Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the LORD stood before him and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place -- and I did not know it!" And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the place Bethel.
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May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing and acceptable in your sight our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
This morning I'd like to think with you about our reading from Genesis and to begin I'd like to take a moment and for you to recall a scared place to you. A place where you had an encounter with God. It might be in a church, a cathedral, or a place outdoors. Take a moment and recall that place and let it come fully to your mind.
What do you see?
What do you hear?
What do you smell?
For me, this place was a retreat I went on a few years back at the Pecos Benedictine Monastery in New Mexico. It's an amazing location set in a valley below the Sangre de Christo Mountains. In English it translates to "Blood of Christ" mountains. It gets its name from the way the mountains look early in the morning near sunrise when the sunlight is reflected off the sand. It has a reddish tint to it. It's an amazing, breathtaking sight.
Now in this morning's lesson from Genesis, things are a little different than the picture I've just painted for you. When I went on this retreat I wasn't trying to escape my brother's fury. You see Jacob had just got through stealing his older brother Esau's blessing. He tricked his father Isaac into thinking he was his brother and his father blessed him. Esau is of course furious with him. Because of all this trickery Jacob is a persona non grata in Canaan and has to flee for his life.
What's interesting about this story is that when Jacob decides to stop running for a moment God shows up. Now if I were writing this story, or if I were God I don't think I'd show up just yet. I'd let Jacob sweat for a while. Make him think he' going to have to rely on his own resources to get out of this mess! But I'm not God and I'm not writing this story.
The first thing that catches me about this story is the way Jacob seems to have no problem falling asleep after all he's been up to. He's just tricked his brother and father and it seems as though he dozes right off to sleep.
The second thing is that God shows up and not only shows up, but allows Jacob to see something that few human beings ever have -- the gateway to heaven. He sees angels ascending and descending. And if that wasn't enough, God even speaks to Jacob and tells him that the promises God made to his Grandfather Abraham and Father Isaac are his. And here's the real kicker -- God even promises to be with him wherever he goes and will not leave him.
Now up until this point in Genesis, Jacob has just been sort of a background character. We see Isaac and Rebekah have twins and he's the youngest of the twins. We see Esau starving for food and Jacob offering food to him provided he gives him his birthright. He's very tricky and sleazy -- probably not the type of person you'd like to have stay overnight in your house unless you've got all the valuables locked up. You probably wouldn't even want him over for dinner because he'd take your silverware!
I think this story teaches us many valuable things. For one, it teaches us that God will not let us go -- even when we are running away from the results of our own
crooked acts. God doesn't give up on us even though we might give up on ourselves. And secondly, we learn that our journey through life is never alone. There might be times when we feel that we're all lone in the world -- but Jacob's dream reminds us otherwise. It reminds us that God will never leave us or forsake us.
And now for your homework. Yes, I know it's summertime. Turn to page nine in your bulletin. As you can see, we're going to have a dream night here at All Saints. What an appropriate time to talk about this given our scripture lesson and sermon which have to do with dreams. We're going to dream big dreams about where we'd like to go as a community of faith next. And maybe if we're lucky God will shine just a little light on us like he did for Jacob. So your homework is to come to this Dream Night on Wednesday, August 6 at 6:00 p.m. We need every voice to be heard -- young and old, married and single. So come and let's dream big dreams about this place where so many of us have encountered God. Amen.
The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III
Assistant Rector
All Saints Episcopal Church
Frederick, Maryland
July 20, 2008 // Year A: Proper 11
Audio of Sermon: http://www.box.net/shared/30pyssisk4
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