Dreamy Night: Jacob & The Shepherds Vincent van Gogh s famous oil painting, The Starry Night, is really quite remarkable. During a season of complete mental breakdown, van Gogh checked himself into an insane institution. Remember, he did chop his own ear off. But it is in this turbulent state of mind that he looks outside his asylum window and begins to illustrate how he sees the magnificent starry night. Van Gogh paints the night sky with brilliant swirls of color, clouds and light. If you have ever seen this painting, it looks like a dreamy night. This painting of the night sky has captivated not only artists but also scientists. Maybe you have seen this trendy video on Facebook. Scientists have discovered that van Gogh s painting is not just a beautiful piece of art but the best solution to their equation of turbulence. Turbulence is one of the most difficult concepts of nature. It can be seen in swirling water on a pond or in the air from a jet engine. It has never been fully understood by the scientific world, and yet in his state of turbulence, van Gogh s artistic work reveals these mysterious patterns. Turbulence is just one of the mysterious aspects of our world that we cannot fully explain with mathematical equations. Like the painting The Starry Night, dreams can unravel the mysteries of our reality that we cannot fully understand. Dreams give us insight into our own turbulent worlds. Dreams can also be a place of refuge. We see in our Old Testament text this morning that Jacob has fled his home in search of a place of refuge from his older, twin brother, Esau. You may remember from last week s sermon that Jacob, a shepherd by trade, has a restless night with God before he meets his brother Esau. But this night Jacob finds a cozy place in the desert to sleep. He takes a stone, still warm from the sun, and uses it as a pillow. He quickly sinks deep into the safety of his dreamy night. There are other shepherds that we read about in Luke s gospel who are also camping out under the stars. They take turns dozing in and out of sleep, keeping watch over their sheep. But before they know what hits them, the shepherds experience their own mysterious dreamy night. The heavens are flooded with a blaze of angelic movement. I can describe to you only a 1
glimpse of this beautiful cosmic scene. Every time I sit down to write my sermon, I usually put on music that depicts the mood. This past week, I listened to an instrumental band called Explosions in the Sky. As I wrote, I kept imagining this explosive scene in the night sky that the shepherds were watching with wide eyes. There was a multitude of angels singing praises on this cosmic stage to our cosmic God. These dreamy mysterious moments moved my soul beyond words. Dreams can transform our reality. If you remember, Joseph dreamed in Egypt of the famine that would plague the earth. It was in a dream that God gave Solomon when he asked for the famous gift of wisdom. The prophet Daniel was also known for dreaming visions of future kingdoms. God has been using dreams for thousands of years to transform the lives of people. God is still using dreams today to transform our lives. God is all about the ordinary. However, God doesn t transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Rather, our extraordinary God is present with us in the ordinary. We see that Jacob is not in some temple or sanctuary or holy place when he encounters God. Jacob is sleeping on the desert ground in the middle of nowhere. He s watching these angels ascending and descending on this heavenly escalator. The ordinary, everyday places in our world are places where God chooses to work in our lives. God s glory extends to ordinary places and ordinary people. The shepherds are doing the same thing they do every night, keeping their flock of sheep in the middle of a pasture. And yet God is present. This extraordinary God has chosen to come to the ordinary, mundaneness of our world. Ordinary is the everydayness of our lives. These are the places where you can feel stuck. Maybe you re in a job where you feel trapped and useless. Maybe you are in a relationship that leaves you feeling numb. But these are exactly the places where God meets us. God meets us in our cubicles. God meets us in the kitchen cooking mac n cheese. God meets us in the hallways at school. God meets us in our beds at night. It is in these ordinary places of our lives where God chooses to be 2
present with us. No matter where anybody is in their life they are living ordinary lives. However, some lives seem to be more socially acceptable while others aren t. But there is hope for all of us, including those living on the fringes of what society finds acceptable. It is here in the margins where we find the good news. God comes down from the highest points in the heavens to the lowest points of the earth. God descends down deep to the depths of society, all the way to the lowliest of this world. Jacob and the shepherds were on the fringes of their worlds. Jacob was estranged from his own family after tricking his father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing. The shepherds were outcast too because they had one of the leastrespected occupations. There are people who are on the fringes in Dallas. They are stuck in the nightmare of financial debt. Many have chosen to seek help from title loan companies and payday lenders. These short-term loan companies are charging unreasonable interest rates that can be paid off only with another loan. Payday lending is not only destroying individuals and families but also our economy. Payday lending is legalized thievery. This is one of Wilshire s advocacy initiatives here in Dallas. We are dreaming with God in search of ways to help people stuck in the cycle of poverty. All people are a part of God s kingdom. But what about those whom society has written off for good? If you remember, Jacob was basically a Grinch who stole his brother s blessing. Jacob is like a payday lender, dressing the part in order to manipulate people for his own benefit. The shepherds aren t squeaky-clean, either. Shepherds were known for being dishonest crooks. They would often take their sheep into other people s pastures to graze illegally. So we have Jacob the thief and the shepherds carrying on illegal business practices. They are not only the outcasts of society but also the villains. And yet angels descend upon them with good news of great joy for all people. This is the scandalous story of Advent God coming to down to the lowliest in the lowly form of a baby in order to redeem all people. This is the democracy of lowliness. God s grace must reach the bottom of the barrel in order to touch the entire world. God gets to us all by starting at the bottom of society. God begins on 3
the edges and moves inward in order that all may know the good news. This is the good news that we must cling to. God is with us. God is with us all in the ordinariness and even in the worst moments our lives. The holidays can be a difficult time for many people. Loved ones are missed a little more deeply. Families get older and more distant. It is during these seasons when hope and comfort can feel absent. You can feel like you are being sucked into a black hole. The recent movie Interstellar has received some good feedback for its semi-accurate science. However, the way black holes were portrayed was not even close to what would happen in real life. I m no scientist, but real scientists have said that if a person were to fall into a black hole, he or she would be stretched and pulled like spaghetti dough. The scientific term for this is actually called spaghettification. When painful moments occur in our lives, we feel like we are falling into the depths of a black hole. Our mind and spirit experiences this spaghettification, and we can become hopeless. But dreaming with God helps us get through these seasons of spaghettification. A few weeks ago, George preached on wakefulness and the importance of going conscious in our daily lives. This morning I would like to add the importance of going unconscious. There are times when we need to get out of our heads. We need a place to break away from the turbulence in our world. One way to find refuge is to simply sleep. Doctors say that sleep is the only way to heal the body. Sleep is also the only way for the mind to process and recharge. When we dream with God, even in moments of crisis, we can find refuge and comfort. I, too, have experienced difficult, hopeless seasons. Four years ago this week, I was finishing the final details for my January wedding. One night I went to meet my father in his office and found him on the floor having a heart attack. Life can become a nightmare in the blink of an eye. I remember him being rushed to the ER and my family and me sitting anxiously in the waiting room. We waited expectantly for any good news. Helplessness and despair are some of the worst feelings a human can experience. But by God s grace, three weeks later my father walked me down the aisle to the altar. 4
Jacob, helpless and in despair, is looking for any good news for his future. Will his messy family ever be mended? And then in the dreaminess of night God speaks. Know that I am with you and will keep you. I ll stay with you. I ll protect you. Maybe your children aren t going to make it home this year. Maybe you re struggling with chronic illness. Maybe you re looking outside your window at the night sky, trying to process your turbulent world. Remember that the good news for shepherds is the good news of Advent. It s the good news for us. God is with you. God is not a remote God who is self-contained in the heavens. No, God is a God who dwells with us. Emmanuel has come, and like the shepherds we are invited to be a witness to this miracle. Jacob awakes and builds his own altar in the desert. The shepherds arise and go to baby Jesus in the manger. We are invited to worship God in any season and in any ordinary place. Wherever you find yourself today, know this. God is with you. Sleep in this heavenly peace. Amen. 5