I love the word home. I think it is one of the warmest, heartfelt words in our language. The love of this word is partly due to being raised in a great (big and loud) home but more so because I've discovered "Home" in church.
The first time I entered a church with that atmosphere, I was overcome with a sense of home. As I sat there with tears running down my cheeks, I knew this is what I had been searching for. When we subsequently planted Relate Church some thirty plus years ago, my goal was to help multitudes of others have the same discovery of finding a place to call home.
King David wrote, "One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life' (Ps 27:4) and in Ps 84:10 he wrote, "For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness."
I totally relate with David. Church is that supernatural "Home" where, as Pastor Bobbie Houston wrote, "Heaven's in the House."
Here are a few thoughts about Home:
1. Home is family; the two are inseparable. Where the family gathers, there you will find home. Church is where those that have been born into the family of God, gather in His Name. As Jesus said, "where two or three are gathered in His Name, there He will be" (Matt 18:30). We need each other and we need His Presence.
2. Home is where we belong. We all long to be where we belong, it’s one of our strongest basic human needs. I grew up in a large family where it seemed every year, my mom came home from the hospital with a new member of our family. Each new child was now home, not because of what they achieved but because of who they were. Belonging is the right of birth, not behaviour.
3. Home is where we are accepted just as we are; scrapes, bruises, bloodied knees and 'bed head'. We are known and yet loved and accepted just the way we are. God's unconditional love reaches out to us and accepts us just the way we are.
4. Home is where we discover who and why we are. Our identity comes from our parents not our performance. I love Pastors Caleb and Jewlie Davidson's story of when asking their toddler, Judah, "Who loves you?”. He responded saying, "Daddy loves me”. She then asks, "Why does daddy love you?" and he replied, "Because I'm me".
Once we are safe in 'who' we are, only then can we discover 'why' we are. Home is where we risk spreading our wings and following our dreams - our safety net is family. If we fall, we just get back up and try again.
Psalms 92:13 says, "Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God." In a sense, we are all miracles in seed form and home is the soil we need to be planted in. As our life grows and flourishes, we continually discover more of our gifts, callings and creativity.
5. Home is healing. It’s where forgiveness reigns, where we get refreshed, restored and refuelled. When we enter this place of unconditional love, acceptance and belonging our heart can exhale in safety. When we leave home we should feel stronger and healthier. This is the goal of Relate Church. When we gather together in His name, we should feel refreshed and ready to face the world outside.
6. Home is where your heart is. I love my biological and spiritual home, but it requires a choice to guarantee that my heart will continually be homeward bound. Jesus said in Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there you heart will be also." I choose to continually invest my time, treasure and talent into building the home that I love so that my heart and the hearts of generations to come will always love the miracle of 'home'.
7. Home is waiting for you. When our gang comes home for family night, the table's set, the food is ready and our hearts are anticipating their arrival. They can expect to be celebrated as they enter. That's how church is every time we gather, our prayer is that everything we've done says to you, "Welcome Home!"
Pastor John Burns
Senior Pastor
