[Jacob] was afraid, and said, 'How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, the gate of heaven.' Genesis 28:17.

A little jester was too small and lame to be a soldier, and thus entertained the royal family with his tumbling and juggling. One day a priest found him in the cathedral - up before the high altar - going through his entertainment routine, and he asked him why he was behaving thus in God's house. The jester replied: 'It is all I have, the only gift I know how to give. And because I love God so, I wanted to offer him my best.'

Francis of Assisi heard that tale and took the jester as his model. He resolved to be God's juggler, his holy fool, celebrating by word and deed the joy of the Lord.

Once when David got carried away in his worship, his wife Michal 'despised him in her heart'. So we need a word of caution: white Anglo-Saxons are more akin to Michal than to David when it comes to enthusiasm. They'll have to be 'eased' into true exhilaration!

But all authentic worship has an element of mystery too. Jacob at Bethel in the story of Jacob's Ladder experienced this awe. The appropriate response to awe is silence, and wonder. And there is healing power in quietness and rest. There should be silence after the reading of Scripture, and maybe at other times.

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider who you are and what you have done, my soul sings, 'How great you are!' Amen.