Jacob – katyandtheword

Sept 26: Jacob’s Dream

Living Into this God Given World: Dreams and Blessings

Genesis 27:1-4, 15-23; 28:10-17

John 1:50-51

Psalm 121

Call to Worship:

God of unlikely blessings, be with us today

Help us as we journey, give us what we need

God of dreams, go where we go

Let us journey with God today.

Confession: God, we confess that sometimes our blessings and dreams confound and confuse us, like Jacob. At times we are uncertain what it is God wants us to do next. Help us on journey. When our steps falter, be with us. When the future is uncertain, comfort us. When the world is overwhelming, help us to rest. When we realize we are imperfect, equip us. Remind us that you are our God no matter what, and help us along the way we pray, Amen.

Prayer of Confession: God, I confess that sometimes, I am like Jacob. Sometimes, I am not even asking for help, and yet you are there. Present with dreams and blessings that I did not know I needed. Please continue to give me what I need I pray. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: Be assured, your help will always come from the Lord. Know the truth, In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God you are mighty in your mercy. You do not need to be tricked into blessings, for they are abundant. Let us go into the world assured of your blessings. Amen.

Children: Talk about how Jacob thought he was tricking a blessing out of his father, but actually God gave bonus blessings to Jacob and that was the real trick. Perhaps use the illustration of an overflowing cup as to how blessings work. God fills our cup til overflowing and then it is our job to use our cup to fill other people’s cups

Hymns: There is a Wideness to God’s Mercy, Take My Life, O Jesus I Have Promised, Guide My O Thou Great Jehovah

Some Writing on Jacob being a Heel

More Narrative Lectionary Year 4

If you find these resources useful please consider contributing to my Doctorate in Ministry in Creative Writing! I have already Successfully funded year 1, and am now working on Year 2!

Seeds: 9-22 Narrative Lectionary Genesis 32: 22-30 Week 3

Genesis 32[9-13] 22-30, Mark 14:32-36, Psalm 24

More Info: https://katyandtheword.wordpress.com/2019/08/27/seeds-resource-page/

More Resources for this Week.

Bulletin

Concepts:

After wrestling with God, Jacob won’t let him go; he clings to him, seeking God’s blessing (see image at https://suzannewoodsfisher.com/faith/jacobs-wrestling-match-genesis-3226/ and https://pastorross1.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/wrestling41.jpg

You cannot walk away from encountering God without being changed (our friend Rev. Elizabeth Vandegrift); after Jacob’s confession of who he is (heel-grabber), he has no more reported conflicts with others (husband Len Hedges-Goettl’s take). See *** below under exegesis.

Night is a vulnerable time/space https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship/lectionary-calendar/eighth-sunday-after-pentecost4 Also Brueggemann below* under exegesis

What it means to wrestle with God See**Children’s sermon link below

Wrestling is a sign of intimacy; you can’t wrestle with someone you are far away from (Image of this saying at https://i.pinimg.com/736x/cb/b6/2c/cbb62c35b45738be1c8235302b1072d9–perfect-guy-wrestling.jpg

Images

https://www.creationswap.com/media/12018/wrestling-with-god

Sculptures by Nathan Rapoport at

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNQeGXiGSA-3pv_RZtVDudQrQtFB8w:1568163897181&q=Jacob+Wrestling+with+the+Angel,%22+Nathan+Rapoport&tbm=isch&source=univ&sxsrf=ACYBGNQeGXiGSA-3pv_RZtVDudQrQtFB8w:1568163897181&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjO1KngycfkAhUEtlkKHS14Cp0QsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1821&bih=810#imgrc=haSJyS7LRSBmhM: This sculptor has done many versions of Jacob and the angel/God; would be interesting to look into why; see links from Wikipedia for more about him

Gaugin https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/4940/vision-sermon-jacob-wrestling-angel

Children’s sermon**

http://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2016/09/year-c-proper-24-29th-sunday-in.html

Liturgical resources

https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship/lectionary-calendar/eighth-sunday-after-pentecost4

Opening Prayer

Original resource by Barb Hedges-Goettl; please give credit if using/adapting.

O God, you continue to reveal yourself to us.

You continue to make and keep promises to us.

You continue to graciously give to us, even when we deserve nothing.

Draw us to yourself. Touch and change us. Amen

Call to Worship

Original resource by Barb Hedges-Goettl; please give credit if using/adapting.

One: God, like Jacob, we wrestle.

Many: Like Jacob, we confess who we are.

Like Jacob, we do not let you go.

Like Jacob, we seek your blessing.

ALL: Hear and answer us, O Lord, we pray. Amen.

RITE of CONFESSION

Original resource by Barb Hedges-Goettl; please give credit if using/adapting.

*Call to Confession Sometimes we think that no one would love us if they knew all about us. But God knows all about us and continues to love us. Let us confess our continuing need for God’

*Prayer of Confession

O God, we have things we would like to keep private—if not secret. We have done—and not done–things that keep us awake at night. We don’t always treat others as your children. We don’t always honor ourselves as made in your image. We don’t always trust your grace and love. Forgive us. Remake us in your image. (Silent Confession)

*Assurance of Pardon (Romans 8:28-29, New Living Bible) Pastor Len

Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Thanks be to God for the Good News: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

Hymns

BOW – The United Methodist Book of Worship
CLUW – Come, Let Us Worship (Korean)
MVPC – Mil Voces Para Celebrar (Spanish)
SOZ – Songs of Zion
TFWS – The Faith We Sing
UMH – The United Methodist Hymnal
URW – Upper Room Worshipbook
WSM – Worship & Song, Music Edition
WSW – Worship & Song, Worship Resources Edition
SoG – Songs of Grace

Genesis 32:22–31	UMH	MVPC	CLUW	TFWS	SOZ	URW	WSM	WSW	SoG
Be Thou My Vision	451	240				180
Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown	386					148
Faith Is Patience in the Night				2211
God Be with You till We Meet Again (God Be With You)	672		347		37
God Be with You till We Meet Again (Randolph)	673
God of Many Names	105
How Can We Name a Love	111
I’ll Praise My Maker While I’ve Breath	60		123
O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go	480	255	322
Oh, I Know the Lord’s Laid His Hands on Me				2139
Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God	405	201	136
Source and Sovereign, Rock and Cloud	113
Sweet Hour of Prayer	496	248	330
The God of Abraham Praise	116	28
There Are Some Things I May Not Know				2147

Lutheran:

Blessed be the God of Israel ELW 250
Onward, Christian soldiers H82 562, UMH 575

Also

Fight the Good Fight (PCUSA blue #307)

Exegetical resources

***NL on Jacob having to name himself in a move that is both confession and a death leading to new life; http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?m=4377&post=1597

How Jacob was changed http://www.verityfellowship.org/blogarchive/2017/6/12/the-dependent-prayer-of-jacob-jacob-part-1

NL on the whole Jacob cycle (I don’t agree that the passage is about persistence; that’s as though it’s a version of let’s make a deal—see alternatives above) https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2555

Another resource covering the whole Jacob cycle. Contains images, references to other books/resources, discussion/further questions, etc. https://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20071015JJ.shtml

Buechner: https://www.frederickbuechner.com/blog/2016/10/10/weekly-sermon-illustration-jacobs-w

More compete Buechner on whole Jacob cycle http://day1.org/6297-the_magnificent_defeat

Interview of Brueggemann by Bill Moyer-video of part of interview; more in writing *https://billmoyers.com/content/god-wrestling/

Further resources: https://preachingandworship.org/search/Genesis%2032%3A22-30

#rejectedsermontitles #Jacob admits he’s a jerk

Mark 14:32-36

32 They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ 33He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. 34And he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’ 35And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36He said, ‘Abba,* Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.’

Genesis 32:22-30
22 The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’ 27So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ 28Then the man* said, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,* for you have striven with God and with humans,* and have prevailed.’ 29Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. 30So Jacob called the place Peniel,* saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ 31The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.

Jacob is the ankle grabber, the loveable thief. The one who pulls himself up…by another’s bootstrap. Its Jacob, the man who got his inheritance by cheating his father and stealing his brother’s. This is Jacob, who despite that cheating, finds God. The man who, when he sees Jacob’s ladder says “I didn’t expect to see God here.”

Jacob sees God, and knows God, and wrestles with God. How this happens we don’t really know. One minute Jacob is traveling, the next he’s wrestling God.

And, Jacob is winning, when God asks Jacob’s name, and Jacob confesses. Confession is presenting your whole self, your good and bad to God. Its admitting who you are, naming yourself to God.

But the interesting thing about confession, is that you can’t confess yourself to God, without being changed by God. Its a Murphy’s Law kind of thing. God asks, Jacob’s name, and Jacob admits its cheater, not a name to be proud of. Jacob confesses himself, his name and then literally and figuratively breaks under the strain of it.

Then, it changes, God says “No, now your name is Israel: God prevails.” God prevails and Jacob is changed by his struggle with God.

What’s amazing is that this struggle happens many times in the Bible. In the time Jesus prays in the Garden it going on both with the disciples and Jesus himself.

Jesus struggles with God, asking if he could not do it. (Don’t ask me how, but Jesus is struggling with God).

The disciples too are struggling, struggling to stay awake while Jesus prays. They are struggling to be the friends and disciples that Jesus is calling them to be. Up all night, full of wine, the disciples struggle with God.

In the end, though, Jesus gives himself to full confession. Saying “your will be done.”

The gift of faith is just the beginning. Struggle and confession are a part of the practice of faith.

That is what we are doing when we confess ourselves to God. Claiming ourselves as children and belonging to God. We struggle with claiming who we are, confessing ourselves so that God’s will can be done, so we can be the people God envisions us to be.

In that way, God calls us into being, by our very names

Jacob: The Trickster

Jacob is a loveable trickster: a character we often identify with–the loveable thief, the passionate adulterer, the rogue hero.

One who gets his inheritance by tricking his dying father to giving his blessing (i.e. will) to him instead of Esau.

He is even named as a rogue–as heel grabber is the translation of Jacob

you know the whole pull yourself up by your bootstrap culture in America? Jacob did the opposite, he pulled himself up from someone else’s bootstrap (heel). This ability, no doubt like all talents is a gift and a curse (as Adrian Monk would say). Every piece blessing is a gift, and a curse. For example, I am an extrovert, most of the time it is great, except when it isn’t 🙂 If I don’t extrovert enough during the week, I am in sore danger of extrovertly exploding over people.

Gifts are meant to be used, when you write or sing or extrovert, its both a duty and a joy. You don’t do it for recognition, you do it because you have to. In that way it can be a blessing…and a curse.

Jacob has stolen Esau’s inheritance…last week our lectionary covered the Abrahamic Blessing the promise to father a nation and spread the blessing through it…when Jacob took this blessing he did not know that this blessing carried with it more than wealth. This is a blessing to be used…or its a curse.

Why do we love rogues anyway, what is it that makes them so fun? There is something about a rogue that means, just because they don’t follow the rules doesn’t mean they don’t have a heart. These are the human wish for redemption, our ongoing story for hope…

So, here is Jacob, on the run from his brother Esau who at best will be really, really mad for Jacob stealing his inheritance, and at worst is out for blood. He is out in another country, in the middle of the desert when he dreams…

He dreams of Angels. Angels who (we know) are not Precious moments cutesy babies, but are something scary to behold. They are going up and they are coming down, they are in-between, in short they are everywhere. This must have been scary enough.

Then God stands next to him (that must have been terrifying) and says I am the Lord of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac” remember, this is Jacob who just took all of his father’s blessing, so when God says he is Isaac’s God, it carries much weight! Then God promises that Jacob will father nations, that his descendants will own the land and that they will spread like dust North, South, East and West. God promises “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.””

What does Jacob take out of this conversation? That its too much? Does he see God’s promise as a threat (you WILL father nations) of responsibilities? Does he refuse to hear what it is that God is saying?

Jacob says…probably in a quiet voice of wonderment “I didn’t know God was here.” He didn’t know that God was with him. He didn’t know that God sought and found him, that God was his keeper. Jacob ought to be the last candidate for God to be with, tricking his way into inheritance, but yet, God was still within him. He didn’t know. He thought he had to be right, and brave and good for God to love him.

I didn’t know God was here…There are many places where we don’t know God is present.

1 in 10 people have mental illness, 1 in 10 struggles with addiction, 1 in 5 women have been sexually abused, and more than that have been victims of abuse. If we needed to be “whole” for God to be found, then about half of us would be statistically disqualified (actually that’s fuzzy math, but you get the idea)… For those who are Spiritual but not Religious, they might say I didn’t know God was here feeling that we make impossible requirements for answers and perfection.

….But we know our God is not a fixing God though. God does not simply take us apart and put us back together as new people. Our God is a creating and blessing God, working with what he made, as it exists in the world. God is present where we are, improving on what God has given us as gifts and blessings. Identifying who we are in one word, and blessing us with the next. God is like a “strengths-based counselor” building on who we are and what we do, so that we might become a better version of ourselves. Building off Jacob’s trickster nature and naming him as God’s own in order to make Jacob wonderful….

Church should be a place to do this, a place for broken rogues, tricksters and scoundrels, a place of hope. It should be a place where we all don’t know that God could be here. A place where we welcome people who know nothing, after all we know nothing too. God tends to show up in the ways we least expect it (in tricksters, in a women, in a stable, on the cross)…we could all know nothing together.

After All…

God could be found here too.