LENTEN MESSAGE

What’s “Home” to you?

Certainly our "home" is where we live as a family; more than where we have our stuff, or where we spend most of our time... it's where we live and love each others.

But, often my wife will talk about “home”… where she grew up… and where her parents still live. Sometimes she talks he talks about it like some indigenous people talk about their “ancestral lands”.

It’s the farm and land she grew up on, the place where she lived most of her growing years. It’s the place where her parents still live… in the same house. When we go back to visit them, she says she’s going home.

Now, that’s not to take away from our home as a family. And it’s not to say she’d rather be there than with us. But it’s more that “going home” is a state of mind, of feeling.

I’m intrigued by this; I was raised overseas, bouncing from place to place every few years. I don’t have that attachment to a place called “home” as she does. For me “home” is where ever my family is. It’s the sense of belonging, of where my heart is. And it’s the memories and feelings this evokes.

I think that’s what the show “Cheers” was all about. Remember that show? http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-FD8ljNobUys/cheers_theme_song_season_7/

If you’re of a certain age, this might bring back some memories. That show was trying to get viewers to buy the notion that there is a place and a time that is “right”… it’s a space in our lives in which the planets line up… in which the veil parts for a little while at least… in which we “feel” the warm connection of companionship and close friendship, in which our hearts are comforted by the presence of those who love and care for us… and those whom we love and care for.

Just look at the words…

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.

Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot.

Wouldn’t you like to get away…

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name,

And their always glad you came.

You want to be where you can see

Troubles are all the same.

You want to be where everybody knows your name.

Wow – a place where people know your name… but more than that… a place where they know YOU! And they LIKE you! What does it make you feel? Warm memories? Comfort? Home?

What’s “home” for you? Where was home for you? Was home a place? Was “home” your house? Was it a time in your life that just felt “right”? And what brings back those memories of home? Songs? Music? Some items?

I have a book that was pretty much my first book… a tattered little thing from years of wear. But it represents so much more than it is… “One Was Johnny” by Maurice Sendak. I don’t remember my parents reading it to me, but I’ve heard the stories about how I wanted them to read me that book over and over again. It’s a tangible connection to my childhood, a visceral reminder of an age long over. But… there it is! Part of my “memory”… part of my “home”.

Often we get this sense of “home” in retrospect. It’s usually after the fact that we recognize the importance of the time and/or the place. Maybe “home” isn’t a place at all. Maybe it’s more a memory – a memory that settles in one of those deep places in us. Maybe it’s not a place we can “go back to”… so much as “remember”… and let it inform our present and future. The older I get, it seems the more remembering I do. And the more of home there is to remember.

We can’t make home happen, but we can remember it. We can weave the strands of events and times, of music, of items, that evoke memories of blessing into a memory of “home”… of a place where they knew our name… knew who we were… a place we could rest for a while.

And we can bring the seeds with us, and plant them along the way… so those coming after us can watch their memories of this thing called HOME blossom and grow in their own hearts.

Remembering this place… “Home”… whether a time, location, or event – that place inside you that made you feel relaxed, complete, comfortable in your skin… is holy!

Peace