Ralph Milton (I think it was in "Aha!") places the focus on the name "Beth-el" -- a Hebrew play on words meaning "House of God". He encourages listeners to think about the Beth-el places in there own lives, places where God has been present. I''ve been pondering this, and have come up with several........but I've also come up with places that I anticipated would be Beth-el places and definitely did not feel anything like a "House of God" experience.
Who creates sacred space? God alone? Or do we act in partnership with God in co-creating holy ground?
SueCan
My initial musings prompt such titles as "Looking for the Ladder” or "Ladders Everywhere", following God's promise to be with Jacob wherever he went. We too can find ample evidence of God with us. It may be that ladders/sacred places are merely unnoticed and awaiting our recognition or sacred places are emergent anywhere we recognize God. John Wesley" notes liken the angels at this celestial portal to travelers passing through the gates of terrestrial cities. It may not too far to leap to bring in the entertaining-angels-unaware texts. Joe in Zion
Sacred places are where we find God, where we find the stairway to heaven.If we are "Easter People" then God lives within us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps our "Bethel" is within. Sacred places are wheree we encounter God. Perhaps our "Bethel" is in our place of worship. "You are Awsome in This Place Mighty God" Elwood in WI
Friends, Notice that it is Jacob who declares the space "sacred" rather than God. God's blessing to Jacob is not given based on where Jacob is located, but rather because of who Jacob is. The creation of sacred spaces is a human endeavor, an attempt to try and contain God in a manageable space. God instead choses what is sacred, often in spite of our choosing. And who is Jacob exactly? We only have to read the rest of the Genesis story. Jacob is a sinful, conniving creature, one who tries to do all in his power to gain power for himself. Jacob, the supplanter, is one who (in this story) doesn't quite fully trust God's blessing enough to accept it without condition. When it really comes down to it, Jacob is just like we are, frail sinful creatures in need of God's grace. jay in nashville
I'm remembering that Jacob certainly had an "experience" with God -- a neat religious experience, to be sure...but his relationship and commitment to God didn't take place until after his struggle at the Jabbock. I relate to that in my own journey. RevKK
I'm remembering that Jacob certainly had an "experience" with God -- a neat religious experience, to be sure...but his relationship and commitment to God didn't take place until after his struggle at the Jabbock. I relate to that in my own journey. RevKK
In John 1:45ff, Jesus says that he is the one which the angels use to "ascend and descend from heaven." In preaching this passage, I think it could be an interesting link to make.
Michael in NC
Thank you, the faithful few that give the O.T. some consideration each week. I have been leading my congregation on the journey with Abe/Sarah et al and it is very challenging yet worthwhile to inform them of the history of their faith. I try also to connect the O.T. and Gospel readings if and wherever possible. This week's gospel is a parable of the grace of God, and find Jacob's story a wonderful example of God's patience with Jacob. I think that Jacob too is a good example of how "goodness" and "evil"/ wheat and tares can be within the same person. As contrasted to always looking at the situation as some people being good and others bad. I have not been too kind to Jacob in my description of him so far, so I will have to "repent" somewhat about too judgemental, too quickly in my assessment of good and evil. Maybe I should learn to leave that to God, especially when God tends to see things in people that I don't.
As for the creation of sacred places, I tend to think that they must be wherever God is. Therefore, aren't all places sacred. I am fond of Elizabeth Barret Brownings poem: (excuse my poor memory) The whole world is a afire with God And burning bush aflame. Those who see take off their shoes The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.
I realize this "poem" works better with Moses' story, but isn't it true of Jacob/us? It is up to us to recognize God's presence in whatever situation we would find ourselves. I believe it was Bonhoeffer who defined the will of God in terms that it is God's will to be present with us in all circumstances. Deke of the North
Here is where I'm continuing to go: Jacob names the location of his dream as holy, however God names Jacob as the blessed and holy one. Very often, the things that we name as holy are not what God names as holy. What God names as holy (ideally) is us. God continues to turn expectations of holiness upside down---speaking through the voice of Balaam's ass, building a nation through a conniving guy like Jacob, and most importantly, redeeming the world through the horrific death of of God's son Jesus on the cross. And of course, we like Jacob don't get it. God offers us grace freely, and far too often we (like Jacob) add other conditions to the gift. Anyway, those are my ramblings at the current time. Thanks to all for your posts. Peace, Jay fm Nashvegas
Thanks for the ideas! Deke, thanks for the tie-in w/the gospel.
I used this passage to begin the New Year in 1998, focusing on how all places can be holy when we wake up to God's presence and action (one in the same, I guess). Also how we can mark certain points in our life's journey as new starts, like Jacob did. I bought a few bags of polished river rocks (Pier One still carries them, for example). Everyone thought of what kind of new start they might need to make with God, and came up for a rock to help mark the moment and to remind them of it later.
This time around, I'm thinking about Jacob, the Tom Sawyer of the OT (remember the picket fence?) and how we're like him. We, too, think we are where we are in life by our own good fortune or bad luck, depending on how we see our circumstances. But good or bad in human terms, can we see where we are as the 'promised land?' I don't mean heaven, but the abundant life intended for us here on earth.
There Jacob was, in the middle of promised land, all the time thinking he was in some God-forsaken place! Of course, God had to take him to some other learning, growing places first. Like Dorothy who had to travel to faraway Oz to realize, "There's no place like home." The difference in faith/life is that 'home' is not a safe, secure anchor of a place. Its wherever and whenever we're in God's hands.
Where I guess I'm finally going is to encourage folks to face this next big year-crossing as positive and full of hope rather than something to fear. Can we see it as God bringing us a step closer to the promised land, can we mark it as sacred rather than secular and then move ahead in faith and trust that God has great plans for us there? Help me with this, OK?!?
Rebecca in MD
07/14/99 03:30:00
I too have been following the journey of Abraham/Sarah and Issac/Rachel and now Jacob,et.al. The stories are so rich with humanity, and intruded upon or acted upon by God--or perceived to be God, by the people. Jacob, the scoundrel, has gone his own way too many times--and so have I. He has heard God's call and leading and yet followed his own desires. It is indeed God's grace which precedes and intervenes in Jacob's life, to lead him finally to committment and covenant--perhaps convenient grace- finally received. My own life mirrors Jacob's in hearing a call--ignoring the call--seeking to fulfill my own needs and yet always finding God--there in my life--inviting and urging me to follow. I have not always followed--but waited until age 38 to enter into full- time ministry. Now 15 years of pastoral leadership in 4 appointments, entering my 8th here, have made me wonder, at times, where is God leading me--where are the sacred places? Am I any different than many of the O.T. leaders--can God really use me to help bring people into a grace-filled relationship? Am I the one who still desires a "right relationship" with God? So what do I preach--the human response of one of Gods' servants to Gods' Grace? Or can we preach of covenant desires and visions and hopefully heavenly encounters to take us from this walk shared with others in this life--who like us want to believe that a Great God will love us with a great love--which will help us to know God in spite of our sinful human ways. Musings--DF in KS
Rebecca in MD:
Thanks for your idea about passing out rocks!! It was just what I was looking for!!
Jodie in PA
Rebecca in MD, thanks for your thoughts here. I think you are well on the right track. I wonder if we sometimes are afraid to acknowledge the sacred in our lives and choose only to see the secular because it feels safer. There will be many "turning points" or new beginnings for each of us as individuals and as congregations. They are all part of the journey. The journey we take with God. Deke of the North
to Jay In Nashville;
this may be a point that only a peculiarly persnickety Presbyterian might raise, but God does not pick Jacob because of who Jacob is, God picks Jacob because of who God is, which fits better (I think) with what you're saying about God choosing someone like Jacob/us. RevGilmer in Texarkana
I loved the Elizabeth Barret Browning poem - does anyone remember the name of it? I am coming up with a blank. I want to include something about our journey as relationship to/with God. We start off, have interruptions, start again, talk with God, lose touch for a while, etc. Any thoughts? - Margaret in Ct
Rev Glimer:
No, it's not too persnickety, but in fact the truth. This passage seems to me (in the current time and place) to be as much about God as it is Jacob. In this passage we see the God who uses the most unlikely characters as the source of blessing to the world. It is another example of God's grace--that God freely redeems these characters and transforms them into God's servants, just like God redeems us through Christ and transforms us. Being a good Wesleyan, I would suggest that the transformation is a process----it took longer for Jacob to be transformed than others! Yet God continues with him in spite of his lack of understanding.
Jay
Reading Karen Armstrong's book on Jerusalem. To us, any place could be sacred. We build churches any place and we trust that God will be there. But to the ancients, there were holy places where the various gods revealed themselves. When people discovered these places, they erected standing stones and built temples. Jacob didn't know that Bethel was a holy place, a maqom, until God appeared to him there.
Perhaps a human parallel might be found in jacob himself. Thus far, he seems like a conniving cheat. But he will grow into a patriarch, a man of god, a holy place.
Looking out over a human field of wheat and weeds, it is not for us separate the holy from the unholy. And so we tend to all with equal care.
Larry, cny
Margaret in CT, The Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem is the poem novel Aurora Leigh. Gil in IN
Margaret
Hope this isn't too late. But if you're pulling a late-nighter, maybe you'll catch it.
Earth's crammed with heaven, / And every common bush afire with God; / But only he who sees, takes off his shoes -- / The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries. . . .
DR