“How Awesome Is This Place”

“How Awesome Is This Place”

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down. He dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the LORD stood beside him and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. . . .." Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, "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." (Genesis 28:10-19a)

As I read this passage over and over last week in preparation for my sermon on Sunday, I was again reminded that all ground is Holy Ground, all places are awesome and every place we find ourselves has the potential to be “the house of God, The gate of Heaven,”  and every experience an opportunity to know God.  I share two of these places and experiences with you.

Last Saturday, July 16, Lay leaders and clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama gathered at The Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham to worship and to elect a new Diocesan Bishop to succeed our Current Bishop, Henry Parsley.  Our first act was to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, or Holy Communion.  The beautiful Cathedral with red hangings and vestments of the clergy and candles on the altar truly allowed us to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit.  That power of God was so strong that you could feel it and touch it and taste it.  This simple but powerful worship experience confirmed for all of us that “surely the Lord is in this place, it is none other than the House of God.” 

In the powerful presence of God’s Holy Spirit, we then went on to elect our current Bishop Suffragan to become the Eleventh Bishop of Alabama.  A life changing experience of the Presence of God in the lives of all who participated.

The second place and experience I want to share with you is the trip to Zion National Park in Southern Utah which I made with my son, Seth, earlier last week.  The beauty and grandeur of this place named by the Mormons after the Holy mount of God in Israel is overpowering, especially when shared with loved ones.  There is even a court of the patriarchs with peaks named after the same Abraham, Isaac and Jacob referred to in the scripture with which I opened this column.  Seth and I hiked a trial that took us a thousand feet above the floor of the canyon and saw the beauty and felt the power of God’s marvelous creation.  “Surly the Lord is in this place, how awesome is this place, it is none other than the house of God, the gate of Heaven.

My prayer for all of us is that we go through life, always open and expectant of entering the presence of God, even when we least expect it.

Faithfully,

Ben Alford