'The Lord is in this place': wilderness times and the ministry of the holy angels

At Choral Communion with Wholeness and Healing on Saint Michael and all Angels, 29.9.24 Genesis 28:16 “Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place …’” [1]. Jacob was leaving home in painful, difficult circumstances. He had robbed his brother Esau of his inheritance; this relationship was utterly broken and violence seemed likely; Jacob had also offended their father Isaac; then he was sent away by his parents to relatives in a far-off city. In the words of his mother, “until your brother’s anger against you turns away”. He was travelling by himself, through the wilderness of Canaan - alone in a harsh land, surrounded by alien peoples. Now, as the sun sets, he is weary and tired. There is, for Jacob, no bed in a nearby settlement: as a lonely traveller, it would be unwise for him to rely on the kindness of strangers. The writer of Genesis tells us, “taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place”. In th...