HOME IS WHERE ...

John 14:1-4, 23-29
Revelations 21:1-10, 22-22:5


I'm just a poor wayfarin' stranger,
While travelin' through this world below.
Yet there's no sickness, no toil, nor danger,
In that bright land to which I go.
I'm goin' there to see my father.
And all my loved ones who've gone on.
I'm just goin' over Jordan.
I'm just goin' over home.
I know dark clouds will gather 'round me,
I know my way is hard and steep
But beauteous fields arise before me,
Where God's redeemed, their vigils keep.
I'm goin' there to see my mother.
She said she'd meet me when I come.
So, I'm just goin' over Jordan.
I'm just goin' over home.
(“Way Faring Stranger,” early 19th century folk/gospel song)

In the lyrics of "Wayfaring Stranger," we hear echos of Revelation 21:1-10, 22-22:5, as the stranger travels home.  In light of this and John 14:1-4, 23-29, how do we as Christians finish this sentence:  "Home is where ...."?


Where is home for you?

Home may be where ...
     ... the heart is.
         ... the love light shines in the eyes of those we love.
             ... everybody knows you.
                 .... we find refuge from the troubles of this world.
                       ... where we feel safe, protected and loved.
                            ... we are surrounded with people who mean the 
                                world to us and are on our side.

The Wayfaring Stranger's idea of home is John's vision in Revelations.  As a traveler in a dark world filled with sickness, toil and danger, home is a place filled with the light of the glory of God and the love of Christ.  Even the river of living water, sparkles brightly like crystals lit from within.  Night and the darkness of want and suffering, selfishness and hatred, exclusion and injustice, despair and fear no longer exist.

In this home of the new heaven and the new earth, the curses of the broken relationships between God and humanity, between people and human beings and nature longer exist. It is a world of plenty as the new earth produces trees that continually bear fruit and whose leaves have healing power.

However, like Christ's disciples, we realize that for may, home life in this world may be nothing close to that in the New Jerusalem of Christ's final triumph.

Home may be where ...
     ... there is anger, abuse and violence.
         ... we have to flee from to escape war and death.
             ... we feel alienated, isolated and lonely.
                  ... we live in hopelessness and despair.
                       ... there is only pain and suffering.
                           ... memories of broken hearts and broken dreams
                               haunt our thoughts.

Maybe it was because the disciples felt they had at last found the home their hearts longed for as followers of Christ that they became so fearful when Jesus told them he was leaving them.  Answering their concerns, he made this promise to them and to all of us who put our trust in God through our relationship with Christ:

"There is plenty of room for you in my Father's home.  If that weren't so, would I have told you that I'm on my way to get a room ready for you?  And if I'm on my way to get your room read, I'll come back and get you so you can live where I live. "  (John 14:2-3, MSG)

Because Jesus has made it possible by his life, death and resurrection, the heavenly home described in the book of Revelation is what we who follow Christ have to look forward to.  Beyond the gift of this physical life, we have the confident hope of eternal life and the resurrection where we will receive heavenly physical bodies like Jesus' own.

And in our here and now, home may or may not be a good place to be.  

In this world, things like happiness, safety, success and peace of mind and body are transient things.  At any moment, circumstances, natural disaster and personal tragedy can rob us of them.

On the other hand, through Jesus, we are given peace and hope that is always with us and is untouched by what happens to us in this life.  

When we have turned from our unloving and soul-harming ways and turned back to God, 
      - when we give our life in service to Christ,
              - when we participate with the grace of God through the Holy Spirit 
                 and are intentionally growing in love of God and neighbor,
                     - when we choose to love others as Christ has loved us,

we will find that we are living in the love of God the Creator and Source of all life, and that Jesus and the Creator has made their home in our lives.  Through our constant companion, the Holy Spirit, we realize that home, no matter what, no matter where, is always with us because the abiding, tenacious, loving presence of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit lives in us.

The writer of Romans 8:35-39 reminds us that nothing is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us.  Nothing is going to be able to rob us from the peace and home we have through Jesus. 

"There is no way!  Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture ... None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us.  I'm absolutely convinced that nothing -- nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable -- absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." (MSG)

So, don't let the things of this world or the ups and downs of life faze you and rob you of hope and peace, for home for us is where Jesus dwells with us.  And because of the love of God and the sacrifice Christ made for us, when this life is over, we have a new home, a heavenly home waiting for us.

Either way, God is there to welcome us home.

May your hearts be not troubled.  The peace of Christ is with you.








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