Jack Hardaway
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A place to call home.
People to call family.
That was all that Jacob wanted.
Connections. Being connected. Communion.
And he would do anything to make it happen.
And that was what got him in trouble.
Homeless and on the run.
He tricked the wrong people.
He gambled and lost everything, looking for love in all the wrong places, as the song goes.
He lost his home.
He lost his family.
All he had left were dreams.
And a borrowed stone to use for a pillow.
Dreams of home.
Dreams of family.
Rock Bottom, with a borrowed stone for a pillow.
God found him.
God found him in his dreams, where he couldn’t run, where he couldn’t try to trick those who loved him out of anything else anymore.
It was what the Celtic saints called a thin place, where Creator and creature touch.
Turns out we can’t trick God.
God is more tricky yet.
The Ladder, with the all those angels of God ascending and descending.
The ladder connecting heaven and earth, connecting everything, an overload of connection, an overflowing of communion, the cup runneth over with the too muchness of God.
Be careful what you dream of.
And then Jacob hears those words, words of home, words of family, words of promise.
Of course Jacob tries to make it a bargain, “If you do all that then I’ll believe, then I’ll follow.”
Jacob had some more learning to do, but that is another story.
That affinity between God and Jacob.
A homeless trickster, stopping at nothing for connection.
I think the story of faith can be read to say the same thing about God.
God looking for a place to call home.
God looking for people to call family.
God, homeless and on the run.
God dreaming of home and family.
God willing to risk everything for the sake of communion with the cross of Jesus being God’s ladder, the cross is Jacob’s ladder, connecting what was lost, communion pouring forth.
Jacob and God.
God and Jacob.
They are both up to something, tricky, and determined to make it happen no matter the cost.
Love will prevail.
Communion will bridge all divides.
All will be at home.
All will be family.
Live the dream.
Be God’s family.
Be God’s home.
Be at home.
Be family.