Isolation and loneliness are frightening. Ongoing social restrictions make them a reality, for many. Today’s reflection looks at a relevant part of Hebrew scripture that, hopefully, helps bring us fortitude.
This week, restrictions on social contact are tightened again. We are told it will be a long haul, probably long into 2021. How does this make you feel?
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Whatever the response, we are in a strange place. It is a place where many of us can less easily connect with family and friends. For some, isolation and loneliness will be a present reality or a future fear.
The Festival of Michael and All Angels is on 29th September. A reading used in Christian churches is the story of Jacob’s Ladder, from the Book of Genesis. In this story, our ‘hero’ Jacob is on the run, having cheated an older brother who vows to kill him. En route to the safe place his parents have recommended, the exhausted, frightened Jacob falls asleep with his head on a rock. He dreams of a ladder or ramp reaching from earth up to heaven, with God’s messengers ascending and descending.
Read the section from Genesis, Chapter 28
The image of this dream has inspired many artists. One depiction, by William Blake, is above. We remember the picture of the supernatural ladder populated by angels, perhaps more than the words of the story. The fascination is not surprising: vast ladders, heavenly beings and the idea that the earth we sense and the heavens we yearn for are connected. It is a powerful message.
The heart of Jacob’s dream is a marriage of this stunning vision with the personal voice of YAHWEH, God, offering presence, help and blessing to one in exile. Jacob’s response is to be in awe of the Divine presence and the things communicated.
His perspective changes.
This ordinary, indeed undesirable, place where he lay down to sleep has become special. Here, his Lord has met him.
Think about the places where you spend your time, day by day. They may not be ideal, either. Places of work, or routine. Those familiar four walls. Places of isolation, anxiety - or haven! Today, when you remember you are in those places, try actually or imaginatively speaking the words of Jacob, with wonder and hope:
“Surely the Lord is in this place – and I did not know it!
How awesome it is!
This is none other than the house of God,
and this is the gate of heaven.”
Pray or think about others and yourself for a while, in silence.
We ask that however isolated or anxious we might feel, we know that the place where we are is the gate of heaven, populated by angels. The Divine is present in love and blessing. Amen.