12,13 Mar -- A House with no Walls

The readings for Mon 12 and Tues 13 are -- Gen 27:30-29:12; Ps 9:13-20; Prov 2:11-15; Mt 10:21-42.

As far as I know, none of us actually did it. But we talked about doing it when we were teenagers. The idea was to ring up someone at random and ask to speak to Steve Wall. Of course the response would be that there was no Steve Wall there. Then we would ask to speak to Mary Wall. After a similar response we would ask: "Are there any walls there?" When the unsuspecting victim said no, we would yell: "Well you'd better get out of there quick because the roof is about to collapse!"

When Jacob awoke, his first words were: "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." (Gen 28:16) Sometimes I have been surprised to encounter God in a place and at a time when I wasn't expecting it. But God is everywhere of course. Perhaps I should have been more expectant and less surprised.

Jacob's next words were: "What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God." Then later: "This stone that I have set set up as a marker will be God's house." A house with no walls! Though we may sometimes call a church building "the house of God", God is not confined by any walls.

Jacob called the place Bethel, which means "House of God". Our nursing home is called Bethel. (See web link in the column on the right.) That was the name of the property when we acquired it over 55 years ago. We've always thought it a particularly appropriate name in view of the ministry we exercise there. Our mission is "to make a positive difference to aged Australians through the provision of excellent care expressed within a Christian framework". Quite often people make comments like "surely the Lord is in this place". We work hard to ensure that people continue to say this and never add: "...and I did not know it."