Sermon: “Jacob’s Ladder; Your Ladder - A Visual Exploration” by Sarah Gallop on 7/19/26

Good morning! It’s wonderful to be here with all of you on this lovely, less smokey, day.
I chose this particular Sunday to preach because we had tickets to Hootie and the
Blowfish last night, and I knew we’d be in town. Really, it was Hootie without the
Blowfish, because it was just Darius Rucker. Any Hootie fans here? He was great! His
music has shifted away from pop rock to Christian and Gospel.

Anyway, what I didn’t know, and happily discovered, is that one of the lectionary choices
for today is a favorite of mine: Jacob’s Ladder. That was some kind of sign I figured, so I
chose it to focus on. The full story of Jacob’s life as laid out in the Book of Genesis is
richly complex with themes of greed and deception, divine election, struggles with God,
betrayal and forgiveness, spiritual transformation, and ultimately Jacob’s ascendance as
the foundational patriarch of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. And then, get this, he lives to
147 years old! There must be a million sermons written about the various aspects of his
life. Mercifully for you, I will focus just on his dream about the ladder.