"Home is Where the Heart Is"

Genesis 12:1-9

God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.

So Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.

Home is many things to many people. Many places. Many faces. Many feelings and stirrings within your heart.  But it is never the same for any two people. Even if you are from the same family and grew up in the same house, home is defined differently for each of you by your heart.  The phrase "home is where the heart is" then, is possibly the truest statement ever.  Home is best defined by our hearts and not our eyes or our heads.

In this scripture, God tells Abram that he has to leave the only home he has ever known in Haran and go out into a place that he has never been to before.  He is not young and eager to make the journey. He has lived a whole long life in this place and is now being asked to start all over again.

Anyone who has ever moved knows how hard THAT is... to pick up all you have and move somewhere else.  It's hard no matter if it is down the street or across the country.  But particularly when it is to a new place, a new geography, a new culture... it is hard to feel settled in... and hard to feel at home. And so you have to sort of redefine for yourself what home might mean.

I remember the moment I decided that home needed redefining for me.  We lived in Durham, NC. Our son Jake was about four years old. And we decided not to go to see our families in Tennessee for the holidays.  The traffic is too bad, the journey is too long. It just wasn't a fun experience.  My heart ached a bit inside because I had never not celebrated a holiday away from Tennessee.  But I remember sitting in the tiny square of a hallway between the two bedrooms and thinking... "But this is my home now.  Todd and Jake are my home."  And what a comforting thought that was to me and that thought and the feeling behind it has stayed with me ever since.  We have lived in lots of different houses... but home has never changed... it is any place the three of us happen to end up in together.  New York, Colorado, a tent in Moab... wherever we three are that is home.

For Abram, the story doesn't tell us if it was a struggle for him mentally, emotionally or physically to go.  It just says "So Abram left just as God said."  God was creating a moment where Abram and Sarai were going to be forced to redefine home for themselves. And it was so that doors that would never have been opened would have the chance to open.

What doors do we need to allow to open to create homes for people in our congregation? How do we define 'church home?'   Why does God sometimes call us far from home?  Why does God sometimes also call us 'back home?'  What does 'home is where the heart is' mean in your life?

Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.

 

Christmas in Durham, NC, 1999 (?)

Summer Vacation in Moab, June 2015

Visiting Jake in college, New York City, October 2015

"Can I Come Home With You?"

 Luke 19:1-10 

Love this story!  Most of you who grew up in Sunday School probably remember this story from there.  Learning about Zacchaeus up in the sycamore tree... trying to get a glimpse of Jesus.   And maybe you remember the children's song:  

Zaccheus was a wee, little man
And a wee, little man was he
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see

And as the Savior came that way
He looked up in the tree
And he said,
"Zaccheus, you come down from there"
For I'm going to your house today
For I'm going to your house today

The children's version misses the point, but we still remember singing it.  But what we miss in the children's story is who Zacchaeus is in the eyes of his community.   He is a rich tax collector and the people, many of whom struggle to survive on very little, can't believe that Jesus would hang out with the rich.  They feel that they have been robbed by this man and that he is a sinner.

But Jesus doesn't care who he is. Or what he's done or is accused of doing. He just calls out to him and says "Today is my day to be a guest in your house."  This transforms Zacchaeus.  He is overwhelmed and says he will give half his income to the poor and pay back four times what he took if he cheats. Jesus calling to him and inviting himself over to his house transformed everything about what Zacchaeus thought he was or could be.

What does it mean to feel accepted?  What does it mean to fit in when everyone else has kept you out? So much to explore with Zacchaeus and Jesus here.

Thoughts? Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.  :)

Keep The Home Fires Burning

Acts 2:1-12

(Pentecost) (Graduation Sunday)

The scripture says on the day of Pentecost, the disciples were all together in one place and suddenly they were able to speak in languages that everyone could understand... people who were living in Jerusalem now, but were from various regions near and far, could hear their native tongues being spoken by the disciples.  How can these Galileans be speaking in a language we Jews understand? What is going on?

The scripture also says that they had something like tongues of fire resting over their heads, some sort of aura perhaps, that was amazing to see.

The key to understanding this passage which might seem far-fetched and incredulous to some is to get at its intent.  It isn't about fire on top of someone's head or a bunch of crazy talk going on, it is a message of community and global unity.

The Pentecost scripture suggests that it is not impossible for us to understand those who are different from us. It suggests that it is not far-fetched to consider a foreigner as part of the family.  It suggests that we should always keep the home fires burning not just for our families, but in a way that reaches all who need to feel the warmth of humanity.

It's a pretty good message to share on a day we celebrate high school graduates.  No generation to date is as inclusive and embracing as this one. We applaud their ability to look past differences and join collectively to care for one another.

This scripture is about new beginnings. It is about bi-partisanship. It is about communal living. It is about collaboration. It is about global unity. It is about embracing. It is about being a human family.

Comments? Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.

"Welcome Home"

Luke 15:11-32

Last week we talked about the dissonance that sometimes occur when you try to 'go home again,' and no one understands who you have become.  But this week's 'home' scripture takes us down a totally different road... so to speak. 

The prodigal son story is one of the most famous ones in the Bible and almost everyone who has been to church knows it. In this parable that Jesus relates to his followers, a wayward son goes away and spends his inheritance, but when things turn sour he decides to head home to his family.  And this story is the opposite of dissonance, at least between father and son... Because when he is just within site, his father sees him and rejoices, runs to him with open arms and welcomes him fully back into the fold.  No dissonance, just full, inclusive love.

But the older son, his brother, does have dissonance... jealousy. He wonders why he has done everything his father needed or wanted, but his father seems more than overjoyed to welcome the wayward son back, but doesn't seem to show that exuberance with him.

Welcome home.... my wayward son... so happy to see...you are always welcome here... we will always kill the fatted calf and bring out the finest robes for those we love who come home.    That is the kind of inclusive love Jesus is trying to get the followers to see. This kind of love is what God offers.   But Jesus also shows us the kind of welcome we often give one another out of jealousy or misunderstanding or spite in the reaction of the brother.

What sorts of welcome homes to we give each other?  What sorts of welcome homes have you received in your life?  Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.

Here's a good old song from the '70s to ponder... 

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high

Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I hear the voices when I'm dreaming,
I can hear them say

Carry on my wayward son,
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man,
Well, it surely means that I don't know

On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about, I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune,
But I hear the voices say

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more no!

Carry on,
You will always remember
Carry on,
Nothing equals the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry,
Don't you cry no more.