Sunday Worship 23 July 2023

 
Today’s service is led by the Revd Lance Stone

 
Call to Worship
 

Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there; 
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
 
If I take the wings of the morning 
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
 
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
 
Hymn    Blessed Assurance Jesus Is Mine
Fanny Crosby sung by the Rev’d Paul Robinson

Blessed assurance, 
Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste 
of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, 
purchase of God
born of his Spirit, 
washed in His blood.
 
This is my story, 
this is my song
Praising my Saviour 
all the day long
This is my story, 
this is my song
Praising my Saviour 
all the day long
 
Perfect submission, 
perfect delight!
Visions of rapture 
now burst on my sight!
Angels descending 
bring from above
echoes of mercy, 
whispers of love.
 
Perfect submission, 
all is at rest,
I in my Saviour 
am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, 
looking above,
Filled with His goodness, 
lost in His love.

 
Opening Prayer
 
Blessed and loving God,
God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,
God of Rebecca and Rachel and Mary – and Jesus,
we worship and praise you – faithful, trustworthy God.
We praise you for  your commitment to the world you love;
we praise you for your promises
to bring salvation and healing to your world;
We praise you that in Jesus Christ heaven and earth
are connected and bound together,
open to each other and united in your love.  Amen
 
Confession and Pardon
 
O God, we need you to open up a way between 
heaven and earth, for our world lies separated from you,
turned in upon itself, resistant to you.
And we confess that we are turned in ourselves,
and we turn away from you and from our neighbour and from your call.
O God come to us in your forgiving love;
open our lives to you and your Holy Spirit
and make us your dwelling place.
We pray in Jesus’ name and we pray in the words
Jesus taught us, saying together…
 
Our Father…
 
Prayer for Illumination
 
Living God, open up earth to heaven and heaven to earth,
and speak your Word to our hearts and lives.
We pray in the name of Jesus, the Living Word. Amen.
 
Reading       Genesis 28: 10-19a
 
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went towards 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 your 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 you 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 place—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 gate 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 Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
 
Hymn    Psalm 139
this version © The Estate of Ian Robertson Pitt-Watson (1923 – 1995)
 

Thou art before me, Lord, 
Thou art behind.
And over me Thou hast 
spread out Thine hand;
Such knowledge is too 
wonderful for me,
too high to grasp, 
too great to understand.
 
If I should take my flight 
into the dawn,
if I should dwell on ocean’s
farthest shore,
Thy mighty hand 
will rest upon me still,
and Thy right hand will 
guard me evermore.

Search me, O God, search me and know my heart;
try me, O God, my mind and spirit try;
Keep me from any path that gives Thee pain,
and lead me in the everlasting way.
 
Sermon
 
Living God, open up earth to heaven and heaven to earth
and speak your word to our hearts and lives.
We pray in the name of Jesus, the Living Word. Amen
 
Jacob’s ladder (Genesis 28:10-19a)
 
The man we encounter in our reading from the Book of Genesis is a sad and a lonely figure.  The passage places him at eventide, in the falling dark, at a place that in retrospect he will call ‘Bethel’, which means ‘the house of God’.  We read that ‘He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set’.  And that twilight mood expresses not not just this man’s surroundings but also the state of his soul.  His name is Jacob and he is a key player in God’s plan of salvation or the world, but you would hardly know it. The name ‘Jacob’ means cheat or supplanter and in the previous chapters of this story he has been living up to his name, for Jacob is a man who makes sure he gets what he wants, irrespective of deceit and of the cost to anyone else. And so we find that he has hoodwinked his father and cheated his twin brother Esau who is enraged and has vowed to kill him. And Jacob has fled his home and is now on the run. 
 
So there he is – alone, away from home, a man in flight from his past and in fear of his future, and there can hardly be a more lonely place to lay down your head for the night. It’s somehow appropriate that his pillow is a rock, for truly this is a hard place to which Jacob has come.
 
Then comes the dream, and we can surely understand why God has to speak to Jacob this way, in a dream – how else could God possibly get through to him? After all, in dreams we are passive. In dreams we yield to our subconscious. We have no control at all over our dreams – they come to us from deep layers of our psyche and we cannot stave off the worlds that come to us in the dark depths of the night. But it’s precisely then, when we are passive and no longer in control, that God can come to us and address us. And that is true of Jacob. He, after all, is a control freak. Cheat by name and cheat by nature he is a manipulator of his world, forever calculating strategies and outcomes. And if God is going to get through all that, if God is going to find a way through that shield, then Jacob must be incapacitated: out of it. Only then can God speak to Jacob through the din of his own schemes. Only then can God penetrate Jacob’s defences. Only then can God steal past the sentries Jacob has posted to patrol his life. And only then can God move Jacob on from the past that haunts him and into the future that awaits him.
 
So Jacob sleeps, his head on the rock, and Jacob dreams. And what does he see? Well, he sees this ladder, linking heaven and earth and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it, and he hears God speaking words of promise and reassurance. And suddenly Jacob’s bed becomes holy ground and this desolate and lonely place is transfigured and it becomes Bethel, the house of God, and Jacob declares, ‘surely the Lord is in this place – and I did into know it’ . So how might this strange encounter address us today? What might it have to say to us? 
 
Well, firstly, it tells us something about Jesus, pointing forward to him. After all, for Christians it is Jesus who links heaven and earth. For Christians Jesus is the ladder spanning heaven and earth and upon which God has descended and ascended. Indeed, Jesus actually drew on this very passage to describe himself. Near the beginning of his ministry, and using the title ‘Son of Man’ by which he referred to himself, he said to one of his followers, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’ He saw himself as Jacob’s ladder between heaven and earth. And it’s interesting that in verse 13 of this passage we read of Jacob in that lonely place that ‘the Lord stood beside him’. So the assumption is that Jacob sees the Lord standing beside him, at the foot of the ladder. But Hebrew, the language in which this passage was originally written, is wonderfully fluid and imprecise and those words can equally well be read not as ‘the Lord stood beside him’ but as ‘the Lord stood above him’. So on that reading the Lord is at the top of the ladder. So which is it? Is God at the top or at the bottom? 
 
Well, of course for Christians it is both. For Christians the eternal God sits enthroned high above the earth, exalted over all – but is also to be found incarnate, enfleshed, at the foot of the ladder, in Jesus. The ambiguity of the passage captures beautifully the mystery of a sovereign God who is above and beyond in the heights but who will be found with us, in Christ, in the depths. And Jacob declares on waking: ‘surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it’ for this, after all, was the last place that Jacob might expect to meet God, in some dark, unfamiliar territory. And you could say, as many did, the same of Jesus of Nazareth, that he is the last place you might expect to meet God: in this Galilean peasant in some backwater of the Roman Empire. Here is the last place you might expect to encounter God, in a crucified criminal charged with sedition and heresy. Yet the verdict of Christians, looking at the life and death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus, is that, indeed, ‘the Lord was in this place and we did not know it – but we know it now.’
 
So the passage tells us about Jesus, but it also tells us something about the Church. I’m intrigued that after this strange experience Jacob took the stone he had used for a pillow and set it up as a pillar and consecrated it with an offering of oil upon it. And so it becomes a holy place, set apart for the presence of God and for traffic between heaven and earth. And of course God is everywhere and always close at hand. We began our service this morning with those beautiful words from psalm 139, ‘Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol – that is, in the underworld – you are there’. Yes, that psalm reminds us that heaven and earth are always but a breath apart – and yet there are nevertheless special places that are associated with God’s presence and the worship of God’s people and which are set apart to be open to God, and where the Holy Spirit of God flies betwixt and between like the angels in the dream. 
 
There is a beautiful old English word, ‘trysting’ which means meeting – especially between lovers – and a trysting place is an often secret place where lovers meet and which becomes special for that reason. Maybe some of you have such trysting places in your lives, places replete with memories to which you return from time. Well, the Church is a trysting place. It’s an appointed place set apart for a lovers’ tryst between us and God and where two or three are gathered in Christ’s name the ladder is raised, and heaven is open and prayer and worship are offered and praises and blessings ascend descend and we sense that somehow, surely, the Lord is in this place. And we need such trysting places, where the veil between heaven and earth is torn open and earth lies exposed to heaven. Ours is a world, after all, that is turned in upon itself. It is a world that is battened down and closed to God, and it needs places where it is prised open and the roof pulled back and the angels come and go. It’s like opening a window on a closed and stuffy world and letting in the fresh air of heaven.
 
The story, then, speaks of Jesus, and of the Church, but it surely also addresses us individually. We began by thinking of Jacob’s life as being in a dark place as he settles down here for the night. He is haunted by guilt, for a start – by his conniving and his cheating and his treatment of others. And it seems he is fearful of the threat of retribution: his brother Esau has serious scores to settle and is coming after him. And maybe he feels he has lost touch with his purpose in life, his destiny: called as he is to carry forward great promises made by God to his grandfather Abraham. In many ways Jacob here is a broken man, isolated, cut off from God and from his family by his own folly. And yet it is in that twilight place where the sun is setting on his life that God comes to him in the depths of his soul, in the land of sleep where deep calls to deep, and God speaks words of reassurance, ‘Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go… I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you.’ And to his surprise Jacob finds himself uttering words of astonishment: ‘Surely, the Lord is in this place – and I did not know it.’
 
I would dare to say that this is the testimony of Christians time and time again. Of course, as with Jacob, it’s always in retrospect. We often do not know it at the time. The experience might be one of fear or loneliness or abandonment. It may be one of unimaginable loss, or of hurt, or of deep regret, or of betrayal. It may be that painful place where we come face to face with our own stupidity, our own failure, the damage we do to ourselves and to others and the guilt that comes with it. In such dark places it can be hard to sleep. But there comes that  time of awakening when we find ourselves saying, ‘surely, the Lord is in this place – and I did not know it.’ And that place becomes Bethel, the house of God. May Jacob’s experience be yours. Amen.
 
Hymn    O God of Bethel
Philip Doddridge (1736) sung by the choir of Troon Old Parish Church and used with their kind permission.
 

O God of Bethel, by whose hand
thy people still are fed,
who through this weary pilgrimage
hast all our fathers led;
 
Our vows, our prayers, 
we now present
before thy throne of grace;
God of our fathers, be the God
of their succeeding race.
 
Through each 
perplexing path of life
our wandering footsteps guide;
give us each day our daily bread,
and raiment fit provide.
 
O spread thy 
covering wings around
till all our wanderings cease,
and at our Father’s loved abode
our souls arrive in peace.

Such blessings from Thy gracious hand 
our humble prayers implore;
and Thou shalt be our chosen God,
and portion evermore.
 
Intercessions
 
Holy God, 
to whom earth is open,
and who has come amongst us in Jesus Christ:
come, we pray, and transform every dark place,
bathing it in your presence
so that it may become Bethel, the house of God,
the gate of heaven.
 
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
 
O living God of Bethel,
we pray for prisons, 
that they may be places where people
find strength to change and to lead new lives.
and we pray for prison staff and for those imprisoned,
whether justly or unjustly.
We pray especially for those condemned to death:
that even in this dark place heaven and earth may mingle
and you presence might be known above and beside them.
 
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
 
O living God of Bethel,
we pray for hospitals,
thanking you for the advances 
in medicine and technology,
and praying that resources might be found
to share the fruits of research,
such that there is an end to preventable diseases in places
where life continues to be unnecessarily lost.
And we pray for nurses and doctors and all auxiliary staff,
that they may work together to make hospitals places
of healing and of hope.
 
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
 
And living God of Bethel,
we pray for those today who are in dark places
of fear and anxiety;
for those who are struggling with relationships,
for those who are suffering with sickness and disease,
mental or physical,
and those who are feeling the effects of age.
May they know that you are indeed with  us
and so may they find strength and peace.
 
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
 
And we pray all these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
 
Offertory Prayer
 
All praise to you, loving God,
for all good gifts that enrich our lives
Take us and all that you have given us
and use us in the service of your Kingdom. Amen
 
Hymn    The God of Abram Praise
(attributed to): Daniel ben Judah; Paraphraser: Thomas Olivers (1770)  sung by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band
 

The whole triumphant host give thanks to God on high;
“hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost” they ever cry.
Hail Abraham’s God, and mine! I join the heavenly lays;
all might and majesty are Thine, and endless praise.
 
Blessing
 
May God be above you, and God beside you,
and heaven all around you as you journey on.
And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you, today and always. Amen.
 

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