Laying Down Stones Part 2
Pillar Stones
Genesis 28:10-22
Jacob had lived in the shadow of the faith of his family. His grandparents, Abraham and Sarah, had defied expectations and tradition by setting off to a new land and beginning a new relationship with God. His father, Isaac, was a sign that God had blessed Abraham and Sarah, who had been unable to have a child. Isaac had to find his own way with this faith journey that was handed down to him from his parents. He didn’t always get it right. For example, he thought that blessing was somehow limited and that he could only bless one of his sons. What a mess that turned into!
Now we have Jacob out on his own for the first time ready to make a new life for himself. In our passage for tonight, Jacob has his own experience with the holy. This was no longer his family’s faith or his tradition’s faith. It was his faith. He marked the moment by laying down a pillar stone on which to build an altar to God. He anoints the stone with oil as a symbol that this is now a holy place to him. His “pillow” stone became his pillar stone.
Jacob’s experience resonates within us as well. How are you claiming your faith as your own? What parts of it still belong to someone else? (family, past church, past pastor, etc.) What would it take to claim it as your own – to let go of the parts of the past that are toxic – and to mark this moment as holy?
For Jacob, this moment marked the house of God and the gateway to heaven.
This experience became the foundation upon which he would build his relationship with God and discern what it meant to be in the presence of the holy. In typical Hebrew fashion we see two symbols brought together in one phrase. What is the house of God? What is the gateway to heaven? Are they not both simply opportunities through which we experience the holy?
What foundations have you laid for yourself that you can now build upon? Sobriety, regular worship, Lenten study group, Giving something up/Taking something on, etc.
We know that our ultimate foundation is God’s grace. Before we do anything, before we make a decision, grace was already there drawing us toward a deeper walk and a more solid place. Tonight I invite you to rely upon that grace. The stone in your hand represents the spiritual pillar stones we use to build on that foundation of grace. What do you want God to do with it? As you bring your stone forward this evening, I will offer anointing with oil, just as Jacob anointed the moment of his experience of the holy. You are invited to linger at the altar for as long as you would like. And I pray that for each of us this moment might mark a gateway to heaven for you – a place where you experience the holy and where God is building something within you.
Sources:
http://oldtestamentlectionary.unitingchurch.org.au/2005/july/Pent9Gen28_05.htm