The scriptures this morning take us on
a bit of a journey - a literal and spiritual one, at times!
Jacob - back in Genesis - yes, this is
ankle-grabbing/over-reaching/master Chef Jacob has left Beer-Sheba (meaning
well of the oath - highlighting both water and the covenant - this is the place
where his family is, and he's going as his father Isaac has blessed him and
directed him to find a wife form his cousin Laban).
And he heads some 500miles for Haran (meaning
a parched land - it's the ancestral home, where Esau - who has just retaliated
by taking Ishmael's daughter - his father's niece - as another wife). Yes, more
family drama. Anyway! Jacob is barely out of Beer-Sheba when he stops "at
a certain place" - this is traditionally understood to be Mount Moriah,
which will be the future home of the Temple.
Now - he stops there, because he knows
that the family has always stopped there to pray. It's open, undisturbed, a
safe space where you have full vantage points on all sides. Wide open desert.
So he stops there, near the village called Luz, and immediately - almost
supernaturally - it's sunset.
Some interpretations highlight the
spiritual significance of this - most travelers know when it's going to get
dark, and avoid being out unprotected - but alas, there he is; so stone pillow
it is. Dusty bed. Not comfy; but he's got no other options.
And BAM. The dream of the ladder - more
likely a ramp, really, definitely not a staircase as most modern art depicts
it. But a connection piece between two realms; not a literal stairway to the
clouds, but the basic depiction that Jacob could understand.
And heavenly messages are going up and
down - for that's what angel means - aggelos - messenger. These are divine
carriers of messages - transporting casually and comfortably between this realm
and the next.
Lovely, yes? Comfortable. Peaceful.
It's
like they knew it well - for they were always there. That's their patch, as it
were - this hidden information highway ...
that
connects to:
nowhere.
The middle of nowhere, in fact. A dusty
field, where waylaid travelers can't even find a hut or a shed, but sleep on
the dirt with a stone as a pillow.
Hmm. Weird, yes? But this is not some
divine error or oversight in the geography: quite the opposite, in fact.
Because Jacob - like so many of us - is
accustomed to going from one city to the next: one destination to another. And
he overlooks the journey: the in-between, the unattractive, the dusty normal
land.
Yet: in the unremarkable - Jacob sees
the remarkable.
And
- not only this - but he is promised that he will have this land! This dusty,
uninhabited, unimpressive piece of terra firma - as though God was going to
fold it up like a blanket and stuff it in his carry bag.
And how else could one respond to that
vision, that revealing, than to make such a declaration: How awesome is this
place!
Immediately, the name Beth-El comes out
the House of God.
Now, this seems unlikely for us, in the
here and the now. In our communities where we associate 'church' with a
particular time and space - that the House of God - BethEl - would be a vacant,
dusty field.
That the place where God would reveal a
constant and comfortable covenantal connection would be - not in the midst of
the city, with glory and lights and hundreds of witnesses - but with Jacob
alone, humble, vulnerable, transient.
Yet. There it is. Jacob is given the
gift of knowledge of God's constant presence - and holy messengers active in
his life - that are happening regardless of where he is, or what time it is, or
what he has to offer.
And what a message it is: that God
wants Jacob to know that the connection between heaven and earth is truly a
relationship - a continual interchange between realms. A celebration of knowing
and being known; of speaking and listening; of giving and receiving.
What
a gift to recognise the House of Prayer in worship, Word, and sacrament! What a
gift to share the blessing.
It's the message of the Psalms, where
the person praying knows the intimate nature between themselves and God - as
though God has a permanent highway to the very centre of their being. So
whether in the busy times or the spiritual deserts, God is there - comforting,
communicating, blessing - knowing.
What
a gift to be known by God! What a gift to share the blessing.
It's the message of the epistle, then,
too - as Paul highlights the significance of being part of the family of God.
Adopted. Chosen. Intentionally selected; permanently. Loved. Wanted. Known.
Eternally hope-filled: knowing that the connection - like an unseen ladder -
remains in the relationship.
What
a gift to be chosen by God! What a gift to share the blessing.
It's the message of the Gospels, too,
where Jesus assures his friends that nothing - nothing - is ever all good or
all evil. Even themselves; and in the reality of this world: there will be
times when they - WE - can be tainted by the one who sows discord and nastiness
and invites us to turn from God. Yet: they are to not worry about what
"weeding out" needs to happen, as God trusts them to support the
wheat - the spiritual growth in the world - the righteous - the believers in
the Kingdom - until the messengers appear again to do that weeding.
What
a gift to be trusted by God! What a gift to share the blessing.
So here we have our own opportunity -
to look around US. To examine our lives - our homes - our ministries. To pause
and really take in the Good News:
That
we are known - intimately - fro the time we were knit together and loved into
being.
We
are chosen - as heirs - as family - as loved into relationship.
We
are entrusted - not to judge but to focus on our own growth; to reject the
forces of evil
And we are welcomed: to the House of
God. To beth-el; to the place where a stone pillow becomes an anointed pillar
of prayer; to a dusty nowhere that becomes sacred ground; to a place where the
dust is not to be shaken form the feet but embraced as a heavenly symbol of
abundance.
For from the dust come descendents;
from the dust came our creation; from the dust comes the growing wheat.
And even in our dust - the messy,
ordinary reality of our lives, we can declare wherever we are and whenever we
pray:
Surely God is in this place.
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