Preparing Holy Places

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church

Genesis 28:10-19 Tyler Amundson July 17, 2011

Preparing Holy Places

Today we read from the Hebrew Bible about Jacob, many of us know Jacob as a patriarch...one of the male leaders of the nation of Israel. At this point in the text Jacob is however anything, but a leader. One author describes the Jacob we find here like this,

“Jacob is portrayed as a fugitive fleeing for his life; a vagabond somewhere between a conflict-ridden past and an uncertain future.”[1]

Jacob is in one of those in-between places, he has had a strange relationship with his family. He is out trying to form a family, trying to make sense of his own identity. And he arrives in this text at a place we would refer to as “the middle of nowhere” or in general no particularly special place.

Here is the scripture from the Message Version:

Genesis 28:10-19

10-12 Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran. He came to a certain place and camped for the night since the sun had set. He took one of the stones there, set it under his head and lay down to sleep. And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground and it reached all the way to the sky; angels of God were going up and going down on it.

13-15 Then God was right before him, saying, "I am God, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. I'm giving the ground on which you are sleeping to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will be as the dust of the Earth; they'll stretch from west to east and from north to south. All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants. Yes. I'll stay with you, I'll protect you wherever you go, and I'll bring you back to this very ground. I'll stick with you until I've done everything I promised you."

16-17 Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, "God is in this place—truly. And I didn't even know it!" He was terrified. He whispered in awe, "Incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God's House. This is the Gate of Heaven."

18-19 Jacob was up first thing in the morning. He took the stone he had used for his pillow and stood it up as a memorial pillar and poured oil over it. He christened the place Bethel (God's House). The name of the town had been Luz until then.

A couple key images you should catch in this story: Jacob slept on a rock(ouch), Jacob had a dream telling him about his future, Jacob made a holy place and blessed it, and.....Did you catch the end there....this is one thing I am not going to reflect on heavily today, but after Jacob named his Holy Place we find out someone else had already named it. Jacob is a little arrogant just renaming place...remember when we make holy places, that others will be sharing that place with us. Part of our calling as Christians is to share our Holy Places.

(pretend cough) The Holy Land . . . Sorry that was a tangent back to the fact of Jacob and the changing of an ordinary place into a holy place. Jacob is lost, doesn’t have much direction and is just trying to figure life out. In this case he gets lucky as he lays his head down on a rock, not very comfortable I am assuming. Jacob receives a dream from God about where his future will lead him. Oh if only we were so luck to get such clear direction in life. You have to remember Jacob is the guy who had to pretend to be his brother to steal a blessing and a his brother’s inheritance. He hasn’t had a clearly defined role, and has been struggling to understand who he is and who is supposed to be. Then he lays down and gets a dream about direction. Must be nice. Then Jacob declares the place a holy place and is off. If only we could each have a holy place to help us find direction.

A good definition of what a holy place is, varies for every person. For some it might be a place like this sanctuary where important events happen. It might be somewhere in the world that is so beautiful you feel a connection with God. Like those pictures Doug showed us during prayer today or perhaps under the stars listening to the symphony. In fact, nature is an excellent place to find holy places as there are an abundance of beautiful places where we can stand in awe of the natural order.

Or like Jacob, it could be the place in the world where you had that aha moment. An aha moment when you caught a glimpse of who you might be called or asked by God to be in the world. An aha moment when you recognized you had purpose in the world. An aha moment when you felt loved or a part of something. For now let's define Holy Places as either a place you feel something special or a place where you had an aha moment. A place where you had awe or aha.

Now many times when we think about Holy Places we think of the constructed holy sites: churches, temples, places of importance, or things that mark a special occasion. These holy places are generally prepared through a long process of ritual. Ironically for Jacob he fell asleep on his holy site, had a grand vision from God. To prepare his site was simply setting a rock upright and pouring oil over it. Anointing the place as a holy place and house of God. Every great tradition has a ritual to make a place holy, processes for buildings to be set up the right way and to go through a series of rituals to be properly blessed and for certain prayers to be said. For us, this building went through many processes to make it holy. One in particular I remember is when we signed the floor and other parts of this church. When this building we are now in was just a shell we were invited to write our prayers and wishes on the unfinished surfaces. It is striking reminder of how we made this place holy. We stand, walk and touch the prayers and wishes of those who were here then. Those prayers and wishes were hopes that we could make a place where people could experience awe and aha moments. One of the responsibilities of us as a church is to Prepare Holy Places. However, it is important to remember that places can be damaged or destroyed. We have to share them and they might not always be available. For this reason Methodists and Christians have long stood by creating holy places in community, or relationship with one another. Did you know that when we celebrate communion, the clergy person, in our case Marianne or myself, represents the ongoing Christian community. This is in contrast to the Catholic belief that the person performing communion represents Christ. We have such a strong belief in the holiness of community, that the person celebrating communion represents the community of believers from past until now. The continuation of the path Christ laid out.

One of the holiest places for our tradition are in community and community is something that can be shaken, but which surpasses time and space, unlike a building. It is more permanent and it is the part of God's kin-dom we continually work to create. Community as a Holy Place can build relationships which are strong enough to support individuals their entire lives. This community, St. Paul’s, has invited me here to assist you in creating community that welcomes Young Adults. You have invited me here to lead you in preparing holy places for young adults in our community that we know and that we are going to meet. When we talk about young adults we are talking about people in the general age range of 18-35 or 40. The reason this is an un-specific number is that for the first time in recent history the church is confused why they are seeing fewer of this age range in church. Now there are many theories on where the church has lost relevance to this generation, but I am sure from my conversations with peers that they are spiritually hungry. When I talk with adults in this age range they are seeking meaning in their lives? They are seeking a place to belong, a place to feel special.

Now I need to remind you that this generation of people is also the most likely to move. They are trying to find stable jobs, create family, some may remain single, but the way our economy works now sometimes dictates that we move more than we would like. Young adults don’t get the privilege of staying in one job for 20-30 years. So, this is a warning that it may seem that this generation comes and goes more than the one before. However, my generation of adults is not unlike Jacob. We have been raised in a society telling us to work hard get jobs, and the world will provide for us. The world has already shown us that this is not necessarily true, through economic struggle and meltdown. My generation of young adults is seeking Holy Places to rest and get direction, to dream like Jacob did. Young adults are seeking deep connection and Holy Places. We, St. Paul’s, have been tasked to create that for them. We have been tasked by God to create a places for the stranger, our neighbor. We have been tasked by the United Methodist Church to invite and work with these people in our community. I can tell you that this generation of adults loves to be outside enjoying nature. I can tell you this generation loves to be in service. I can tell you this generation loves to be in community where they can have conversation that goes beyond, “Hi, how are you?” So, as a community we are going to have to create holy places and experiences outside, in service and tight small groups to invite these young adults, this next generation of adults into community.

Making holy places work requires everyone, because it is through community work that community is created. So, running that bible study that has existed for 50 years is part of creating community. Creating that new event to engage a group of new people is also part of creating community. Creating community is building holy places for people to come and experience the Holy, Christ among us. I encourage you to prepare community, to continue community, and remember you are preparing Holy places. Perhaps a young adult like Jacob will lay her head down on a retreat, or sleep through a sermon and dream a grand dream about their future.

Peace and Blessings....Amen

^{[1] Claassens, J. (n.d.). Commentary on alternate first reading. Retrieved from http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=7/17/2011}

^{Audio link to this sermon:}http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr3Mu4v3ecI