bringing to pass.

Isn’t this what Jesus did? Jesus preached the kingdom of God. He called us to a vision of life that threatens the status quo and lifts our sights to a new way of conceiving our future. He envisioned a kingdom coming where rich and poor would be leveled so that no one would have more than their fair share and no one less. He spoke of a world in which enemies are defeated by prayer and vengeance is replaced by radical love. He outlined a world in which generosity rather than selfishness would be normal, where no one would need to beg because the saints would give them the shirt off their backs.

This is not a flower child, hippie view of the world we’re talking about here. It’s a Jesus view. And the main reason is seems so idealistic and unrealistic is that being realistic allows us to keep our stuff. Start to see this vision of the kingdom to come, start to live toward it, and things will have to change.

Think with me of other dangerous dreamers. Abraham Lincoln dreamed of a nation free of slavery, where no man or woman would be the property of another. It was a dream worth telling and yet it was a threat to the whole way of life on the plantation. It put the Union in the balance, but some things are bigger than preserving even that. With the war behind him, Lincoln closed his second inaugural address with these words: With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. Lincoln envisioned a nation with no winners and losers, no slave owners and slaves, no Blue and Gray, no Yankees and Diamondbacks!

Where are dreamers like that today? Martin Luther King, Jr. was a dangerous dreamer too. In his 1963 speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, King declared: I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.’ He dreamed that one day his four little children (one of whom preached from this pulpit a few years ago) would one day live in a nation where they would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Lincoln and King took bullets for their dreams. But their dreams did not die with them, because their vision were given by God. And the world is held accountable by the standards they issued in their dreams. Where are dreamers like that today? We dream of a world nowadays free from terrorism, but I am waiting to hear a vision of peace that is more than the absence of war. I am waiting to hear something bigger than a dream to protect our way of life and to allow us to have the safety in isolation we once knew. We need bigger vision, vision that God alone can give and God’s people can bear witness to with their lives and fortunes.

David McCullough has written a splendid biography of our second president John Adams. A British spy said of Adams during his lifetime that he had the ability to see large subjects largely. We need giants in the land like that. People like Daniel, Adams, Lincoln, and King. I almost hate to put the incomparable Jesus in the list. We need people who will raise our sights above the self-serving protection of our stuff to the kingdom-serving provision of others.

We’ve just lost our chance in Dallas to host the Olympics in 2012. It was bold effort and I wouldn’t have minded having it here in our backyard. Supporters claimed it was a chance for us to regain the famous Dallas can-do spirit that’s been missing for too long. But here’s what I’m thinking, Why have we missed our chance? We have tremendous opportunities to restore the can-do spirit of the city, if we would only turn our attention from sporting and entertainment projects to a larger vision of making Dallas a clean and classy city for everyone. During the last 20 years we have let basic services slide for budgetary reasons; and this year when property values rose, instead of restoring funding, we cut taxes. Is that large thinking or small? I am waiting for someone to stand up — never mind, I’ll do it if you will join me — and say it’s time for a change.

It’s time to commit to first class education for Dallas school children in something other than Quonset huts with underpaid teachers. We want streets paved, medians mowed, codes enforced. We want parks to breathe in and libraries to read in. Oddly enough, studies of the Dallas school and Dallas parks determined that each need $1.84 billion to put them into the kind of shape that we can say they are something we can be proud of. Can we do that? If we really want to.

You want to set a goal for 2012? How about this? We could eliminate all substandard housing in the city of Dallas by that date. We could have the best urban school district in the country. We could approach balance north and south, distributing the tax base so that north Dallas doesn’t bear 84% of it. We could, we could, we could. But will we?

What is your vision of the city? Of the church? It starts with your vision of the kingdom of God? The first thing you need to do is to have your imagination fired with a blazing vision of how things are going to be arranged in the kingdom of God. Jesus has taken care of that nicely for us. The second thing then is to begin rearranging things now to bear witness to that coming kingdom. You give yourself and your resources to the vision, because there is nothing more important than being invested in the only kind of world that will last.

Let me ask you something. We’re here on All Saints Sunday saying how grateful we are to God for those dangerous dreamers who lived and died for a vision of the kingdom. Who are they? Say their names? Now, how many of them were rich and stingy? Imagine any of them asking themselves, Do I have to tithe on my gross income or can I give on what I have left after my expenses? Please! How many of them spent their money and their time the way you do? If you want to honor them, imitate them. They are calling to you to join them in following Jesus in a full-fledged way.

I have a dream, that one day I will rise up to live out the meaning of my calling. I have a dream today, that one day this church will rise up and live out the meaning of its creed, and we will finally in fact be a community of faith shaped by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Then all the saints of the Most High will say together, Amen and amen.