{"id":788,"date":"2013-04-26T16:03:12","date_gmt":"2013-04-26T20:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=788"},"modified":"2013-04-26T16:18:08","modified_gmt":"2013-04-26T20:18:08","slug":"var-_gaq-_gaq-_gaq-push_setaccount-ua-25646250-2-_gaq-push_trackpageview-function-var-ga-document-createelementscript-ga-type-textjavascript-ga-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=788","title":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">  var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25646250-2']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);  (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();  <\/script>  <\/heat> Jacob\u2019s Dream at Bethel &#8211; Held on Sunday, April 21, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Personal Note on Posting Timeline<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to believe but we\u2019re nearing the end of our 2<sup>nd<\/sup> year of reading Genesis, completing today chapter 28.\u00a0 Keep in mind that there are 50 chapters in Genesis.<\/p>\n<p><b>Background: Gen. 28: 10 \u2013 22: Jacob\u2019s Dream at Bethel<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Jacob is on the run from Esau who wants to kill him and heading to Haran, the homeland of his ancestors, in search of a wife.\u00a0 As night approaches he finds rests in place unknown to him.<\/p>\n<p>The encounter with God in a dream has a clear structure to it.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Vv. 10 \u2013 11: set the dream in the context of his journey<\/li>\n<li>Vv. 12 \u2013 15: the encounter with the Lord [Yahweh]\n<ol>\n<li>V. 12: the visual experience<\/li>\n<li>V. 13 \u2013 15: the narrative section<\/li>\n<li>Vv. 17 \u2013 22: the response of Jacob\n<ol>\n<li>V. 17 \u2013 19, 22: the cultic response<\/li>\n<li>V. 20 \u2013 21: the covenantal commitment<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>The Reading: <\/b>Gen. 28: 10 \u2013 22. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/28\"><b>http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/28<\/b><\/a><b>.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I had mentioned that the journey merely sets the context of this dramatic encounter with the God of his ancestors, the God of Abraham and Isaac.\u00a0 It is the dream and its impact on Jacob that is paramount.<\/p>\n<p>I asked the group to review just the visual aspect of the dream identifying the elements of that one aspect.\u00a0 The first element identified by Ken was the stairway to heaven.\u00a0 Heber wanted to point out that for him the image of a stairway seemed to justify the notion that \u201cheaven\u201d is up.\u00a0 His remark began our first half hour of discussion in a series of questions and comments.<\/p>\n<p>I asked the group first is the \u201cstairway\u201d going up.\u00a0 Jody recognized that the \u201cstairway\u201d has messengers going up and down. \u00a0The symbol actually is connecting heave and earth; bridging the chasm. \u00a0So often, however, what we hear or read is understood in the context of our own worldview.\u00a0 Many, if not most, Christians imagine heaven being up which is fine\u00a0 as long as they know that it is their imagination at work.\u00a0 In the dream the \u201cstairway\u201d is a symbol but so too is \u201cheaven.\u201d\u00a0 To take either literally is to flatten out the meaning of the symbol and rob the symbol of its power to communicate multiple meanings.<\/p>\n<p>As Christians the greatest news is that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 God has entered into human history.\u00a0 Mark wondered if God came down, where did he come from?\u00a0 Much later in our group discussion Mark mentioned that for a good part of his life, heaven was up, and hearing me saying something different raises questions for him.\u00a0 In his and many other\u2019s worldview are fundamental assumptions.\u00a0 One that seemed obvious to me was the assumption that God is somewhere, in a place.\u00a0 Inherent in this assumption is thinking that God is a body. \u00a0But God is not a body. \u00a0God is not in a place.<\/p>\n<p>God is not anywhere. \u00a0Everywhere is in God. I suggested that the word that might more adequately reveal God to us is the notion of presence.\u00a0 We are always present to God even though God may not always be present to us.<\/p>\n<p>When adults hear something that conflicts with their existing worldview, the implications can be quite significant; especially if the conflict is about what is central to, meaningful in that worldview.\u00a0 And often God, life\u2019s meaning, purpose, end are central and meaningful.\u00a0 For many Heber&#8217;s and\/or Mark\u2019s observations, questions are not theirs at all and for many others, they identify with Heber\u2019s and Mark\u2019s worldview.\u00a0 In a radically true sense we live in different worlds.\u00a0 These different worlds matter and bridging them seems quite significant, important to me.<\/p>\n<p>To move the discussion forward, I asked the group to focus on the narrative portion of the dream.\u00a0 What is the first thing that is communicated?\u00a0 Tim assumed that God would have been pictured at the top of the stairway.\u00a0 Such was not the case; the Lord stood beside Jacob.\u00a0 What is value in that simply observation?\u00a0 What does it mean, if anything?<\/p>\n<p>Tim went on to say that the first thing that God did was identify himself.\u00a0 Since God is one and we are many, again it seemed obvious to point out that we have many different names for God, in many different traditions and languages.\u00a0 God nonetheless is one. \u00a0The names mediate different meanings but God being mediated by the different meanings is One.<\/p>\n<p>To probe that observation a bit, I asked to whom do we pray in our Liturgy, a question I have asked hundreds of times.\u00a0 Typically, and our group was not exception, we answer God.\u00a0 Although certainly we pray to God but that isn\u2019t the common name that is used in the Liturgy; nor is it the name that Jesus taught us to use when we pray.\u00a0 Hopefully by now you might guess that in the Liturgy we pray to God the Father.\u00a0 Again a simple distinction but what difference does it make?\u00a0 Ask yourself do you have a different relationship with God than with Father?\u00a0 I do.\u00a0 Since we pray to the Father, well what about Jesus?\u00a0 Well nearly every prayer in the Liturgy ends with through Christ, with Christ, in Christ but not to Christ.\u00a0 Now that is not an all or nothing comment.\u00a0 We tend to blur these differences but they are what set us apart and what we have to offer to the global conversation.<\/p>\n<p>I made many other observations about assumptions that either are consistent with one God or are not.\u00a0 God loves all human beings because God is love; it\u2019s sort of what God does.\u00a0 Now we human beings are a very motley crowd. We differ in our religions.\u00a0 The vast majority don\u2019t believe in Jesus. \u00a0We differ racially. \u00a0 We are not all Europeans. \u00a0We have developed different cultures, etc. etc. etc.<\/p>\n<p>Although you might wonder how all this fits into the story of Jacob\u2019s dream, well that is where our discussion took us. We talked about political differences; conservatives and liberals.\u00a0 We talked about world issues, terrorists.\u00a0 I pointed out that there are good and evil in our world; human beings do awful things.\u00a0 However, only God is all good and only sin is all evil.\u00a0 Everything else and everyone else, at least as long as they are alive, are not all good nor all evil.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion to this part of our conversation I offered a personal observation.\u00a0 I want to respect Tim.\u00a0 I want to be upset with myself every time I fail to respect Tim.\u00a0 And I often want Tim to think like I think, especially when I think I\u2019m correct.\u00a0 That\u2019s life, isn\u2019t it? \u00a0Not on a global scale but on our own individual scale.<\/p>\n<p>I would like to wrap our discussion by going to v. 15.\u00a0 In this verse God says to Jacob, [to the Israelites, to Christians, to \u2026]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Know that I am with you &#8211;\u00a0 take a few minutes to wonder what is God saying?\u00a0 What is the meaning of these words spoken by God.<\/li>\n<li>Or \u2026 I will protect you wherever you go<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Place these two phrases in the context of your life as you actually experience it; in the context of the life of your family, your community, your country, your church, the world as it actually is.\u00a0 Struggle with these words from God.<\/p>\n<p>Your comments, observations, questions are welcomed.\u00a0 See \u201ccomment\u201d link below<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Personal Note on Posting Timeline It\u2019s hard to believe but we\u2019re nearing the end of our 2nd year of reading Genesis, completing today chapter 28.\u00a0 Keep in mind that there are 50 chapters in Genesis. Background: Gen. 28: 10 \u2013 &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=788\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,21,5],"tags":[28,7,18,19],"class_list":["post-788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-new-evangelization","category-scripture","tag-literal-interpretation","tag-modern-scripture-scholarship","tag-religion-and-culture","tag-scripture-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=788"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":790,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions\/790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}