Grounded

Diana Butler Bass pg 169. God’s Dwelling “Home is a central theme in the world’s religions. Jews seeking a homeland with God; Christians proclaiming that God dwells within our hearts; Muslims facing home to pray; Buddhists finding gods who make their home in the seas and trees. Human beings build temples to shelter God’s presence, we mark sacred places with shrines, and we buy, float, or burn out dead that they might find their way home to God.”

So where is home for you? What makes a place home? Deep sigh. There are no family homes that were home when I was a child. Because, well, now we are the elders and no one lives in their parents houses. When we get to live in Florida that apt was my parents. However, it was not the home of my childhood.

Oh we are blessed with family members with wonderful homes. Some simple, some very amazingly wonderful. But they are homes. That is to say when you enter you feel like they are ‘home’ and you are invited in.

John and I just ‘broke’ up what was our home at the manse in Raton. We left most of the furniture there. Furniture we’ve had forever. Seriously some for the 48 years we’ve been married. It wasn’t easy really. Our log bed, my parents couch, tables, dishes, glasses, mugs, bed coverings, and bookcases with books. I take a deep breath.

We have been blessed with some great places to live over our life. Some were family homes, some were rentals, some were church properties, manses, and some we owned. We had a ranch house with two acres in Oklahoma. We had a great house in Utah that looked out on the mountains with six bedrooms and two fireplaces. . We had a house in Texas that let us walk the kids to K and First and Second grades. We have an apt in Florida waiting for us.

But what makes home….Home? What is it that makes a house a welcoming place? There are as many answers to that as there are homes. What is home for one person is not for another.

Diana Butler Bass wrote in the above paragraph about how home is a definitely a religious concept. Home becomes where God dwells. Home is where we are accepted as we are, and called to be all we can be.

Having written this, I do know that some places where people live is not a home because they are not safe there. They are not nurtured and loved. They are not surrounded by affirmation and enough food and warmth to sustain them. That is why perhaps we should make homes places where people are welcomed.

Martina McBride sings, “Loves the only house big enough for all the pain in the world.” I have always thought this song is a call for a model for the church. When I was in ABQ I got a call from a young woman who had worshipped with us a couple of times. She asked if we could talk. I had her meet me at church.. One of our members had given us a lovely living room set of sofa, love seat and recliner. She came in and began to share the real trouble she had in her life. She said she had not been able to sleep for several nights because she didn’t feel safe where she lived. There was a small blanket on the couch and I invited her to lie down there and see if she could sleep. She asked me to stay with her. I did. She fell asleep and slept soundly for over an hour. (to be honest I really wanted to go to the bathroom but was afraid to leave and take the chance she would wake while I was gone and panic.)

When she woke she felt better. I got her some lemonade and we began to talk about her life and the choices she had before her. What each choice would mean on a short and long term part of her life. She said she finally felt safe. “Love’s the only house big enough for all the pain in the world.” The church for her was safe.

It was the church being its best for her right then. The church brought her peace.

Find somewhere that brings you peace and you will have found home. I pray you not only live in a home but live in a home that can invite those who have no home to find peace.

God abide with you, God abides with you.

bobbie giltz mcgarey. feb 12, 2021 bethlehem pa