In today’s Hebrew scripture reading, Jacob goes on a journey. He knows where he started and where he is going. However, Jacob may not know all the places in between those two fixed points. In our story, “He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night.” Jacob’s in a ‘non-place’ – unnamed, no landmarks around; a risky place to stop. And the sun has set. In a non-place, Jacob is cut adrift from his own self. In the vast, wild, unknown wilderness, with no possible human encounters, in the dark, what is his identity? Societal recognition, externally given, is useless and unavailable. His status, his identity, his privilege, his social influence would not help him survive here. Maybe, we can say, addressing the root question - who he really is and his relation to the world - might be a souvenir, a luxury he wouldn’t carry with him in this type of circumstance, because this non-place is not just a lonely place - it’s dangerous. The danger all around might invoke in him the sense of his time: shameful past. Unresolved guilt. Alternative future. He’s not just in between places. He’s also in between times - transitioning from the past to the future, and that transition is a very personal and private journey. To him, the past and the future seem separated. Opposite. Divided. Unconnected. This non-place, this in-between time, is where Jacob finds himself. Insecure. Fearful. Anxious.
But, then… and there… He dreams.
The following verse says, “And he dreamed that there was a ladder.”
Let’s think about what you do with a ladder. What is the purpose of this object when we use it? When you want to go up, you make sure the ladder is set firmly on the ground, so that you don’t fall. And you climb up it with care, with your hands holding each rung, until you reach the top or the height at which you want to be.
Scholars find that the object described in our story may look more like a ramp than the conventional “ladder.” Now when it is a ramp rather than a ladder, the use of it may shift. In Jacob’s dream, it is not he who uses the ramp, and it is not he who reaches to heaven. The angels of God ascend and descend on the ramp, meaning, the ramp is the fastest, most direct way to enable God to come, for the angels to bring messages to the earth. What is powerful about this vision is the way it provokes us to overcome our perception that some things are binary, separate, and distant from each other, such as heaven and earth, the past and the future, the Self and the Other, fear and hope. The vision of the ladder or ramp in Jacob’s dream shows us that the things we believe are oppositional to each other or work against each other actually include one another in God’s deep reality of life.
It was an amazing lesson for Jacob because, before he dreamed, he assumed that he travelled alone. Heaven had nothing to do with earth. He had nothing to count on other than himself. He was the single resource to insure his own safety. His only purpose was survival. Now, waking up from his dream, in his wakefulness, he’s changed. His understanding, his vision are transformed. Another source that has enabled his transformation, in addition to what he saw, (the fascinating vision) is what he was told - the Words. In his dream, God says, “Know that
I am with you,
and will keep you, (wherever you go),
and I will bring you back to this land.”
God promises:
Accompaniment,
Protection, (safety)
Homecoming.
What God declares is, "You will never be abandoned. You will never wander. You will never be lost, forever.
You will be mine forever. Precious, treated with love and care, beloved, treasured.
You will never journey alone. The destination is home - where I have told you my promise."
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| At Revelstoke National Park, BC. Ha Na |
The first tent-camping trip I ever had was when my family was travelling across Western Canada to move to Winnipeg 3 years ago. We bought a very fancy, very nice tent - the best tent we could find. We were very proud of our great tent and we were immensely excited about sleeping in it. The first campground where we set up our brand-new, sky-blue tent and spent our first night in an open field was at Revelstoke National Park. Four of us, each in our own sleeping bag - sleeping bags were also a new experience - said good night to each other and slept like logs. The next day, when dawn broke with the phenomenally clear and crystal light of a BC summer morning, (around 5 or 6 am) I was still half-asleep and slowly waking up (even though I was not aware that I was waking up). I heard a beautiful, big sound of music that seemed to fill all places - the air, the forest, the sky - and even expand them, with its heavenly, celestial oratorio of unbelievable beautiful melody. At first, I wasn’t able to identify what I was hearing, what the sound was coming from, and what made it… Not only that, I was not able to identify where I was, what my situation was. The music was so wonderful I couldn’t match it with anything of the earth, this world… I needed a few more minutes to finally remember that we were tenting, we were at Revelstoke. But before remembering that, I had to ask myself, “Am I in heaven? Am I alive? No place can be like this in the world I know.” (The masters of these beautiful voices and singing were the birds!)
What I hope we can take away from today’s story of Jacob are God’s promises and the vision that was granted to Jacob. Remember what is powerful about them is the way that God provokes us to break out of our normal, everyday thinking, to overcome our perception that some things are binary, some things are separate, forever in opposition – again, like Heaven and Earth. Shame and triumph. Failure and success. Differences between people and community growth. Anything that you have pushed away from yourself because you believed denying those painful parts might protect you, rather than believing they can be part of you, that they are essentially part of you – just a part that you’ve exiled to the wilderness, your own non-place. It’s so scary, when you think of this wilderness inside you, until you recall – there’s a ramp, a connection, and the angels travel both ways upon it.
I am very glad that I have accepted the call to be the minister of Immanuel United Church. It is indeed a great relief; I am filled with excitement and joy. I tried my best to collect all my might and spirit to be fully prepared for any future application and interviews. Immanuel was the one single vacancy that was open in May (and until now). I didn’t know that there would be this vacancy when our Ministry Profile committee sent me the recommendation of one full time ministry position at Meadowood and asked me to tell them what I would choose to do. That period of time – this past March, April, May and June - was the hardest time I had ever had - but my learning was incredibly deep and strong throughout that time, as well. I can relate to being in this 'non-place', 'in-between time', where Jacob encounters a giant angel to wrestle, where Jacob takes his ‘undefended’ sleep, the place which Jacob calls later, “Bethel” (God is here, House of God), the same blessed time and place as any other. The following verse states, “Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place - and I did not know it!’ … This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
The lesson I really wish to share with you this morning is that this past Spring was as blessed a time as any other, not because, in the end, I was able to make the successful transition to move to another church, but because in our vulnerability we are invited to enter into the (painfully) true, (liberatingly) honest, sacred reality of our own time, and thereby encounter God. You don’t make your way out. God makes God’s way in. What we need to remember is God’s promises are always more powerful than any worldly circumstances. The seeds of the promises are always in God’s hands. God has created them, kept them, treasured them, and showed them, to us, to plant them. Because God keeps them, they are never lost. Remember: dream, ramp, promises. God is coming in; heaven and earth include each other. Wherever your heart and body are going and involved, the single thing that matters and really matters is to go there with a strong sense of who you are and the truth in all diversity and of your Own worth, your own truth. Because you matter as we all matter, because I matter as we all matter, because we all matter as you, me, each one of us truly matters to each other and to God. We grow from and with diversity, the truth is, only with diversity. I learned that again recently, and I will live it out - to always remember to be truthful about my self, in order to be truthfully accountable to the community I serve. Praise to God.
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