I have just had
a wonderful vacation! I am fortunate to be able to travel to places that I have so far only heard about; and to do it in comfort, as well. Traveling always
offers me new experiences and expands my thinking; and it gives me time to step
back from my responsibilities at home and at church for just a little while, to take my focus
off the many details that I usually have to attend to, and to be reminded of the bigger
picture. But it’s always great to come home! Regardless of how relaxing or
fulfilling a vacation is, returning to my own home after being away gives me
great joy! There is my own living room with my own chair – one that fits me! –
and the end table where my coffee cup sits each morning as I ease into the day.
There is my own kitchen with my own refrigerator holding the food that I want
when I want it. And there is my own bed with a mattress that offers me a good
night’s sleep and my own pillow that conforms perfectly to my tired head. Oh, yes;
as Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz,
“There’s no place like home!”
I hope that
you recognized that kind of homecoming as I read you the first half of the
story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-24) just a few minutes ago. After running
off to spend his dad’s money; after running into people who encouraged him to
spend that money in all the wrong ways; after running out of money and being
reduced to scrounging in a dumpster for scraps of food; the son in Jesus’
parable finally decided that it was time to run back home. Now, he didn’t
expect the welcome that he received. In fact, he didn’t expect a welcome at
all! He was hoping for nothing more than a bed with the servants and a decent
meal every day while he lived with the scorn of his father and the hatred of
his older brother. He didn’t expect to get new clothes, new shoes, a soft bed
with clean sheets, and a party with all his favorite foods! But that’s what he
got; because home was where his father was; and his father loved him!
That’s what
home is, you know – at least, in the very best case, it is. Home is where you
are loved. The furniture may not be the newest, and the mattress may sag in the
middle, and the fridge may lack a few of your favorite foods; but when you are
home, you are loved. Problems don’t disappear, of course, even at home. We
still have bills to pay, and chores to do, and people who are difficult to deal
with. (Sometimes those people are even in your own family.) The thing is,
though, that when you are home, you can cope with all of it, because home is
where you are loved.
But some
people don’t have homes; and that troubles me deeply. Every time that I return to my
comfortable, loving home, I am troubled by the fact that many people don’t have
a home to return to! I am troubled by the fact that some people live in
cardboard boxes under an interstate overpass. Many of them have mental challenges.
Some of them are veterans who are dealing with PTSD. They all deserve homes. I
am troubled by the fact that some people have been evicted from their homes
because a member of the family was laid off and their paychecks stopped; so the family is forced to
live in a car that is secretly parked on a quiet, suburban street. They deserve homes,
too. And I am terribly troubled by the fact that on our southern border,
refugees have gathered in hope of finding a home in a country where they are
safe from drug lords or political persecution. I know that the question of
immigration into our country is complicated and that we don’t have all the
answers, and I know that good people have different opinions of what should be
done about those refugees; but it is too much to ask that we help them to find
homes somewhere? Everyone, no matter who they are or where they are from, deserves a home!
I know that
these situations trouble you, too, because I saw your response
when tornadoes tore through our part of Ohio just about six weeks ago. Those
tornadoes ripped off roofs, hurled trees through walls, and tore whole
buildings to shreds; and many, many people lost their homes. We all joined to
help those homeless folks get their lives back together; and our churches were
a big part of that. We helped them because we know that our God wants everyone
to have a home where they can live safely! God, after all, gives us a home like
that. Oh, it’s not a home built with bricks and mortar. It’s a home in God’s
presence where we are protected by God’s sheltering arms. Someday, of course,
we will be welcomed into our heavenly home where we will live safely forever;
but we don’t have to wait until we die to experience that love and security.
God offers it to us right now! God reaches out arms to us that shelter us like
a mother, that protect us like a father, that cherish us like a grandparent,
that embrace us like a friend. God’s presence is our home; and everyone deserves the security that God offers us!
That parable
of the prodigal son that Jesus told: that wasn’t just about a stupid kid who is
forgiven by the father that he so disrespected. That parable is about the kind
of love that God has for us, and about the home that God offers us throughout
our whole lives! Oh, we sometimes leave it and wander away; but God is always
ready to welcome us home no matter how far away we have traveled or how long we
have been gone. Some of you may know the old song of homecoming:
“Mid
pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
be it ever
so humble, there’s no place like home!”
I invite you
this morning to be grateful for your own home; to look with compassion on all
those who have no home; and to give thanks to God that through Jesus Christ, we
have a home in God’s presence that is eternally loving and secure.
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