A Place Called Home

The holidays are a time of the year during which we think about home.  The twinkle of Christmas lights and strains of an old carol bring a wave of nostalgia.  The traditions we introduce to our homes and families evoke the traditions we grew up with.  Every party and every seasonal meal and every gift brings warm associations – thoughts of home.

And yet our nostalgia bears a bittersweet quality.  At every gathering there are empty spaces around the table.  Every new home we create fails to fully reproduce the sense of peace and security we associate with the homes in which we were raised.  There is always a lingering feeling that something is missing.

This is the human experience.  The Bible teaches that we were created for home.  Home was for us, in the beginning, a perfect unbroken connection with God.  The Bible begins with a picture of God’s plan for human life.  This picture includes an overabundance of the good things needed to sustain us; good gifts for us to enjoy; true peace and harmony between people, the world around us, and God.  Kind of like our memories of Christmases past.  Imbedded in all of us is a sense that this is what life should be like – not just during certain seasons, but all the time.  We’re left asking two questions: first, what happened to that original, good state we enjoyed?  Second, is there a way to get it back?

During the season of Advent, our church will explore these two questions, and provide answers that cut deeper than the songs you’ll hear over the mall P.A. system.  Join our congregation's Advent celebrations.  Invite a friend.  Or tune in online to hear the story.

Here’s our Advent schedule:

Dec. 2: Message: It Was Good (Passage: Genesis 1:26-31a)

Dec. 9: Message: Are We There Yet? (Exodus 13:17-22)

Dec. 16: Meeting God (Exodus 19:1-9; 20:18-21)

Dec. 23: Looking for Lost Children (John 4:1-26)

Christmas Eve – Dec. 24, 6:00 p.m. (Lessons and Carols):  A Place Called Home.