"The Gate of Heaven" (July 23 2023)
Sermon title: "the gate of heaven"
Scripture: Genesis 28:10-19a
Date: July 23 2023
Location: United Church of Hyde Park
0. greetings
Today, we will read this scripture through cross-cultural readings. And hopefully, this effort can bring us new perspectives and further understanding of the scriptures.
1. “Stairway” in Amis’ Genesis story
(time of the beginning) (Taiwan)[1]
There are 16 aboriginal tribes so far
recognized by the Taiwan government. Because their languages, cultures,
patterns of textures, and symbols are original and distinguished from one another.
There are still 32 tribes on the waiting list to be recognized officially by
the central authority.
Amis is one of the 16 tribes. Today I
would like to share two interesting stories from “The Book of Genesis of Amis”.
The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Tokyo, Japan (東京人類學會雜誌)[2]
published an article in 1910, titled 台湾のプユマ蕃族の族の族制一班 (Taiwan no puyuma banzoku no zoku no zokusei
ichi han) (Japanese)
(Group 1 of the Puyuma tribe in Taiwan) (English), collects these stories.
Once upon a time, there was a couple, Sabato
Loku and Bauaihabu. They climbed down the golden
stairway from heaven to the Mountain Taurayan (三笠山). Gura and Nakau
are their children. One day, a vast flood came, Gura and Nakau
jumped up to a wooden mortar. They drifted for a while and finally docked at Montain
Lagasan (拉仔山). And they lived
there afterwards, have their children and offspring. And they started to call
themselves Amis (阿美族), which means
“human”.
Also in ancient times, there was a
very handsome young man, whose name is I-Du (意德). He married a
woman who was very poor. He lived with her and her family. One day, he said he
would like to visit his relative in his hometown. The handsome man, I-Du,
revealed that he is a son of god, and he must go back to heaven. Heaven is his
hometown, where he was from. That is the place that pregnant women could not
go. His wife insisted on going with him. This son of god, the husband, asked
his wife, “never say a word nor makes a sound” when you climb on the stairway
toward heaven, you must be quiet. However, his pregnant wife was too tired from
climbing up the stairway and took a huge breath when taking a break. I-Du,
the son of god, heard it and kicked down the stairway. His wife fell and died.
After that, there is the rainbow in the sky. The rainbow is the stairway that
falls down from heaven to the earth. Amis people calls it, “The Trap of I-Du / The Trap of Husband”
(意德的陷阱).
Women are the head of household in this tribe till today.
2. Jacob and “his dream”
Before Jacob’s dream and story today,
there was another critical incident happening. Jacob set a trap and earned the
blessing of first-born son from his father, Isaac. Esau was supposed to be the
person receiving that blessing, but Jacob went hunting and faked his identity,
and finally got the blessing. Both Isaac and Esau were shocked after they found
out they were cheated. Esau hated Jacob and would have liked to kill him after
Isaac’s death. Jacob escaped from his home and was on his way to his uncle,
Laban., who he never met.
Jacob was on his run. He was alone by
himself.
“Taking one of the stones of the
place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place.” (Gen 28:11).
Scholars told us “the place” here is probably not a ordinary place, but
a shrine, a location of the temple. Jacob entered a sacred zone and picked up a
sacred stone for his night's stay. It is not a coincidence. If you are on your
run, any protection from the divine could mean a lot for you, even just for one
night. In Jacob’s dream, he saw angels of God ascending and descending on the
stairway.
2.1 Elements that are in common
A stairway (not a “ladder”) or a ramp is
a vital element of Mesopotamian temple towers (ziggurats). The deity was
thought to appear to communicate to the worshippers from above the towers (JSP,
p. 54). The stairway can link between heaven and earth, and a temple on the
earth could be convincing as the axis. Jacob was in that temple and axis that
night.
Sacred pillar was an important element
of ancient worshiping, especially in Canaan, with idolatry. Abraham Ibn Ezra
(1089-1167) thinks that sacred pillars were prohibited only if they were
erected to the honor of other gods. More likely is a midrash that sees in the
practice a vestige of an early form of worship that was later proscribed (JSP,
p.54).
2.2 The Lord is like no other gods
What made this story different from
other Babylonian Mesopotamian and Canaanite stories is that the Lord, Adonai, not
other gods, reveals him/her/themselves in front of Jacob, on the stairway,
above the temple tower in his dream. This is the first time Jacob met this God.
Adonai promised Jacob the patriarchal
blessing, from Abraham to Isaac, and now to Jacob. The Lord promised what Jacob
wanted by setting up the trap on his father. More importantly, this god pledged
to be with Jacob, wherever he goes, “and will bring you back to this land,
for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Gen
28:15).
Jacob responded and testified, “Surely
the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!...How awesome is this place!
This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
(Gen 28:16-17).
In verse 18, Jacob did a liturgy of
worship, by anointing the stone and making it a sacred pillar. And he gave that
place a new name.
Luz and Bethel
Luz the original name, but the new meaning for Jacob is the place where he encountered God, a place of promise and protection, a sanctuary after the name of Bethel was given to Luz[, or called Bethel-Luzah, a compound name used in LXX A and LXX B, the Greek Old Testament, Septuagint] (Luz in ABD). This city might be near the common boundary between Joseph and Benjamin. That location was also the land of the Hittites, which refers to the territory of Syria or Lebanon (Judge 1:26).
3. editors and audiences of Genesis
The audiences of the Book of Genesis
are across different time periods. But, for those Jewish people who were exiled
to Babylonian Empire, Jacob’s dream and experience are pretty important. They
were captured by a foreign power; they lost their kingdom and privilege, even
their identity. They tried everything they could to. They also tried to claim
the blessing of others and assumed that they could make a difference. But no.
It was in that very tough moment God
appeared. Through the common elements used in different religions, especially
from the dominant power, the Babylonian and Canaanite temple towers, the God of
Israelites appeared to his/her/their people and provided protection and
comfort. It was full of surprises. And this God seems not to care about all the
wrongdoings. God cares about the fugitive, just like those on their runs and
the exiled Israelites. Later, Jacob was given a new name and identity by God. “You
shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,[c] for you have striven with God
and with humans[d] and have prevailed.” (Gen 32:28)
4. our readings of “Stairway to
heaven” and “Gate of heaven”
For us, the reader and audiences at
the United Church of Hyde Park in 2023, I think there are many different
meanings today. We are now worshiping in this place, the sanctuary. This is a
place where everyone is welcome, and people can find their protection and need.
Last week, our senior minister, Rev.
Hill, mentioned the incident. The Progressive Rainbow Flag on the church's main
entrance was taken away by an unknown person a day after the Chicago Pride
Parade. It was the second time the rainbow flag went missing in 18 months since
we became an Open and Affirming congregation. We declared here is a safe place
for all God’s children, including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and
queer. We put the progressive rainbow flag back this past Wednesday. By doing
so, we continue to send a strong message to our community, who we are, and what
we do in this sacred place.
Some of us who read the church weekly
newsletter might have known one of our denominations, the United Methodist
Church, is experiencing another conflict regarding accepting LGBTQ people,
ordaining LGBTQ clergies, and facilitating same-sex marriage. So far, around
20% of the Methodist churches have voted to leave our denomination because
these 6,000 congregations do not want to treat all God’s children equally.[3] Our
church belongs to the Northern Illinois Conference, and nine congregations have
left for the same reason.
The last national wide conflict was
slavery and abolition in the 1840s. The Methodist churches split into two large
bodies. Now, we are expecting many LGBTQ siblings to be on the run. They are
running away from the homophobic church cultures and a place of hatred. Are we
ready to be one of the sanctuaries that provide our LGBTQ siblings protection, love,
and comfort? For some people, who removed the rainbow flag, the rainbow flag
might be a symbol of disgrace. But for us, it is a sign of covenant, originally
between God and Noah, and now between our church and all God’s children, who
carry various God’s images.
I want to close with a brief
conversation with a lady at the Open Breakfast yesterday. Some of us talked to
her yesterday too. Every last Saturday of the month, Open Breakfast is a place
of food, drink, and community. The customers yesterday were double the number
in June. We did not do this alone. We connect with several churches in Hyde
Park and provide fresh meals and food pantries together. In the past two
weekends, someone delivered clean clothes, pants, and shoes to our church’s
door. There were 12 items we displayed at the breakfast, and nine of them were
taken and utilized now.
The lady told us she always walked
around our building; yesterday was her first time entering our church. She
enjoyed the pancakes and sausages very much. She also asked for a copy of the
Upper Room. On her way out from the ramp, she also mentioned that she kept
visiting our little free library. And the books there enrich her life. She said,
and I quote, “This is a place of God, a place of love and warmth.”
Let us pray. May the Holy Spirit guide us and help us to
continue exploring new meanings of Jacob’s dream in our personal and
congregational life. Amen.
[1]
Summarized and recreated based on the followings sources, https://ihc.cip.gov.tw/EJournal/EJournalCat/32
and https://atayalthesis.wordpress.com/2016/08/28/rainbow-bridge/
[2] https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/ase1887/-char/ja
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