Genesis 28:10-22 (NIV)
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran.
11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear
21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God
22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house,
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (The Message)
16-18 Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face!
They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiselled stone.
And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete.
We’re free of it! All of us!
Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face.
And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran.
11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear
21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God
22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house,
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (The Message)
16-18 Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face!
They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiselled stone.
And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete.
We’re free of it! All of us!
Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face.
And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
Reflection
Wherever you are ,
wherever you've been,
wherever you're going . . .
God is with you.
You are not alone.
Thanks be to God
Today scripture passage in Genesis is the part of Jacob’s story after he and his mother Rebekah have fooled his blind father, Isaac, into giving him Esau’s blessing. Jacob goes off to live with Rebekah’s brother, Leban, in Harran, under the pretext of finding a wife. By the way, he ends up marrying two of Leban’s daughters; Leah and Rachel- but that’s a whole other story.
This is the story of him starting out after stealing his brother Esau’s birthright or inheritance and blessing and then, of course, Esau did threaten to kill him after Isaac died. So Jacob leaves Beersheba and the family property, and walks until the sun set and picks out a safe place to rest during the night. He lies down on the ground with a stone for a pillow.
And he has a dream; a vision. A ladder with angels going up and down and God somewhere at the top all appear and it seems that Jacob remembers all the important bits.
In the dream God repeats the covenant promises God had made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, and then to Isaac in Genesis 26:3-4, regarding a homeland for their descendants.
“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 in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, 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.” (Genesis 28:14-15)
God promises to fulfill the covenant and never leave him. The entire dream reveals God’s and faithfulness. God made the same promises to Abraham and Isaac and now to Jacob, God would remain faithful.
Jacob awakes, and exclaims, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." I doubt if Jacob, knowing how he deceived Isaac for Esau’s inheritance and blessing, would think that maybe that very blessing would be the making of who he now carried the responsibility to become. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are known as the patriarchs of the Hebrews in the Old Testament.
So, here is Jacob, far from his father’s house but not far from God, and not far from where his grandfather, Abraham, also built an alter after hearing God’s promises. When he wakes from his dream, he exclaims: “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
Jacob, in acknowledgment of God’s presence, takes the stone that he had lain his head on and turns it upright into a pillar or an alter. The pillar marks the place where God and Jacob communicated, this was now a sacred place and Jacob anoints the stone pillar with oil. He calls the place Bethel meaning house or place of God, just as Abraham did before him.
We might be a lot like Jacob – well probably not the stealing your brother’s birthright and your father’s blessing but maybe in other ways. How many times have we been in the presence of God and not even noticed?
How many times have we lingered in a sacred space and not even imagined there might be ladders with angels going up and down?
How many times and in how many ways has God communicated with us and we have not heard, not listened, not seen?
Maybe Jacob’s story is a call for us to start noticing!
Because Jacob’s story invites us into a world where God is not confined to a temple, to a Sunday morning, to a book of stories. Jacob’s story invites us to a God who appears at any time, in any place, in a multitude of ways.
Paul in 2nd Corinthians tells us “Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.”
We are reminded that there is nothing between us and our God, there are no barriers that we have to break down. In a way the more we notice, the more we will notice, becoming aware of God’s presence we automatically make room for the that presence, and “our lives gradually become brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives”.
In case you begin to l think I’m getting all sunshiny on you, remember what trials and tribulations Paul went through, what the other disciples went through as they spread the Good News of the Gospel. Remember what Jesus did during his lifetime.
These are the people who understand the stark reality of life. They are just telling us that we are missing out on something if we don’t acknowledge the God who is alive in the universe, the God who is alive in our lives.
Most Sundays we say the Creed together as a Christian community, there are many creeds these days including The Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed which are still in use today, but churches and people have rewritten and reworked the ancient creeds –trying to match their beliefs as the people of God to the words we say.
There is something powerful is saying the Creed together, is not only tells us who we are and what we believe but it sets our intention as a community. Marcus Borg, a theologian, has a wonderful take on the Creeds which he claims were not designed to get our intellectual assent but intended to be faith statements, about what we believe over and against sometimes harsh circumstances and situations.
He suggests that for him the words “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth” really carry the weight of “ I belove the Father Almighty, I trust God the creator of all things”
It is not so much a pseudo-scientific proposition as it is a trust and conviction about the presence of God.
We aren’t saying we give intellectual assent to it we are giving our hearts and souls to the creator of the universe.
When we say the Creed week after week it gives the words a richness and a depth that says something about our individual relationships with God, with creation and with the Christian community.
We are giving ourselves into a way of being in the world, regardless of what that world tells us about who we are, we remain and are always beloved children of God!
People who strive to be aware of the presence of God in our lives. We look for the dreams and visions, we listen for the still small voice, we search out the sacred places, we announce:
“Surely God is in this place, and this place and this place.”
“Surely God has a word for us in these times1”
“Surely God is holding me in the palm of his hand”
Wherever you are ,
wherever you've been,
wherever you're going . . .
God is with you.
You are not alone.
Thanks be to God
May it be so Amen
Wherever you are ,
wherever you've been,
wherever you're going . . .
God is with you.
You are not alone.
Thanks be to God
Today scripture passage in Genesis is the part of Jacob’s story after he and his mother Rebekah have fooled his blind father, Isaac, into giving him Esau’s blessing. Jacob goes off to live with Rebekah’s brother, Leban, in Harran, under the pretext of finding a wife. By the way, he ends up marrying two of Leban’s daughters; Leah and Rachel- but that’s a whole other story.
This is the story of him starting out after stealing his brother Esau’s birthright or inheritance and blessing and then, of course, Esau did threaten to kill him after Isaac died. So Jacob leaves Beersheba and the family property, and walks until the sun set and picks out a safe place to rest during the night. He lies down on the ground with a stone for a pillow.
And he has a dream; a vision. A ladder with angels going up and down and God somewhere at the top all appear and it seems that Jacob remembers all the important bits.
In the dream God repeats the covenant promises God had made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, and then to Isaac in Genesis 26:3-4, regarding a homeland for their descendants.
“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 in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, 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.” (Genesis 28:14-15)
God promises to fulfill the covenant and never leave him. The entire dream reveals God’s and faithfulness. God made the same promises to Abraham and Isaac and now to Jacob, God would remain faithful.
Jacob awakes, and exclaims, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." I doubt if Jacob, knowing how he deceived Isaac for Esau’s inheritance and blessing, would think that maybe that very blessing would be the making of who he now carried the responsibility to become. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are known as the patriarchs of the Hebrews in the Old Testament.
So, here is Jacob, far from his father’s house but not far from God, and not far from where his grandfather, Abraham, also built an alter after hearing God’s promises. When he wakes from his dream, he exclaims: “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
Jacob, in acknowledgment of God’s presence, takes the stone that he had lain his head on and turns it upright into a pillar or an alter. The pillar marks the place where God and Jacob communicated, this was now a sacred place and Jacob anoints the stone pillar with oil. He calls the place Bethel meaning house or place of God, just as Abraham did before him.
We might be a lot like Jacob – well probably not the stealing your brother’s birthright and your father’s blessing but maybe in other ways. How many times have we been in the presence of God and not even noticed?
How many times have we lingered in a sacred space and not even imagined there might be ladders with angels going up and down?
How many times and in how many ways has God communicated with us and we have not heard, not listened, not seen?
Maybe Jacob’s story is a call for us to start noticing!
Because Jacob’s story invites us into a world where God is not confined to a temple, to a Sunday morning, to a book of stories. Jacob’s story invites us to a God who appears at any time, in any place, in a multitude of ways.
Paul in 2nd Corinthians tells us “Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.”
We are reminded that there is nothing between us and our God, there are no barriers that we have to break down. In a way the more we notice, the more we will notice, becoming aware of God’s presence we automatically make room for the that presence, and “our lives gradually become brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives”.
In case you begin to l think I’m getting all sunshiny on you, remember what trials and tribulations Paul went through, what the other disciples went through as they spread the Good News of the Gospel. Remember what Jesus did during his lifetime.
These are the people who understand the stark reality of life. They are just telling us that we are missing out on something if we don’t acknowledge the God who is alive in the universe, the God who is alive in our lives.
Most Sundays we say the Creed together as a Christian community, there are many creeds these days including The Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed which are still in use today, but churches and people have rewritten and reworked the ancient creeds –trying to match their beliefs as the people of God to the words we say.
There is something powerful is saying the Creed together, is not only tells us who we are and what we believe but it sets our intention as a community. Marcus Borg, a theologian, has a wonderful take on the Creeds which he claims were not designed to get our intellectual assent but intended to be faith statements, about what we believe over and against sometimes harsh circumstances and situations.
He suggests that for him the words “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth” really carry the weight of “ I belove the Father Almighty, I trust God the creator of all things”
It is not so much a pseudo-scientific proposition as it is a trust and conviction about the presence of God.
We aren’t saying we give intellectual assent to it we are giving our hearts and souls to the creator of the universe.
When we say the Creed week after week it gives the words a richness and a depth that says something about our individual relationships with God, with creation and with the Christian community.
We are giving ourselves into a way of being in the world, regardless of what that world tells us about who we are, we remain and are always beloved children of God!
People who strive to be aware of the presence of God in our lives. We look for the dreams and visions, we listen for the still small voice, we search out the sacred places, we announce:
“Surely God is in this place, and this place and this place.”
“Surely God has a word for us in these times1”
“Surely God is holding me in the palm of his hand”
Wherever you are ,
wherever you've been,
wherever you're going . . .
God is with you.
You are not alone.
Thanks be to God
May it be so Amen
