Scripture Lesson

From the Book of Genesis, Chapter 28:

¹⁰ Jacob left Beer-sheba and went towards Haran. ¹¹He 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. ¹²And 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. ¹³And the Lord stood beside him and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; ¹⁴and 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 you and in your offspring. ¹⁵Know 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.’ ¹⁶Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’ ¹⁷And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’

¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

From the Book of Ephesians, Chapter 5:

⁸For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— ¹³but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, ¹⁴for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
‘Sleeper, awake!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.’

"Seeing the Face of God"

A Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Jean Niven Lenk

at the First Congregational Church of Stoughton

United Church of Christ

Author, speaker, and philosophy professor Dallas Willard, who lost his mother as a young child, tells this story:¹

There once was a little boy whose mother had died. The sadness and loneliness he felt was particularly intense at night, when the darkness closed in on him. And so, he would come into his father’s room, where he was comforted by his father’s presence. But even then, he could not rest until he knew not only that he was with his father, but also that his father’s face was turned toward him. The boy’s little voice would pierce the silent darkness: “Father, is your face turned toward me?” Yes, his father would say, yes, my face is turned toward you. And with those words, the father was telling his young son: “You are not alone; I am with you.”

“I am with you.” That father says it to his beloved child, and our God says it to us, too. “I am with you.” That is the central promise in scripture. Not “I will forgive you,” although that promise is there. Not the promise of eternal life, although we are offered that promise, too. The most frequent promise of God is, “I will be with you.”

That promise is the reason for courage: “Be not afraid… for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” [Joshua 1:9].

That promise upholds us during difficult time: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me.”

That promise was incarnated when God came to earth as Immanuel – meaning “God with us.”

And Jesus’ last words before he departed from this earth were, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

“I am with you.” God says it to Noah, to Abraham and Sara, to Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, to Moses and David and Mary and Paul. For each one of these people, at one time or another, feels afraid, unsure, hesitant, inadequate, lost, alone – just like us – and in those moments, God answers “Be not afraid,” “Do not be anxious,”²; “Peace be with you”³; “I have heard you,”⁴; “I will help you.”⁵ “I am with you.”⁶

God says it to the greatest figures in the Bible. God says it to saints and mystics, to the devoted and the wise, to the faithful and the believing.

And God also says it to those who have separated from God, to those who aren’t even aware of God’s existence.

Consider the story of Jacob. A twin, Jacob enters the world with one hand grasping the heel of his brother Esau, who is born first. His parents, Isaac and Rachel, memorialize that scene by giving him a name meaning “he grasps the heel,” or figuratively, “he deceives.” And a deceiver and a con man Jacob grows up to be. His father favors his older brother, Esau, who is an expert hunter and outdoorsman. Jacob, on the other hand, is quiet and withdrawn, preferring to stay indoors and, with the help of his mother Rachel, cook up plots to deceive his aging father and cheat his older brother.

Jacob carries out a ruse to get from his father Isaac the blessing that rightfully belongs to the first-born Esau; the blessing in which Isaac transfers the covenantal promise passed down his father, Abraham; the blessing that will one day produce a whole nation of God’s favored people. The blessing is Esau’s birthright, but Jacob grasps it, as surely as he grasped his brother’s heel at birth. And his deceit costs Jacob. He must run for his life from Esau, who vows to kill him.

This morning’s scripture lesson from Genesis tells us that Jacob runs until he reaches “a certain place” – that is, no place in particular. And there, he falls asleep and has a dream about a ladder that reaches up to God, a “stairway to heaven,” if you will, for all of us who grew up listening to Led Zeppelin. And God says to Jacob – that schemer and liar and cheater – God says to Jacob, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac… I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.”

God comes to Jacob, not full of the reproaches he deserves, but rather full of grace and promises. Jacob had not looked for God, but God had looked for him. And when Jacob awakes from his sleep, he says, “Surely, the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it…” “This is none other than the house of God, this is the gate of heaven.”

In his sleep, Jacob has an encounter with God. “Sleep” can come in many forms: it can be anything that distracts us, causes us to be indifferent, keeps us separated from God, prevents us from discerning God’s presence. Jacob says, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” Each moment that we live outside the awareness of God’s presence is a kind of sleepwalking, which is why the Apostle Paul writes in this morning’s epistle lesson from Ephesians [5:14], “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Sometimes it is a blessing that awakens us: the birth of a baby, an unexplained healing; a reconciliation that brings us into an awareness of God’s presence, brings us into God’s light. Sometimes we are awakened by suffering: in the depths of despair, we reach out into the darkness, and God’s hand is there to take ours; in the light that shines through, we can finally see the face of God.

After Jacob is awoken from his sleep, he names the place he has his dream “Beth El,” meaning “house of God.” It has been transformed for him from “a certain place” – nowhere special – to holy ground, a place inhabited by God.

And here’s the good news -- any place can be Beth El, the house of God, any place can be holy ground where we can feel God’s presence, where we can see the face of God. Certainly this sanctuary, but also our home, our office, our job, our car, our heart. Any place can become Beth El, the house of God, because God promises to be with us always.

After his dream, after he becomes aware of God’s presence, Jacob’s life starts to change, but not all at once. The promise of God’s presence is not an exemption from problems or character flaws. Yet Jacob’s journey with God, his transformation, has begun. Eventually he decides to take the enormous risk of trying to reconcile with his brother: instead of again ripping him off, he wants to give back to him. He sends on ahead extravagant gifts: goats and ewes and rams, and camels and cows and bulls. And then, after two decades of separation and hatred, Jacob sees his brother. He waits to see if Esau will kill him. But Esau runs to meet Jacob and embraces him, throwing his arms around his neck and kissing him. And they both weep. And Jacob says to Esau, “To see your face is like seeing the face of God…” [Genesis 33:10].

Once you see God in an ordinary moment, in no place in particular, in another person, you never know where God will show up next. You could start seeing God anywhere – even in the face of someone who’s been your mortal enemy for twenty years. Because God has promised: “I am with you.” Amen.

¹As quoted by John Ortberg in God Is Closer than You Think (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), p. 16. This sermon is inspired by “Chapter 1: God’s Great Desire,” of Ortberg’s book.
²Matthew 6:25, 31, 34.
³Luke 24:36; John 20:19, 21, 26.
⁴Genesis 17:20; 2 Kings 22:19.
⁵Exodus 4:12; Isaiah 41:13, 49:8.
⁶Exodus 3:12; Jeremiah 1:8.