CALL THIS PLACE, BETHEL

Genesis 10-19a

Introduction:

One of my informal hobbies is collecting strange and unusual church names. "Apostolic Church of the Latter Rain"; "Four Square Gospel Church". Others come to mind but we see church named again and again called "Westminster". Especially, Presbyterian churches. That of course refers us back to our roots where the Westminster Standards were adopted at Westminster Abbey in London. We even see corruptions of this reference by calling churches Southminster, or Northminster, or Eastminster. Have you ever wondered why so many churches are called Bethel? Bethel Baptist Church, Bethel Presbyterian Church, Bethel Congregational Church, Bethel United Methodist Church are among the many. Our story about Jacob explains it fully.

Jacob had a vision. He was on his way from Beersheba to Haran. He was in the middle of nowhere. The later reference is called Luz wherever that is. It is, however, in the middle of nowhere. Jacob is not on retreat; he is on the lam. He is fleeing from the wrath of his brother, Esau. At his mother’s request in fear of his life, he runs away from home. He has cheated Esau out of his birthright -- not of his monetary inheritance, but as the head of the household.

Exhausted, he lays down to rest for the night on his journey -- his wanderings (more accurately). And in his restless sleep with a rock as his pillow he has a vision. The vision is the familiar ladder leading from earth to heaven. This vision has been made famous by the ole Negro spiritual which most of us learned as kids: "We are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder". The dream is more like a nightmare, for Jacob wakes with a start and is terrified of what he has seen. The vision of God in his dream is totally unexpected. Well we might have thought such a tremendous experience might have happened in the temple like Isaiah’s later vision. Here, he is on the run, nowhere, and the God of his fathers and mothers appears to him. Following his terror his next reaction is "surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it."

The vision tells us that God has to do with humanity. The ladder or staircase or ramp (Olympic Stadium) stretches from earth to heaven. In a word this God, like no other god of his time is in touch with the earth. God cares about what is happening in our affairs. Even in the worst of times for we remember from the story that Jacob is on the run, in exile from home and family. He needs a vision of God, but he knows he does not deserve it. It is a life changing experience. We know from the rest of the story that Jacob becomes Israel the father of the nation, and his sons are the twelve tribes of Israel.

And his God makes promises to this running fugitive. "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." ¹

The promise is echoed in Psalm 23:

1. He is with me                     I will not fear, for thou art with me

2. He will keep me                 He makes me lie down, He leads me,
                                              he restores my life, he leads me

3. He will give me bread        He prepares a table before me
                                             in the presence of my enemies

4. I come again to my             I will dwell in the house of the
    Father's house                    Lord forever

Get the point? The Lord will provide!

God’s promises demand a response. And Jacob responds, however timidly. If God does this then the God of my parents and grand parents will be my God.

But what about Bethel? It literally means "House of God".(Beth – el; House – of Elohim) This nowhere place, this place of insignificance becomes a sacred place, Bethel, the house of God.

Conclusion:

We call Georgetown Presbyterian Church, this sacred place, a house of God, do we not? We call it a house of God because we find God in this place, do we not? In the hurly burly race of our lives, we find God here. Our God, the God of Abraham & Sarah & Heger & Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Rachel Leah in this place. Like Jacob we often come by here in our race to get somewhere, not really knowing where we are headed, and do not really realize that God is in this place and we did not know it. This God

also makes promises to us -- presence, keeping, caring, feeding, homecoming. And what is our response? We are called, [however tentatively] to respond with promises of our own. God’s promises are unconditional. We know we are unworthy, but God promises nonetheless. Surely, the Lord is in this and we did not know it. Now, what shall be your response to this? What promises will you make today? Our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, have piled stone upon stone, brick upon brick, and called this a house of God. And so what?