There
is that word: “home.”
The
man’s childhood home was the place where the 32 year old opioid addict sought
refuge. When his entire life was falling
apart because he singlehandedly destroyed all for which he had worked (wife,
children, and career), he knew that he was safe when he came home. He knew that he could start over again and
build a new life when he came home.
"Those
who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come
to them and make our home with them.”
Home
is familiar. Home is where you will find
unconditional love from your parents.
Home may even still hold some of your clothes from the 70s, 80s or 90s,
all of which you can wear in a moment of desperation. Of course, you could hand them down to your
children and expect them to wear the clothes, all in an attempt to cause embarrassment.
Not
that that ever happened…during a homecoming dance…concerning a baby blue suit
with a baby blue vest and elephant ear sized collars. I assure you that in1992 baby blue was not
cool. Just sayin’.
Ok,
so there may be some embarrassing things about home, but it is also the place
where you learned to love despite anything that was embarrassing. Home is where most children learn to love
period.
In
the rocking chair or the recliner is where you were snuggled close and held
tight each time you cried. It is where
your scratches were kissed better and your cookies were baked for you out of
love.
It
is also the place where you learned to give thanks for God:
Come
Lord Jesus,
Be
our guest,
And
let these gifts,
To
us, be blessed.
Amen.
And,
it is the place where you were afraid of the dark, yet learned the prayer that
would guard you through the night:
Now
I lay me down to sleep,
I
pray the Lord my soul to keep,
Guard
me safely through the night,
And
wake me with the morning light.
Amen
In
our house, our nightly prayer goes like this:
Jesus,
thank you for the day
Keep
me safe now as I lay
Show
me grace in all I do
And,
bless those who need love to,
God
Bless…
And,
then we list all of the people (and animals) in our life that we love. Dogs, cats, and even dolphins are prayed for
nightly in our home. In other words, we
pray for those people and animals in our life who we would gladly welcome into
our home.
Home
is the place where God comes to live with you.
It is the place where Jesus’ forgiveness is practiced (sometimes on a
daily basis). It is also the place where
Jesus’ idea of serving others out of love is first learned. Home is the place that is likely filled with
the Lord’s peace. It is the place that
teaches us what living in the grace of Jesus Christ looks like.
Even
if God were to somehow become forgotten in our homes, God promises to find a
way to be present, like the faded spot on the wall where the cross once hung
years ago.
“Pastor
Jira, in no way do I connect with your idea of home,” a teen once told me after
I made similar comments elsewhere.
“To
be honest with you, my house is a place of hiding upstairs in my room, holding
the blanket over my head, pressing in on my ears, and trying not to hear my
parents scream at each other; trying not to hear the words that make the house a
house of hatred.”
Notice
that she did not use the word “home,” but rather, “house.”
“I
have never had a ‘home’ where we learned love,” she continued. When we were younger, my brothers and I
learned how to survive as we ate crackers and used screwdrivers to open cans
because our parents were too drunk to feed us.
I’ve never known ‘home’ to be a place of love.”
To
those of us who have had a great home, but especially to her (and those like
her) who have never had a loving home, Jesus gives us a promise. Jesus promises that he and God the Father
will continually come and enter our houses in order to make with us a home. So, even if you have never known love, you
will very soon because Jesus is going to come and make a home with you.
With
Jesus finally setting up a home with you, you will know what it is to be
embraced with love.
If
you have never known what it looks like to be served and to serve others out of
love, you will very soon because Jesus is moving in and washing your feet and
hands before you come to the dinner table.
If
you have never known what it means to be forgiven for doing horrible things to
the ones you love, you will very soon because Jesus is moving in and will forgive
you, even if you nail him to a cross to die.
As
a side note, my younger brother still loves me.
Even after my older brother and I used to put him against the wall and
see how close we could come to shooting with our Nerf guns without hitting him,
he still loves us. You see, he learned
that when his brothers took aim at him, they missed him…most of the time. He still forgives us. Even to this day, every time we gather
together, he reminds us of how he forgives us of such trauma.
But,
back to nailing Jesus to the cross and the forgiveness that follows. When God chooses to make a home with you, when
God the Father and God the Son choose to step through your door and make their home
with you, you learn what eternal love and eternal forgiveness is all about. You learn what it means to forgive, 77 times
over.
Here
is the thing, as anyone who has brought someone from outside of the family into
their own home knows; your life is changed forever the minute they step through
the door. How you love, how you relate,
how you help, how your serve, how you forgive; it all changes. And, when Jesus steps through your door it is
no different.
“Those
who love me will keep me word,” Jesus says.
In other words, those who are found at home with Jesus, know what it is
to love the world. They know what it is
to serve the undeserving. They know what
it is to let Jesus’ love and Jesus’ peace guide them in all they do. They will soon see just how limiting and shallow
the imperfect love and peace of the world actually is. You cannot go back to living that way. As soon as Jesus steps through the door of
your home, you cannot help but try to become a part of God’s family.
I
can relate, when I entered into my wife’s family (which is a very a musical
family in which every male in the family plays the guitar while the women sing)
I had no choice but to learn to play the guitar.
In
the same way, when Jesus enters your home, you cannot help but learn how to
love and serve others. You cannot help
but learn how to forgive each other. You
cannot help but learn how to feed and sustain each other. You cannot help but learn how to love your
enemy. All of these things that are so important
to Jesus just sort of rub off on you when Jesus’ abiding Spirit is with you in
your home. That is just what happens
when Jesus makes his home with you; your life changes.
By
the way, the lives of the people into whose homes you are invited will similarly
be changed. When you dwell in someone
else’s home with God’s love, the Holy Spirit will enter there also. They too will be changed and they too will
find their eternal home with Jesus.
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