October 29, 2006
Home. Two weeks ago on Sunday morning, my old friend John Rice and I went to church at the cathedral in Chester England. Every year or two, I take off for a residential library in Wales that is just up the road from Chester for some reading and retreat time, and for getting a sense of place in the wider Anglican communion. Though I was sitting in church three thousand miles away, I smiled and felt I was still at home when the final hymn turned out to be “Here I am Lord” which I knew was being sung at the 10:30 service at St. Aidan’s. The hymn connected me to this community of fellow travelers with whom I journey toward a greater home.....our home in God.
The way it works at the library is that clergy and other folks from around England and the world come to read and study and to converse about theology, church, history, that sort of thing. I had looked forward to going this year, to arriving in the village which has become familiar over the many visits, to walking into a pub where I would be welcomed and have difficulty paying for my own beer. But somehow, this time I ended up realizing in a new way that home was back here....among friends and kin....in a country I at least sort of understand. More than ever before, people in Wales wanted to talk about American politics, and about the issues troubling the Episcopal church. I felt like a bit of an oddity, and I wasn’t always sure I was welcome. More than once some one asked politely at dinner if “you don’t have places like this in America where you can go to get away?”.
I left there with a strong feeling of preferring home to adventure. Upon returning, I was glad to be back where I belonged.
I did get some reading done while I was away. I read two books that you will be hearing about from me for some time to come. One, Diana Bass’s Christianity for the Rest of Us is a study of liberal mainline churches that are, contrary to what you might read about the mainline churches in the paper, flourishing. Diana describes the life of several congregations that are growing and strong, and maybe it colored my take on England and Wales that she speaks early in the book about the importance of home. She talks about ways in which congregations can become home for those of us who are seeking a spiritual grounding. One of the things people say about their life in churches that are alive and well is that the church feels like their home. I have heard those words from many of you, and I wonder what would happen around here if we spent some time talking about how St. Aidan’s is home, and about how it might speak more clearly of home to those who find their way through the door. One of the things I think is true about the desire to find our way home is that it is pretty universal.
I was at a party last night, where I met and talked with several people, and I was struck by how quickly they all told me in one way or another about having left home. One man, confined to a wheelchair, when asked about his English accent, said that he was from a little town that I happened know because it is near the library in Wales. He lit up when I said “I know the Runkle slipway out of the roundabout at Chester.” The light in his eyes spoke of a continued connection to a place he had known as home. I met a woman who spoke of her home in Canada, and two others who had lived in this area all their lives but spoke of the changes that had taken place around here over the last sixty years. “It was all fields”, one said. I began to think that we are all displaced people, all on some sort of journey in the life we have chosen or been dealt, and that we are all at some level, listening, watching, waiting for some kind of word from home. We are all people who would like to be where we belong.
Jeremiah speaks to such people when he describes that homecoming of the people of God and the celebration that will be raised at the end of the journey. Sing aloud with gladness aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise and say, “save O Lord, your people, the remnant of Israel.” See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble.
From the very beginning, the people of God have understood ourselves to be on a journey to a better home. That is how it all began. ‘Leave the old place and come to the new home I will show you’, says God to Abraham, to Moses, says Jesus to the disciples. If you find yourself in the dirt, find someone else who is in the same situation, dust yourselves off and set out again. I will be with you. If you get lost on the way, know that I am looking for you; listen for my voice.
Last week in adult ed. I asked what makes a church any different from some other organization that sets out to do good works and give people a sense of belonging. The answer came back clearly: ...God. Here we are intentional about about telling stories, touching bread and wine, listening for signs and uttering prayers. All of these things speak of our connection to, of our home in God.
The Church....this church is a place for people making their way home. It is the place where we gather to help each other, to support each other in keeping our hearts open to the call of home. Here we celebrate the great homecoming as it occurs each week in our return and gathering, and as it will be.
If this feels like home, maybe it’s because it’s the closest thing we have at this point in our journey. I hope it is also because this the place where we can all catch glimpses of our true home. Amen
JMB