Genesis 28: 10- 19
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there
for the night, because the sun had set.
Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay
down in that place. And he dreamed that
there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and
the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am
the Lord, the God of Abraham hour father and the God of Isaac; the land on
which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and 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 all the families of the
earth shall be blessed in your and in your offspring. Know that 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.”
Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this
pace – and I did not know it!” And he
was afraid, and said, “how awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and
this is the gage of heaven.” So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took
the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar and poured
oil on the top of it. He called that
place Beth-el.
Isaiah 44:6-8
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
I am the first and the last
Besides me there is no god.
Who is like me? Let
them proclaim it,
Let them declare and set it forth before me.
Who has announced from of old the things to come?
Let them tell us what is yet to be.
Do not fear, or be afraid;
Have I not told you from of old and declared it?
You are my witnesses!
Is there any god besides me?
There is no other rock; I know not one.
Surely God is in this Place!
Good morning. My name is Jessica Palys. I work with Pastor Marilyn at A Just Harvest,
and just graduated Chicago Theological Seminary. Pastor Marilyn asked me to step in for her
here while she’s having a restful time in Puerto Rico. I am grateful to be here with you all
today. Please pray with me:
God, we are blessed by your
presence and do bless others with your presence. We gather here, grateful that your love has
sustained us another day. I ask that not
my words, Lord, but your meaning touches our hearts this morning. May the meditations of my heart and the words
of my mouth be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, you who are our rock and our
redeemer. Amen.
In today’s first scripture reading,
we learn that Jacob has stolen his father’s blessing, which was intended for
his older brother Esau. He is
afraid. He flees his homeland because he
fears vengence from his brother. He
comes to a place, and has the first personal encounter with God through his
dream, which, for Jacob, shows that God’s promise for his family is still true,
even though he tricked his father into giving him the blessing. For the first time Jacob knows that he is,
actually, still protected by God.
He wakes and proclaims, “Surely God
is in this place!”
God makes many promises to Jacob; God
promises him land; many descendants living all throughout the area; that God
will bless other people through the blessing he gives Jacob. Furthermore, God commits never to leave Jacob
and always to ‘keep’ him.
The blessings make clear to me that,
not only is God in that place, but ‘Surely, God is in Jacob!’ Not only will God stay with Jacob and keep
him, but through Jacob, God will bless other people.
Last Sunday, Pastor Marilyn said we
are called not only to follow, but join and lead in the movement of Jesus
Christ that makes the promise of Life available to all. That God calls us each by name to receive the
love of God, and bring that love to others.
Is this not the blessing of Jacob?
Surely, God is in THIS place
too!
In my sleep, I sometimes have
personal encounters with God. Has anyone
else had these? Sometimes I dream, and like Jacob, in those dreams I talk with
God. I find clarity. I find peace and comfort, and hope.
But the problem is, I wake up. And I am faced, again, with the reality of
the world around us – the world as it is.
I was at a training all last week
in beautiful Woodstock, IL, on a large seminary campus with green fields and
trees and no television. This was an
organizing training, and the training asked us to fully focus inward on our own
fears and obstacles. The schedule was so
jam-packed that I hardly had time to check Facebook or call my mom, let alone
keep up with the weekly news. It felt a
little like dream-time. But then it
ended, and I returned to the world as it is.
Last night’s online headline in the
Chicago Tribune read, “Be with us, God, we need you now” in East Garfield Park.
This was because 22 people were shot in
Chicago in 12 hours on Saturday. An 11-year old girl was at a sleepover making
s’mores when a bullet came through the wall and hit her. 82 people were shot over the July 4th
weekend in Chicago. And in the last few
months alone, one shooting occurred 3 blocks from our office at a Just Harvest,
and 2 of the deaths were friends of Marilyn’s daughter.
I wake up from my dreams to find
record numbers of tragedies. It’s hard
to fight the urge to go back to ‘sleep’.
Guns and bullets are terrorizing
our city streets this summer. Now, I’m not naïve enough to think that guns are
the only reason people die on Chicago’s streets. I recognize the decades of dis-investment – when
government funding and business leaving neighborhoods, followed by jobs, and
then those able to follow the jobs, leaving a wake of poverty, powerlessness,
and fear.
In the second scripture we read
today, the prophet Isaiah speaks a challenge from God – “let any who is like
me, show themselves! Show their
power!” God challenges the idols and the
demons to show the power they have – because none have the power equal to
God.
Fear is a demon. Fear is something that can multiply almost
instantaneously. Have you ever seen fear
grow through a crowd just based on uncertainty?
After 9/11, I saw this around me and occasionally felt this panic myself
– if a plane flew too low, or I heard an explosion, or whispers from people in
a crowd in the midst of confusion.
But fear can also be marketed. Packaged up and sold to us through commercials
or movies. Narrated in pop music.
Reinforced over and over again on the evening news, in our politician’s
speeches, and shown in our “tough on crime” laws. Fear will tell us that there are people who
are simply evil who will always be evil, so we need strong laws and long prison
sentences, regardless of how much it costs us.
Fear will tell us we can’t trust each other. Fear will keep us from
standing together.
Just like fear can be packaged,
fear can be profitable. And it turns out
fear can be very profitable. Since the
1980’s, millions of dollars have been funneled to private prisons across the
country to hold the national inmate population.
Many of these private prison contracts with state governments contain
mandatory bed quotas – a requirement that a certain number of people must be
incarcerated, filling a bed, at any given time – or our tax dollars go to pay
for empty beds. You have to wonder if
our “tough on crime” laws – 3 strikes, zero tolerance, and mandatory minimums –
are intended to protect us or to keep prisons full. But the laws are sold to us on the basis of
fear.
And that fear, many would like to
believe, will go away if we carry a gun.
Last week Pastor Marilyn and I
discovered that a Gun Shop is opening in the city of Niles – at 6143 W Howard,
just 6 miles from our office, and a few hundred yards from 2 different schools.
A recent report found 20% of guns -ONE
OUT OF EVERY 5 guns - used in Chicago crimes can be traced to 4 gun shops whose
owners cannot control where their guns end up.
One of those owners is proposing this additional gun shop in Niles.
We know in our hearts that more
access to guns will not bring God closer to us in this city. More access to guns will not make one less mother
cry out to God in pain. We know more
guns will mean more mothers’ cries, not less.
In Isaiah God says, “Do Not fear,
or be afraid.” God asks us to have
courage rather than fear. “You are my
witnesses!’ it is declared. God knows it
is scary to be a witness to love in the midst of trial. It is scary when we live in fear, and when we
are led to be afraid of each other so that we all feel that we should be
carrying guns. But we cannot be
afraid. We must deliver the promise of
life for others, and sometimes that requires standing up for each other. Standing with each other. Standing for each others’ promise of life.
We serve a God who has foretold the
ending already – we are loved. When we
love each other – despite these fears dividing us – we are fulfilling the new
thing that God promised.
Like Jacob, I say Surely God is in
this place. Surely he is. I have seen God here in the walls of San
Lucas. Surely God is here in this city.
But what Jacob doesn’t realize is that God is in him. God blesses Jacob, and through Jacob, God
blesses others. God has blessed us, and
God is in this place in our hearts – in each of us. And we can bless others with our hearts and
our actions.
There’s a hearing in Niles on
Tuesday of this week on the proposal to open this gun shop. I pray that God will be in that place, and
that God’s voice will be heard in that place.
I pray that God’s voice will surely be louder than the demons of fear. I
pray that God’s people in Chicago’s communities will have courage and stand up
with each other against this fear.
We are called, by name, to carry
our blessings forward and give others the promise of life.
God says, “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I will stay with you always, and I will keep
you. There is no other rock; I know not
one.” Come now, Lord, return to us again and again, and help us live our dreams.
