“On Sensing the Sacred...”
Genesis 28: 10-17
There is no more enigmatic character in all of the Bible than that of Jacob. In one moment he is conning his brother out of his birthright and cheating him out of his blessing by deceiving their father. Then in another moment he is dreaming of or even wrestling with Yahweh.1 Jacob, it seems, is a hard character to get one’s arms around. In fact, the nation Israel found herself in the same position of not being sure that she liked this character. When he experiences the call of Yahweh his name is changed from Jacob to Israel — you cannot have a Cheater to be the blessed of Yahweh.
Jacob is traveling — away from home, away from Esau and away from the “terrible” Canaanite women whom his father Isaac detested. He is on his way back to the region of Paddan-aram and to the city of Haran from whence his grandfather Abraham had journeyed. Back to find a wife — and away to escape the enmity of his brother, Esau.
Darkness arrives and so he sets up camp at an out of the way place named Luz and later to be called “Bethel” — but I get ahead of the story. In good Middle Eastern fashion he lays down on the ground, finds a smooth stone to use it for a pillow and before he knows it he is fast asleep. Walking all day while traveling makes sleep quick and easy. Then he begins to dream and in so doing envisions a ziggurat, a stair-stepped, pyramid type structure extending to the heavens. On that structure are angels, ascending and descending — but to what purpose we have no firm idea, only conjecture. Suddenly his dream is interrupted by a vision of Yahweh speaking to him. In this vision is communicated the same promise, the same covenant which had been given to Abraham & Isaac now is extended to him. He shall be the father of a great nation and all the lands which he can see will one day belong to his descendants.
Suddenly Jacob awakens, sits up — and begins to realize what has happened. Yahweh has shown up in his life; Yahweh has come and spoken to him. What seems like a dream is reality, pure, true reality. When one deals with the Sacred the line between fantasy and reality is often blurred, is it not? I love his statement: “Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it! How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.”2
What does it take for us to sense, to feel, to see, to sense the presence, to hear the voice, to experience the Sacred One? Where does this happen for us and why? Do we come to worship expecting the Sacred One to show up on Sunday? Do we ever look around and wonder why it is that the Sacred One seems to show up for others, but not for us? Could it be that the ability to experience the Sacred lies within each of us, but too often we are so caught up in ourselves that we are blind to the pullings and tugs of the Sacred?
The Jews believed that there were places on earth which were “gates” to heaven, i.e., doorways through which one could experience Yahweh. Later the Celts would develop an idea of there being “thin” places through which one could have similar experiences. Unfortunately, in our pragmatic, mathematical, rationally logical and logically propositional world, we rarely experience these. We are so caught up in “belief” and “proof of the Sacred” that we rarely have time to experience the One who is already here and knocking on our door.
Being children of the Reformation and the Enlightenment we believe in scientific methodology
and theological proof. Unfortunately, (for us) faith is more mystery than it is knowledge, more of
the poet and less of the mathematician. True faith is more about dimly seeing the hand and
perceiving as through a fog the face of the Sacred and less about certainty and assuredness. We
confuse belief with faith and so we impoverish our souls. The Sacred of the universe will not be
contained in our little boxes nor imprisoned in our feeble minds. As with Jacob, so with us: the
Sacred shows up in dreams which seem to be fantasy but which, upon examination, bear nothing
less than the reality of the Sacred.
So often in reading a text such as this people will look to the minister to give them the “correct” interpretation. Tell us what it means, preacher, so we can eat our meals and rest easily in our beds at night. And we preachers, wanting you to think that we are really smart, give you the answers which sound reasonable or rational to us. There’s just one problem with that — the Sacred is not always reasonable or rational or easily understood. Who really knows what this text, with its image of angels ascending and descending means? Commentator after commentator, scholar after scholar have all intoned as to their particular understandings...but the exact truth escapes us all. Yes, this is about Jacob receiving the blessing and experiencing Yahweh in the process...but that’s about as far as we can nail down. In this occasion, as in so many other, the meaning often depends upon who is doing the interpreting, i.e., upon the life experiences and understanding of the reader. This is a text for poets, not lawyers. (The Book of Leviticus — now that’s a lawyer’s text!)
Let’s take a few moments and review our lives in recent days. Did the Sacred show up for us? How did we know it was the Sacred? Were we anticipating the Sacred? Seeking the Sacred? Could it be that the Sacred has tried to show up for us and we were not looking?
I am afraid that we ministers have done you a disservice in this “Sacred One” business. We have told you that if you come to church, behave yourself, and treat people nice then you will go to heaven when you die. We have even promised that maybe, just maybe, if you are pious enough, then the Sacred may show up here at church one day.
Now, to be sure we who lead worship work very diligently to prepare our worship so that we all might have a chance to experience the Sacred. However, I can assure you that you are just as likely to experience the Sacred anywhere else as at church. Why? Because here we put on our blinders and expect the Sacred to show up in the sermon or the hymns or some other designated point in the worship service. We serve and worship a Sacred One who doesn’t fit so well into our boxes or follow our patterns as neatly as we think. We are just as likely to experience the Sacred on a seashore, in the mountains, at a homeless shelter or sharing a meal with family and friends as in a Sunday morning worship. There is something about this structured, formalized nature of worship that so constricts our soul and our senses, that most Sundays the Sacred would have to use a sledgehammer to get our attention. Now, to be sure, the Sacred is not above using such devices...so I would beware when I came to worship. But I also would beware when I lay down at night...or when I wake up...or when I eat...or think...or reflect...or stare off into the distance. For if I believe anything, I believe that the Sacred is ever trying to awaken us out of our slumber and come alive in our souls.
So often in reading a text such as this people will look to the minister to give them the “correct” interpretation. Tell us what it means, preacher, so we can eat our meals and rest easily in our beds at night. And we preachers, wanting you to think that we are really smart, give you the answers which sound reasonable or rational to us. There’s just one problem with that — the Sacred is not always reasonable or rational or easily understood. Who really knows what this text, with its image of angels ascending and descending means? Commentator after commentator, scholar after scholar have all intoned as to their particular understandings...but the exact truth escapes us all. Yes, this is about Jacob receiving the blessing and experiencing Yahweh in the process...but that’s about as far as we can nail down. In this occasion, as in so many other, the meaning often depends upon who is doing the interpreting, i.e., upon the life experiences and understanding of the reader. This is a text for poets, not lawyers. (The Book of Leviticus — now that’s a lawyer’s text!)
Let’s take a few moments and review our lives in recent days. Did the Sacred show up for us? How did we know it was the Sacred? Were we anticipating the Sacred? Seeking the Sacred? Could it be that the Sacred has tried to show up for us and we were not looking?
I am afraid that we ministers have done you a disservice in this “Sacred One” business. We have told you that if you come to church, behave yourself, and treat people nice then you will go to heaven when you die. We have even promised that maybe, just maybe, if you are pious enough, then the Sacred may show up here at church one day.
Now, to be sure we who lead worship work very diligently to prepare our worship so that we all might have a chance to experience the Sacred. However, I can assure you that you are just as likely to experience the Sacred anywhere else as at church. Why? Because here we put on our blinders and expect the Sacred to show up in the sermon or the hymns or some other designated point in the worship service. We serve and worship a Sacred One who doesn’t fit so well into our boxes or follow our patterns as neatly as we think. We are just as likely to experience the Sacred on a seashore, in the mountains, at a homeless shelter or sharing a meal with family and friends as in a Sunday morning worship. There is something about this structured, formalized nature of worship that so constricts our soul and our senses, that most Sundays the Sacred would have to use a sledgehammer to get our attention. Now, to be sure, the Sacred is not above using such devices...so I would beware when I came to worship. But I also would beware when I lay down at night...or when I wake up...or when I eat...or think...or reflect...or stare off into the distance. For if I believe anything, I believe that the Sacred is ever trying to awaken us out of our slumber and come alive in our souls.
Why come to worship, then, you ask? Simply, regular worship builds in us an awareness that the
Sacred is present and calling to us. You may never have a “eureka” moment in church...but over
time what you do and hear in this place will make a profound difference in who you are. One day,
after years of worshipping and serving in a church, you will realize: “I am different...my values are
different and my faith is deeper than it was...” Slowly but surely, over the cascade of time, like a river
pouring over rock, your soul has been shaped in this place and time by the Sacred.
If there’s one thing that attracts me to Jacob it is that he was nowhere close to being a good person. Conning his starving brother, then deceiving their father and cheating his brother out of the birthright — later he will even cheat his father-in-law out of the best of the herds. No, Jacob was a con artist, a flawed “hero” if there ever was one. He represents the Cool Hand Luke type of character as played by Paul Newman in the movie of the same name; or “Will Hunting” as played by Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. They are the intelligent, likable but rogue character who lives on the edge of civility. Yet, because he was alert and awake to Yahweh, he sensed Yahweh’s call and promise when others missed it entirely. Me — I would have chosen Esau, a man’s man. Not Yahweh — he goes for the Jacob character every time. Tells us something about Yahweh, does it not? I wonder how we missed that clue?
Experiencing the Sacred is not a matter of proper theology, correct ethics, or a flawless resume and life. Coming to faith and experiencing the Sacred is about being aware, awake and alert, i.e., conscious to what is going on in the world and to the Sacred’s presence. Remember how a poet put 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...3
For all his flaws Jacob had a sensitivity to the holy, to the presence of Yahweh in and around him. Esau — when it came to Yahweh he was as dumb as a bag of hammers. He had no sense of values, of priorities or of Yahweh’s calling. Jacob sensed Yahweh’s presence and so it was Jacob who answered the call. He even piles up stones — builds a memorial — and calls it “Bethel” — the house of God. Bethel becomes rather famous as an altar and house of God until it is destroyed centuries later.
If we were to go backward in our lives, where would we build our monuments, our memorials to those times when we experienced the Sacred? Where would we pile up the stones to commemorate how the Sacred has worked in and through our lives? Would we go back to an “old home place” and there pile stones together? Would we go back to a church, a school, a camp, or a time? Would we pull out a book, a text from the Bible, or a song as symbolic of those times when the Sacred was so close and so real? Would we walk along a shoreline or venture up into the Appalachians?
It is my belief that potentially the entirety of life is holy and sacred — there is no place or time that is too far for the reach of the Sacred or that cannot bear the presence of the Sacred. There are no people who are too far removed to hear that Voice, see that Face or feel the touch of the Sacred’s hand upon their shoulder. What there are, however, are people who are so blind, so deaf, and so
If there’s one thing that attracts me to Jacob it is that he was nowhere close to being a good person. Conning his starving brother, then deceiving their father and cheating his brother out of the birthright — later he will even cheat his father-in-law out of the best of the herds. No, Jacob was a con artist, a flawed “hero” if there ever was one. He represents the Cool Hand Luke type of character as played by Paul Newman in the movie of the same name; or “Will Hunting” as played by Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. They are the intelligent, likable but rogue character who lives on the edge of civility. Yet, because he was alert and awake to Yahweh, he sensed Yahweh’s call and promise when others missed it entirely. Me — I would have chosen Esau, a man’s man. Not Yahweh — he goes for the Jacob character every time. Tells us something about Yahweh, does it not? I wonder how we missed that clue?
Experiencing the Sacred is not a matter of proper theology, correct ethics, or a flawless resume and life. Coming to faith and experiencing the Sacred is about being aware, awake and alert, i.e., conscious to what is going on in the world and to the Sacred’s presence. Remember how a poet put 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...3
For all his flaws Jacob had a sensitivity to the holy, to the presence of Yahweh in and around him. Esau — when it came to Yahweh he was as dumb as a bag of hammers. He had no sense of values, of priorities or of Yahweh’s calling. Jacob sensed Yahweh’s presence and so it was Jacob who answered the call. He even piles up stones — builds a memorial — and calls it “Bethel” — the house of God. Bethel becomes rather famous as an altar and house of God until it is destroyed centuries later.
If we were to go backward in our lives, where would we build our monuments, our memorials to those times when we experienced the Sacred? Where would we pile up the stones to commemorate how the Sacred has worked in and through our lives? Would we go back to an “old home place” and there pile stones together? Would we go back to a church, a school, a camp, or a time? Would we pull out a book, a text from the Bible, or a song as symbolic of those times when the Sacred was so close and so real? Would we walk along a shoreline or venture up into the Appalachians?
It is my belief that potentially the entirety of life is holy and sacred — there is no place or time that is too far for the reach of the Sacred or that cannot bear the presence of the Sacred. There are no people who are too far removed to hear that Voice, see that Face or feel the touch of the Sacred’s hand upon their shoulder. What there are, however, are people who are so blind, so deaf, and so
insensitive to the presence of the Sacred One that they, rather than worship, are just picking
blackberries. There are Jacobs and there are Esaus...which are we?
An older man was once admitted to a hospital, terminally ill, angry and striking out at anyone and everyone who tried to help him. After a week or so the staff were beside themselves and out of answers as to how to help, so they summoned the chaplain. He engaged the patient in conversation but then left after 10 minutes or so. “Not ready” was his summation.
A few days later a nurse called the chaplain: “Mr. Smith is crying and cannot stop. He’s completely broken and wishes to see a minister.” As the chaplain rounded the corner to enter the room he was heard to mutter under his breath, “Well, the Sacred got another one.”4
What will it take for us to wake up and see the the Sacred One who is before us? How hard will the Sacred One have to hit us before we awaken and say with Jacob, “Surely the Lord is in this place — and I did not know it?”
Amen.
1 In this sermon I am avoiding the generic term “God” and using Yahweh for the God of Israel. I am also using the term “the Sacred” for the God whom we meet. The term “God” is so over worked and misinterpreted that I believe it is virtually meaningless. The only change to this practice is when the Hebrew prefix/suffix “el” is used to designate God.
2 Genesis 8: 16, 17.
3 Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora.
4 Dr. Will Willimon, The Dark Adversary, February 4, 1996.
An older man was once admitted to a hospital, terminally ill, angry and striking out at anyone and everyone who tried to help him. After a week or so the staff were beside themselves and out of answers as to how to help, so they summoned the chaplain. He engaged the patient in conversation but then left after 10 minutes or so. “Not ready” was his summation.
A few days later a nurse called the chaplain: “Mr. Smith is crying and cannot stop. He’s completely broken and wishes to see a minister.” As the chaplain rounded the corner to enter the room he was heard to mutter under his breath, “Well, the Sacred got another one.”4
What will it take for us to wake up and see the the Sacred One who is before us? How hard will the Sacred One have to hit us before we awaken and say with Jacob, “Surely the Lord is in this place — and I did not know it?”
Amen.
1 In this sermon I am avoiding the generic term “God” and using Yahweh for the God of Israel. I am also using the term “the Sacred” for the God whom we meet. The term “God” is so over worked and misinterpreted that I believe it is virtually meaningless. The only change to this practice is when the Hebrew prefix/suffix “el” is used to designate God.
2 Genesis 8: 16, 17.
3 Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora.
4 Dr. Will Willimon, The Dark Adversary, February 4, 1996.
No comments:
Post a Comment