Sermon Preached at Northbrae Community Church, July 17, 2005, by Ron Sebring

Sacred Space

Years ago when I was in Boy Scouts, our patrol became lost in the woods.  We wondered about, almost in circles, trying to find our way out and somewhere along the way, we happened upon an old graveyard.  It wasn’t very big, about a twenty foot square surrounded by an old, three-foot high, wrought-iron fence. Some by-gone family’s private gravesite.  It was overgrown with weeds, and had weather-pitted tombstones sticking up at uneven angles.

It was an exciting place for a group of boys.  We crawled over that fence and examined every part of that graveyard.  This was the kind of place about which you tell "ghost stories."  Our imaginations ran wild.  We found our way back to the campsite, and that night, around the campfire, we told our adventures to the rest of the troop.  Big curious eyes peering through the sparks of the campfire.  And of course, we dramatized it in every way we could.

The scoutmaster, quietly observing, said, "I hope you didn’t step on any of the graves."  "Why?" He explained, "Because that ground is sacred to somebody."  And we thought to ourselves, "Whoops!"

The image of that graveyard has stuck with me, as a lingering question.  What makes the ground in one spot, sacred, and the ground next to it, just a few inches away, quite ordinary?  It all looked the same. The weeds. Dirt.  All the same.  Yet in one place. Sacred. This is special.  And in another place.  Nothing special here.

Jacob had quite a life. There are many stories about him:

· Jacob cheated his brother, Esau, out of his birthright on two occasions.

· Jacob, to reconcile with his brother, had to wrestle an angel through the night.  He walked with a limp for the rest of his life because of that.

· Jacob worked seven years for his wife, Rachael, and ended up with her sister, Leah.

· He had to work seven more years for Rachael.

· In the meantime, he used selective breeding with his father-in-law’s sheep, until he had the genetically superior flock, and his father-in-law, the inferior. Not the kind of things one would want on a resume!                         TOP

But there is one event that redeems Jacob … what we might call, a "destiny dream." Upon a mountain, he put his head on a rock and fell asleep.  He dreamt of a ladder going up to heaven … angels ascending and descending. Jacob found his connection with God.  People throughout history have taken the "ladder" as a metaphor for the spiritual quest, notably St. John of the Cross.  People have written songs about that ladder.  Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, sees the ladder as the "Tree of Life" – how the Spirit of God descends, and how we make our journey to God’s glory.

When Jacob woke up from his dream, he said something very interesting.  "God was in this place, and I did not know it."  How often can that be said of us … wandering about hills, beaches, back yards?  "God was in this place, and we did not know it."

Jacob took the rock that was his pillow, and built an altar.  He anointed the altar with oil and he named the place, "Bethel," which means "House of God." "Bethel" became a famous place throughout Israel, a place of worship, a place to feel God’s Presence.  And throughout history, this ordinary place became sacred space.

I appreciated Debbie’s solo, this morning.  It was about St. Anthony, one of the Desert Fathers. He lived somewhere in the third or fourth century.  St. Anthony became fed up with all the politics in religion, and the persecution of Jews and Christians.  So he went off into the desert to be alone.  Enough people passed his way to make him famous for his great wisdom.  People flocked to him for understanding. They believed that where St. Anthony stood, it was holy ground.                                                                     TOP

The problem this created was the St. Anthony couldn’t find enough time alone. This was why he went off in the desert in the first place.  So, in order to be alone, he created a monetary.  People could come and be with him, but they had to keep silent, most of the time.  Hence, St. Anthony became the founder of the monastic movement in Christianity.

Many stories surround St. Anthony, and Debbie shared with us one of them.  St. Anthony went to deliver a sermon, but the church was empty. So he went down to the river to preach to the fishes, and here they all came, flapping their tails and waving their fins.  Carp, mouths gaping at the surface. Pike, with their long-snout noses.  Eels and sturgeons and crabs and turtles and snails.

Everyone appreciated St. Anthony’s sermon.  Wow! Such insight. Such wisdom for living. But the carp went back to their gluttonous ways.  The pike went back to  stealing.  Crabs went back to complaining.  Crabs just love to complain.

Where St. Anthony stood was holy ground. In Jacob’s terms, this was "Bethel."  All the creatures of the river had come to Bethel, but failed to notice what Jacob knew.  God was in that place, but they did not know it.

What makes a holy place is not the place.  What makes a place holy is the spirit with which we enter it.  And it is that spirit of entry that enables our "ladder dreams."

I remember the first Native American ceremony to which I was invited.  Someone slipped up behind me with a bowl of burning sage and sweet grass.  She had a feather duster, and she was dusting the smoke all over me. It was a strong smell, one of those that takes a while to get use to.  "What are you doing?" I asked.  "I’m preparing you for ceremony," she explained.                                          TOP

"The smoke goes through your aura and takes away your negativity." Me? Negative?  But I thought about that. Well?  Yes. I had had a bad week, so I invited her to do that really good.  How neat that was—a ritual to prepare the heart for sacred ground!

In China, to enter a holy temple, you pass through two figures, one on each side. They scare away whatever evil spirits may be trailing you.  In Islam, people wash their hands before entering the mosque.  Symbolic purgation. Cleansing of the heart for worship.

In Exodus, Moses took off his sandals. The Voice told him that he was standing on holy ground. When Moses constructed the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, when one first entered the courtyard, there was an altar. And then a basin.  Beyond that was the Tabernacle itself, the place of God’s Presence. The journey from outside to the center was symbolic of our journey to God.

You first make your sacrifice; then you purify your spirit.  And only then do you enter the tabernacle with the menorah, bread of Presence, and incense burner.

In Christianity, John the Baptist didn’t invent baptism. Ritual bathing was quite popular in the culture. Many ancient cultures have revered their sacred baths.  Catholics, as they enter their sanctuaries, dip their fingers in holy water and cross themselves. They purify their hearts and set the mood for their worship.

What makes a holy place is not the place.  What makes a place holy is the spirit with which you enter it.  And the spirit of the entry is what prepares the heart for our "Ladder Dreams."

When I worked in Yellowstone, during my early collage years, I often would follow the trails into the wilderness.  I was too young to know that this was a bad idea. But I must have had a special angel with me, for those lonely excursions were protected and deeply meaningful.  I found a special spot to which I returned often. I had found sacred space.  There, you could look out over Yellowstone Lake, framed by a mountain range.  To the south, just on the horizon, you could see the Teton Range. An exquisitely beautiful place!  Like Jacob’s place of dreams.

This hill wasn’t big enough to be a mountain, but it was distinctive enough that it should be on the map.  And perchance, to find a topo map. What a terrain it is!  Valleys and ridges and lakes. Mountain streams. An isolated cabin.  And there it is. My spot. And it has a name.  It is "Bethel."

How strange that is, I ponder. Appropriately named after Jacob.  But this is a strange map we have. Strange indeed!

For every place on the map is named "Bethel."                  TOP