Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home    

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

                Have you ever taken a trip to see your childhood home?

How have you reacted- with comfort, concern, despair or even cried? Often when we see the home from years before we respond with mixed emotions for it is not the house we see before us, but the memories that come to the front of our hearts and minds. Memories of how we shared special times with our families at that place as we grew older. Memories of relatives and friends coming and going in time. Memories which will never be repeated. It was a house and a home for a time, but home was wherever you established relationships which in turn made new memories.

                When we think of home are we comforted, cared for and loved? We know that for many people home is not this place where loving caring people support and nurture you. It is a place of tears and hopelessness. Yet there is a place that is a forever home and with an eternal family that longs to grow larger. The church. The earthly church is a spiritual family that foreshadows the true, heavenly community for which we long for. For the faithful people of the church, our heavenly home is what we should be yearning for, preparing to see and experience and of course, fill us with hope.

                Paul wrote of the need to be with God and yearned for the eternal home which has been prepared. (2 Cor. 5:1-4) Our true citizenship is in heaven and Christ waits for us. But how do we prepare for this eternal dwelling place? We look to the church for support in times of crises, but are we willing to offer this support to others? The church is a foreshadowing of God’s great goal to create a united, like- minded people made up of every tribe and nation who will worship before God’s throne. This is the reason why we follow Jesus’ command known as the great commission. Matthew 28:19-20.

REFLECTION:

When was the last time you felt ‘homesick’, that is remembering life when you lived as a child, or youth? When young, children make many pictures and have many accomplishments. Often, parents will put these on the refrigerator so that the whole family can see these items. This often is seen as a sign of family support. Imagine if God had a refrigerator; would your pictures be on it?

In faith we believe God calls us to serve, to love others as Jesus taught and to share the message that is in our hearts—loving others. If we believe we need also to know that one day we will be called home by God to rest in heaven, where it is not a lonely place—but a place with the comforts of home- only better! God is in control and all we need do is sing his praise.  Are you yearning to go home one day?

PRAYER

Thank you God that you call us to be like families as we worship and work within our churches. Help us to know that you love us and that we do the work necessary for the sake of your story being told again and again. Hear these prayers as we pray for homes, families and the churches which serve as the family of God for each of us. Amen.

Resource:  (based upon) Kay Swatkowski “Make Yourself at Home: Discovering the Heart of the Church” Discovery House Publishers, Our Daily Bread Ministries, 2016 (ch.10)    

PLEASE NOTE: Next Reflection sent out July 11!