Dream Spirituality Comes Home To Local Congregations

Surely the Lord is in this Place

by Laura Huff Hileman

Genesis 28:10-22

Jacob awakes from his desert dream… there had been shining angels moving on a ladder between heaven and earth… the familiar words of the covenant… and most amazing, the voice of God promising unfailing presence. Jacob feels almost unbearably blessed. Powerfully disturbed. He marvels, "Surely the Lord is in this place — and I did not know it! This is the gate of heaven!" Moved by his dream, Jacob consecrates the spot with oil and prays a vow of faithfulness. And he goes on his way an altered man, permeated by a sense of mystery that leaves him feeling edgy and strange.

If Jacob had been in the neighborhood of Second Presbyterian Church, Nashville — or any of the growing number of churches that offer dream groups -he would have had a place to share his dream. He'd find a group of people who believe that our nightly dreams, like all parts of God's creation, have their place and purpose. What happens in a dream group? We explore our dreams together with the kind of everyday awe the manna-gatherers must have felt, certain that there is a divine presence here that guides us, challenges us, loves us, knows us -and gives us the bread we need for today's spiritual journey. We understand that all dreams come in the service of healing and wholeness, especially the nightmares. And because dream language is symbolic — always carrying multiple meanings, and always bridging the known and the unknown — we'd encourage Jacob to approach his dream less like a divine pronouncement and more like a poem. No matter how much Jacob might want one pithy message, we'd try to stay open to the dream's unfolding layers of meaning and hold them lightly. And we'd help each other remember that responding to the dream is more important than coming up with a tidy interpretation or a clear plan of action.

Perhaps this intuitive, open-ended work would exasperate the practical Jacob. But he wouldn't leave the dream group empty-handed. If he'd been taking notes, they'd read something like this:

ladder: connection between spiritual and earthly. Shows how God and I are available to each other? Not an organic image like a mountain or tree to climb; maybe I should pay attention to the rungs -clear steps — that God invites me to take now, steps that may not feel "natural" as I move with new perspective towards wholeness. Also — since every dream image depicts a part of me — this ladder suggests I have a built-in access to God, from God… a birthright. Amazing.

angels: God's agents who move between divine and human worlds. I too am in an in-between-place now: between home and Laban, in a literal and emotional desert. Perhaps the "God's agent" part of me, like the angels, is alive and moving even here — even though I'm a thief and a liar, running for my life.moving up and down-Maybe this meeting space between me and God is a place I can traverse freely, even continuously. Have I been here all along? Or only now?

God standing beside me: Scary, thrilling, amazing: God is speaking a personal word in my ear. I feel known. Until now, God's been a concept… but this feels real.

Words of covenant: God's blessing will still come through me, despite my actions. Vastness and connectedness: these two aspects of God are anchored in me.

"offspring:" descendants; also any fruitful actions and attitudes that carry blessing

Land: God-given homeland; also the place I belong, maybe right here — this ladder, this desert, this disorienting holy ground — the "gate of heaven."

After working with a dream we consider ways to honor and pray with the dream images in readiness for whatever comes next. Jacob, knowing that something was called for, poured oil over his stone pillow. Such a gesture is a response of gratitude and faithfulness. It sends a message to the image-of-God in our unconscious saying, essentially, "Here I am." Now Jacob, open to blessing and newly aware of God's living presence, might see other encounters — with Rachel and Leah, his twelve sons, the stranger at Penuel, and finally Esau — as ladder places, those holy spaces where his story and God's story for him and all of Israel, move and meet.

And for us? When we attend to our dreams, open to "God's forgotten language" of symbol, we too can discover that dreamlife is holy ground. It is the place where God's whole-making, soul-making imagination surges through the wilderness of our unconscious, and we become aware of God's transforming presence.

Laura Huff Hileman, a member of Second Presbyterian Church, Nashville, is certified in dream spirituality from the Haden Institute. She is available to teach church-based dreamwork: contact her at for more information.