With the church presumed to be the one safe haven and the ark in this fable, Sarah sneaks in the back and looks set to light the place up.
More broadly, the hymn is commonly used as a funeral song, as it retells Jacob's story from Genesis 28:11—12, which relates him finding a place to die and dreaming of a great ladder to heaven also, of course, the source of the title of.
Like Ed, Ali was able to stray from the pack.