2 Samuel 7:10“…and I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed…”
The Bible has countless references to HOME. They begin in Genesis and continue through the New Testament. So what is home? I’m not a Biblical scholar or seminary trained…so I’ll share some of my thoughts on the subject.
Home can be the place you grew up, the place where you currently reside or a place you long to be. It can be a country, a city, a building, a room or somewhere that exists only in your mind, a place that you have yet to find….it’s most often associated with a person or people…and it might not even be a place at all.
When you think or talk about the place you consider home, strong feelings generally come to the surface. The idea of home generates emotions, usually positive and sometimes negative. I want you to think about home and then think about how you feel.
I feel fortunate because there are four places I consider home. These are places I long to be, places I want to spend more time, places that give me feelings of security and belonging….Archbold, where I grew up, Colombia, where I lived for nearly three years and have a special connection (for obvious reasons), and my house on 145th Terrace in Country Walk…I have found memories of and feelings for each place but for me it’s not because of the building but because of the other people that were a part of my life during my time there. I’ll get to what I consider to be my 4th home a bit later.
When I think of each, there is a rush of memories and emotions….most positive and some not as pleasant.
Archbold – The place I grew up. It’s where you don’t lock your house and can leave your keys in the car overnight. I have fond memories of the house I grew up in and farm I was raised on and the town where I went to church and school. But it’s also about the people I grew up with…my parents, brother and sister, my aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents…and my friends and the time we spent together. I had some good friends, loved attending Zion Mennonite and participating in youth activities. There was and continues to be a place where much of my family and the ones that care about me most live. Much of my family still lives there and I truly enjoy going back to visit. But it’s also the place where a small kid didn’t fit in with the “popular” kids and was often left out, though my feelings have since changed, it was a place that at the time I couldn’t leave quickly enough.
Colombia – Obviously this is where I met Patricia and where we spent our courtship. So, I’m kind of obligated to include this in my list. Seriously, I often mention to people that it’s my second homeland. It’s where Patricia’s family still lives and a place that I am fortunate to visit often for work and vacation. But it’s also the place I had to get up at 5am each morning to go to the first of my three jobs that started at 5:45. And the place I didn’t often get home until 7 or 8pm. I needed three jobs I needed to pay the bills and my large student loans. There was a lot of work and sacrifice…and this is where, as an American with red hair and blue eyes, I sometimes felt discriminated against and found it very difficult to blend in…but it’s also a place where I developed some great lifelong friendships and where some of my best friends still live. Nevertheless, it was an overwhelming positive experience made possible by family and friends that were there to support and love me.
14683 SW 145 Terrace – This is where I currently live. This house has a special place in my heart. It’s the first property Patricia and I have owned but it’s also the place we brought our children home to after they were born. It’s where the people I love most as a father and husband live. It’s where I wish I spent more time because my work takes me away. It’s a sanctuary for me. I place I can escape from the world. The building will always be special but it’s really more about the people. This house without my family wouldn’t be a home…but my family in a different house would still be home to me. Home for me is more about the people than the structure. Home for me is anywhere I am with Patricia, Tea and Jonas….and the place I am able to spend time with those I care about the most.
Each place brings feelings of nostalgia. These are places I’d like spend more time and places like to live closer to. There are great memories but not all of the memories are of things I’d like to re-live and that’s okay. Home is not a perfect place and it doesn’t need to be. Everything I did and experienced in each place has played an important part in making me the person I am today. There are things about each that I like and things that I wish were different. Archbold….if you’ve ever been to Archbold you’d know that there is absolutely nothing to do and in the winter it’s really cold…over the holidays the wind chill was well below zero Fahrenheit. Colombia….this is a place that I wasn’t able to stay because as a foreigner and due to the economy at the time, I couldn’t get a job that would support a family. The security there was also an issue. Miami….honestly it’s too far from family for both Patricia and myself but it’s where God has brought us. Nevertheless, at times we wish we lived closer to family.
So, a place doesn’t have to be perfect to be a home….but in the end it has to be a place that you can identify with, gives you a feeling of belonging and a sense of security….safety from the outside world.
Why is home so important? The idea of home isn’t something unique to us now in 2009. There are numerous references to the word or idea of home throughout the Bible. There are stories about people who were removed from the homes, people who were trying to find their way home, people who were invited into others’ homes or invited in strangers themselves. There are the stories in Genesis of Adam and Eve being cast out of the garden of Eden and Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt. There is the story of the prodigal son returning home. At Christmas time we always remember the Christmas story where Mary and Joseph were looking for a place to stay…a home. I often think that the stable must have held a special place in the hearts well after that night. It was a home for them…even if for only one night. When home is talked about in the Bible it even includes the place we all want to and hope to go after we leave this world, heaven. I personally don’t think this is a coincidence.
What makes home so special? Home is a place where one feels a sense of belonging, a place where one finds others that they identify with or share common beliefs with. Home is a place where one finds family and friends, a place that offers some security….a sanctuary from the outside world.
Because of this, home is not necessarily the place where you eat and sleep and it’s not always a place you own or rent. It can be the place you work, a place you vacation or go to recharge your batteries or a place where you hang out with friends. It doesn’t even have to be a place. It could be anywhere you get together with those you consider family.
Now this takes me to the 4th place I consider home. HMC!
It’s not so much the building but the entire package. Sure there are things I’d like to change about HMC but there are also things that I like just the way they are. In the end, I feel a sense of belonging, HMC is a safe place that gives me refuge/sanctuary from the outside world. I’m not going to ask for a show of hands to see who considers HMC a home. Some likely do while others simply consider this a place they come on Sundays.
In much the same way that Martha (in Luke 10:38) SLIDE 9 opened her home to Jesus, we need to do everything in our within our power to make this a welcoming place for those that attend here regularly or occasionally…those that are members and those that are not…those that have never attended, those that are new to the Homestead community and those that have lived here their entire lives here. If we are to be vibrant church we need to do everything we can to make this a place where each and everyone of us as well as those that have never set foot in this church feel welcome….feel a sense of belonging and see this as a place that provides some safety/sanctuary from the outside world.
Luke 10:38 – “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.”
This isn’t something that just happens. It requires a great deal of work from each of us to make this house a home and sustain it. It requires open hearts and minds, love, compassion, understanding, compromise and many, many other things. We each have different gifts which can and should be used…it is up to each of us. We can’t sit back and let others take the lead. Just as in a family, each of us has something to offer and together each person’s contribution will determine the kind of home we have here. We need to work to make it a welcoming place. We each have a serious responsibility to our part.
The good news is we don’t have to do this on our own. God in his infinite wisdom has sent us to some help. What is this help you might ask?
The Holy Spirit….In the same way some have and others are still looking for a home, the Holy Spirit is also looking for a home. That home is not a building, that home is in each of us…in fact in each person on earth. If you have accepted Christ as your Savior you have the Holy Spirit in you. However, in the same way one has to work to make a house a home and maintain it as such, each of us has to work to make ourselves a welcoming place for the Holy Spirit to reside and a place where the Holy Spirit can do its work. Because we are HMC, the more that the Holy Spirit resides in each of us, the more the Holy Spirit resides in HMC. The more that the Holy Spirit resides here at HMC, the more of a welcoming home it will be for each of us and those that reside in our community. SLIDE 10 In Proverbs 3:33 God says that he ”blesses the home of the righteous.”
Home is a place each of us long for whether we have found it or not. So too does the Holy Spirit long to have a home in each of us. I would like to challenge each of us to do everything we can to do make this a home, a welcoming place, for all. It may take more from each of us than we are currently giving but God through the Holy Spirit is here to help us. In your daily prayers invite the Holy Spirit to live in and be active through you….if the Holy Spirit lives in each of us then it lives here….and HMC will be the kind of home each of is looking for and the kind of home Homestead needs.
I’d like to close with a scripture I read and a short video I saw over the holidays that inspired the words I shared with you this morning… SLIDE 11
Jeremiah 29:10-14 – “This is what the Lord says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come a pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me with all you heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.’”
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