Today I went home. I had not been in a very long time, and I was not sure if it would feel like it was still mine. There were people there who weren’t a part of my home before I left it. There were others who had been central figures that were gone, like they were erased from a family photo a-la “Back to the Future” style. But thankfully, my Father never left, and it was home as it should be.
I moved out of my parents’ home when I was 18, eager to make my way in the world. Convinced that I would make a new home, I did not care to properly process my old one. My new home would be everything my old home wasn’t. I was so sure of it.
But. Then.
I was years past being on my own, freshly wounded from a break-up, managing a retail store in SC when the unforeseeable happened. I lost my apartment, my bank account, and my ability to function as the adult that I had come to be. I packed my belongings, furniture, and food, and brought them all back to my parents’ home in Kannapolis. It was there, sitting in my old high school bedroom, surrounded (more like crammed) by all the contents of my previous apartment, when it struck me. Hard. This is not my home. It looked like my home, and used to be my home, but it was very, very different.
So, if you apply the saying “wherever you go, there you are”, where I laid my head at night should be defined as home, right? But there is a fit, a comfort, and pattern of events that make all the difference.
Hebrews 13:14 reminds us that this is not our permanent home –
“For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.”
BUT IT IS where we currently lay our head at night. In the meantime, the final chapter of Hebrews exhorts us to remember. We are to remember our brothers and sisters (Christ’s body), remember those in prison (which may not look like a prison at all), remember our leaders (present and future, and one’s who might not be official), remember those mistreated (even when you think they set themselves up for failure) (Heb.13:1-3), and remember that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
We are the body of Christ; we are his bride; the church is our home. And we should treat each other as family. Because we are. And if God loves us enough to come find us in our individual messes, we should love each other too. My mess and your mess will probably look different. But we are all sons and daughters of the Living God.
We are all being shaped and molded into His image, and as with anything being molded, it gets melted down and looks a sloppy mess for a while. Just know that there is a purpose and remember that there is pride in knowing you left home to do it on your own for a while. But it doesn’t last. Bodies need all their parts. And just as we were each wonderfully and fearfully made, why would we think each of God’s churches are any less purposefully designed? We need each other, His Spirit lives in each of us. Just as it is in His Living Word.
So, by faith, we are putting our living hope in our life to come. But. Church. Each of us, all of us, by design must come together in the unity of the Spirit that unites, being molded and melted at different times, for different purposes. I see you brothers and sisters, and you see me. And that’s scary. But I am beginning to understand that we can only truly love and lift, with our eyes wide open.
Prayers and Petition 