"Jacob's Ladder"

Pastor Laura Guy

July 13, 2008

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We learned about Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, a son of the long-awaited child of promise, Isaac. Jacob, along with his brother Esau, was supposed to be the next generation of the promise. But Jacob deceived his father and stole from his brother. He severed those relationships, and we find him on the way to stay with distant relatives in Genesis 28. He has messed up, and he had every reason to believe God didn't have a use for him.
We read Gen. 28:10-22. While Jacob slept, God revealed that he was on holy ground, and that God was very close. God said that Jacob was going to be a part of the promise, a part of this new thing God was doing. Jacob, the guy who had messed up everything, was still included in God's plans. That gave the rest of us hope that are also included, in spite of our own mess-ups.
We thought about holy ground, what it is and where to find it. Pastor Laura shared the story of coming to Parkville to look at the church building for the first time. She sat in the car and thought, "There's no way we're coming here to build a church." But when she stepped out of the car, she felt the trembling in her heart that told her she was standing on holy ground. She knew that God had a holy purpose for this piece of property, and the core group of people who felt called to start the church prayerfully agreed. There are special places where God's Spirit seems to be more concentrated, and Pastor Laura and others have identified the church building and property as one of those holy places.
We saw that Jesus referred to himself as Jacob's ladder in John 1:51, and when we sing the song "We are climbing Jacob's Ladder," we are singing that Jesus is now the bridge between heaven and earth, and through him, we have access to God. We sang an updated version of the song.
We shared communion, in memory of everything Jesus has done for us.