April 20, 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n Betty Pries<\/strong><\/p>\n Text:<\/strong><\/p>\n Genesis 32:22-32<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Several years ago, I read a short snippet in a Globe & Mail article regarding personal transformation.\u00a0 The author was suggesting that there are two ways in life through which one can be transformed.\u00a0 One is to have a nervous breakdown.\u00a0 The other is to get married.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While the author was trying to be humorous, the question of how we are transformed is an important one and in broad strokes the author might be quite right.\u00a0 Though transformation often happens gradually, it is typically the result of an intense experience or an intense relationship.\u00a0 It is this intensity which forms the fire in which we are refined.<\/p>\n It is this same intensity that Jacob encounters the night he wrestles with the angel.<\/p>\n At the riverbank, Jacob is entirely alone.\u00a0 He has sent his whole family ahead of him.\u00a0 It is night.\u00a0 It is dark.\u00a0 And I imagine that he must be deep in thought.\u00a0<\/p>\n Come morning, Jacob is meant to meet his twin brother \u2013 the brother from whom he once stole a blessing.\u00a0 Earlier in Genesis we are told that Jacob is terribly afraid of what his brother will do to him.\u00a0 And so he hangs back.\u00a0 Maybe he\u2019s trying to collect himself.\u00a0 Maybe he is taking time to pray.\u00a0 Certainly he is wrestling \u2013 with himself and as we discover, also with an angel.\u00a0<\/p>\n The wrestling is so intense, Jacob is wounded.\u00a0 Jacob\u2019s hip is put out by the angel and forever after, Jacob will be forced to limp.<\/p>\n Who is Jacob?\u00a0 This is the question to which the angel wants to know an answer.\u00a0 Tell me your name, the angel says.\u00a0<\/p>\n And herein lies the difficulty for Jacob.\u00a0 If he says his name then he reveals to the angel the truth about who he is, for Jacob\u2019s name means – \u201cdeceiver<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Let us be clear about this.\u00a0 Jacob has not been a likable guy.\u00a0 He deceived his father, he stole the birthright from his brother and then he stole from his uncle \u2013 the man to whom he went for refuge.\u00a0 The sins committed by Jacob are numerous.\u00a0 One gets the sense that Jacob would do anything to get ahead.\u00a0 In fact, what Jacob has done is lived up to his name.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, standing at the river\u2026 Jacob wrestles.\u00a0 And the angel wants to know his name.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here, perhaps for the first time, no lie, no fakery, nothing can get Jacob out of the mess he is in.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jacob.<\/p>\n My name is Jacob.<\/p>\n I have been the deceiver.<\/p>\n And in this moment, the angel says to him, \u201cYou shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel, for you have struggled with both God and humans, and you have prevailed.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>And the angel blesses him.<\/p>\n Jacob confesses his name, he faces all of what his name means and in this very intense moment, he is transformed.\u00a0 He is given a new name \u2013 Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n What is interesting about this new name is that it is not disconnected from who Jacob has been.\u00a0 Yes, Jacob has been the deceiver but Jacob has also been a man of faith and throughout his journeys he has called upon God to assist him.\u00a0 The angel recognizes this.\u00a0 The angel also sees Jacob\u2019s deep desire for integrity. \u00a0Having stolen his brother\u2019s blessing the angel sees that Jacob now wrestles for a legitimate blessing.\u00a0 And the angel does not disappoint.\u00a0 He blesses Jacob and he provides him with a name that honours this search for integrity.\u00a0 \u201cYou shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with both God and humans, and you have prevailed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n And so Jacob comes away from this long night of struggle with a wound, with a blessing and with a new name.\u00a0 Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n Why this story on this day \u2013 this day of intentional conversation among members and adherents at TUMC regarding who TUMC is and who TUMC is becoming?<\/p>\n It is my belief that like individuals, each congregation has a unique calling in this world, a unique purpose.\u00a0 In its simplest form this calling is actually not at all unique.\u00a0 It is the call to preach the gospel and make disciples, to love God and to love our neighbours.\u00a0<\/p>\n But each congregation also has its own history, its own location, its own unique time and place in which this calling finds its texture, its meaning and its expression.\u00a0 This is what makes the calling unique.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jacob\u2019s story has something to say to us regarding how we discover this calling.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is interesting to me that Jacob comes away from his night of wrestling with both a wound and a blessing.\u00a0 Our call is not divorced from the fullness of who we are.\u00a0 Our call emerges from both <\/em>our wound and <\/em>our blessing.\u00a0<\/p>\n In this way, our wound is also our gift.\u00a0 After all, it is Jacob\u2019s brokenness that drives him to wrestle with the angel. \u00a0Likewise, it is our own brokenness that propels us to demand a new blessing and to receive a new name.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jacob\u2019s wound \u2013 while given to him physically by the angel \u2013 is more than his limp.\u00a0 Jacob\u2019s wound is his name, the deceiver.\u00a0 Interestingly Jacob cannot receive his new name until he has released his old one.\u00a0 It is only after Jacob confesses his identity as deceiver that he is given his new identity, Israel.\u00a0 And yet, the wound will always be a part of Jacob.\u00a0 He will limp forever and the memory of who he has been will always be with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n It bears noting that while Jacob demands a new blessing, what he has not seen is that he is already blessed.\u00a0 God has been with him despite everything.\u00a0 And God is with him again, this night of struggle.<\/p>\n I wonder, if we were to release to God the fullness of who we are \u2013 our wounds and our blessings \u2013 what would we hear back from the angels in our lives?\u00a0 What would TUMC hear?<\/p>\n TUMC too has been through seasons During this process in which we are engaged, the church is wrestling with the angel, the church is \u00a0seeking its call, asking for its new name \u2013 not literally but figuratively.\u00a0 To do so, the angel asks TUMC, What is your name?\u00a0 Who are you?\u00a0 What do you confess?\u00a0 What gift is visible behind the name you already have?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n May we, like Jacob, wrestle with the angel.\u00a0 May the angel speak.\u00a0 May our ears be open.\u00a0May this church hear its call.\u00a0 May this church receive its blessing.\u00a0<\/p>\n AMEN.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wounded and Blessed April 20, 2008 Betty Pries Text: Genesis 32:22-32 \u00a0 Several years ago, I read a short snippet in a Globe & Mail article regarding personal transformation.\u00a0 The author was suggesting that there are two ways in life through which one can be transformed.\u00a0 One is to have a nervous breakdown.\u00a0 The other is to get married.\u00a0\u00a0 While the author was trying to be humorous, the question of how we are transformed is an important one and in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-a-worship-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nof wrestling.\u00a0 In these last weeks, the Listening Group has heard about TUMC\u2019s woundedness.\u00a0 The Listening Group has also heard about the many ways in which God has blessed TUMC.\u00a0<\/p>\n