Home

--all of the social bonds which have meant so much – Charlotte with Mike every day, Charlotte with sons, their wives, and grandchildren, Charlotte with medical personnel, Charlotte with congregational members who have visited – are now broken.

Nothing that is ours sticks together, nothing endures, except for the one relationship which says that our citizenship is in God's community.

That is home!

“So, we do not lose heart,” says Paul in 2 Corinthians, because God is the one who has established that relationship in the promise and gift of Holy Baptism,

and he is the one who maintains the relationship by the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, in spite of whatever ailment, problem, or infirmity we have.

All manner of things can go wrong, but this one thing is secure; the promise of “home” with the Lord Jesus.

And even now, we have come together today in anticipation of that great and final day when we are together in the fullness of the promise of God's kingdom.

This coming together today is an expression of a different perspective on how we relate to each other.

We don't have to frantically cling to place or possessions.

All of this has been entrusted to us by God for awhile;

we are to treat them gently, use them wisely for ourselves and others, and then pass them on, giving thanks to God for the opportunity.

Charlotte now has nothing more to get out of life; she only has things to pass on to us.

Her truest home is now elsewhere, held in person by the Lord Jesus.

Our idea of “home” as Blueberry Lane has been broken, and that brings a special kind of sadness and loneliness.

But we have a Gospel word from Jesus: I will not leave you orphaned, without a home, he says, I am coming to you...My Father will love you, and we will come to you and make our home with you.”

That is a promise that each of us can trust and value.

Home happens when this promise of Jesus is living and active in us.

In this special sense, God's people may be “at home” with each other each time that we gather at the Lord's Table in Holy Communion.

And Charlotte is at that table too, at the extended part of the table that we cannot see right now, enjoying the complete sharing in the joys of being at home with Jesus.

Hear it as good news this day:

no matter where we live and work,

no matter whether we have many possessions or few,

we already have the invitation to be at home in the Lord Jesus, signed with the blood of his Cross and resurrection.

By that invitation, we know where our home is.

With that invitation in hand, we decide how to live each day.

And that invitation is the best thing that we have to share.

“Welcome home,” Jesus says to Charlotte, and to us all. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.