"In This Place" - Sermon for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost

In This Place
Pentecost 18 (Narrative Lectionary 4)
September 22, 2013
Grace, Mankato, MN
Genesis 27.1-4, 15-23; 28.10-17; John 1.50-51

Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it! (Genesis 28.16)

A long time ago and far, far away, I received a phone call from a funeral director asking if I’d be willing to do a service for a non-member. The deceased had a Lutheran affinity but was not affiliated with any congregation and the family wanted to honor him with a “Lutheran funeral.” The funeral director went on to say, however, that the family also requested a minister “who wouldn’t preach at them.” That’s why he thought of me. After giving him a hard time, I said that I think I understood what he meant; they wanted to hear Gospel, not Law, and I accepted the offer to preside at the service. On my way to visit the family, I wondered how to handle discussion of the funeral service. How was I to talk about God with folk that didn’t want to be preached at? How was I to bring God to them? To my surprise, I discovered upon my arrival that they had been talking about God before I got there. God was already in that place.

 “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it,” Jacob says after his dream about God. Much has happened since last week when Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Isaac has grown up, gotten married to Rebekah, and had fraternal twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau is born first and therefore has the privilege of inheritance, much like Will and Kate’s son, George. Foreshadowing a twist in the story, when Esau is born, Jacob follows holding Esau’s heel. Jacob is appropriately named: it means “heel” or “supplanter.” Prior to our readings today, Jacob catches Esau in a week moment and buys his birthright for a bowl of stew.

But there’s still the matter of the blessing, which Rebekah and Jacob conspire to steal from Esau. Having tricked Isaac and Esau both, Rebekah tells Jacob that it’s a good time to find a wife, and not from the pagans they live among. So, Jacob flees and exhausted, stops for the night in the desert and lays down to rest, hoping for some relief. God comes to Jacob in a dream and gives him some unexpected news: the Lord is Jacob’s God just as he was of his grandfather Abraham and father Isaac. He learns that the blessing of a promised land and descendants to fill it is given to him as well, and that through him all nations will be blessed. Jacob wakes and declares, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!”

Jacob was talking about the place called Haran, but he could as easily been talking about his life. Jacob was scared and fearful for his life, understanding full well that his predicament was of his own making. He had no reason to believe that God was going to show up and do some incredible things in his life. Yet God, as we will learn, continually does just this, coming in the midst of our daily struggles. As Isaiah 43 proclaims,

“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you O Jacob, who formed you O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. The rivers shall not over whelm you. When you walk through fire you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you, for I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel your Savior. ”

Jesus, upon whom the angels ascend and descend, becomes the promise enfleshed: “I will be with you always even to the end of the age.” We cannot explain God’s presence in the dark place of our lives, we can only look for it and proclaim it.

Today is Campus Ministry Sunday, a time to intentionally lift up our connection to campus ministry in general and Crossroads Lutheran Campus Ministry in particular. The issue isn’t so much, “Is God in that place we call MSU-Mankato?” We know God is there. The issue is, are we going to have a place to help students know that God is with them? We have had a long history saying, “Yes, we will help these students know God’s love and grace in this place,” and I trust we will continue to do so. Surely God is in this place, long before we recognize his presence. Let us look for it and proclaim it, remembering that God comes, blessing us to be a blessing. Amen.