The Banquet

This was my dream last night.

There was a bunch of us at my old church, before the new sanctuary had been built, and we were still using the old sanctuary.  The piano and everything was back in its place.  We were having a bible study, and it was a week long class, almost like camp because we all stayed there.  It was only with people my age and then two adult leaders.  There were other Bible study groups with people our age, too, going on, but the main focus was this group.

In my group was my sister, a guy who was an obvious stoner and cared nothing about others, a girl who never spoke and reminded me of the strange girl in The Breakfast Club, and a friend of mine from OBU named John.  There was also a girl who was very obese, which made her angry at the world and she let everyone know how much she didn't care.  I am guessing there was more in this group, but these are the ones that stuck out.

In our bible studies, we were all expected to give input and discuss, but only my sister and I ever really said anything.  We were also expected to support each other and encourage one another.  So my sister and I tried to reach out to the others and show them that they were loved and cared about.  I started hanging out with the Breakfast Club girl, and through that she started to grow and talk and open up to the others.  It was pretty awesome to see how her life was being transformed.

Somewhere in this was thrown in a part where the teacher was teaching us about this man who uses people's skin for art.  This was a visual story, like a split scene in my mind.  And this guy would take bodies from the morgue and then melt them.  They would come out with there eyes lower on their face, no mouth or nose, and looking quite scary.  After they were melted, he would cut away their skin and use it for something artistic.  But while this split screen story was going on, when he started to cut the skin, I heard faint screaming coming from the body.  There were no eyelids anymore and the eyes seemed to stare at me.  I then realized he wasn't getting his bodies from the morgue, but he was kidnapping them and melting them alive.  Then it switched to him doing that to me.  I could feel the fire and the knife and it was very scary.

At this point, I jolted awake, turned over, and fell back to sleep.

So the dream continued..

I was back in the bible study, and now there is a bowl being passed around with candy and small prizes.  I always got the candy.  But my sister got a card inviting her to a special banquet for the outstanding people of all the bible studies.  I was happy for her because I knew she deserved it.

After that, we were told to go do some quiet time alone with God.  So I went into the sanctuary and prayed for a little while.  Then I sat at the piano and played, but this playing seemed to be a part of my communication with God.  Like He was speaking to me through the keys.

After that, John and the stoner boy came and wanted me to play piano for them, too.  In real life, John used to play piano for me after our long drives when I was stressed or upset from something in life.  But now I was playing for him.

When we got back to the bible study, my sister was getting ready for the banquet.  I was still really excited for her because this was a great honor to get to go.  So I went in to help her get ready.  The next day, when I arrived at the bible study everyone was talking about the banquet and how wonderful it was.  They had all been secretly given invitations and only the angry girl and myself weren't invited.  I couldn't understand why I hadn't been invited, and why everyone else was secretly given invitations.  But I remember being sad because everyone seemed to have left me behind.  They all got to go to the great banquet, but I had to stay.

And that was my dream...