“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” – Revelation 3:20

Today’s iconic Advent image is that of “home.”

Okay, let’s play a “free association game.” I say, “home” and then you write down a list of the first ten things that come to your mind. The very first thoughts, no editing; here’s mine:

• Rebekah;
• faith;
• family;
• a “safe” place;
• privacy;
• running water, heat, and air conditioning;
• somewhere I can be 100% myself;
• a place I can invite others into;
• children;
• community…

EVOCATIVE: Home is an evocative idea. Consequently, what comes to mind for me is not necessarily what comes to mind for you.

My image of home is something I too easily take for granted – I’m sure we all do; but what I wake up to and enjoy on a daily basis turns out to be something the majority of people in this world do not know, and could not possibly imagine.

That’s why it was both wonderful and sobering yesterday to help Naomi and Craig begin to move into their new home in Richmond. Their little family already had all that home requires (each other, a place to live, and a sense of belonging) but now they have the opportunity to place that beautiful reality into a brand-new house, and to – intentionally – build community around them.

COMMUNITY: You see, that is the other element of “home” that is so critically important – the community where we build our lives together.

Here in Wake Forest, Rebekah and I could have found a much larger house, and we could have purchased one sitting on an acre or more of property; but then we would have been living a few miles outside of our chosen community. Rebekah is the pastor of Wake Forest Presbyterian Church, and we are intentionally building our home right here in our town; not only close to our church, but also immersed in the community of Wake Forest.

Home, then – even considering the privacy aspect – is not something we enjoy in isolation; home is very much a product of our calling to live together in community, and the opportunity to grow together in the context of relationships.

COME HOME! Because of Christmas – and this is the “Advent Day-20” tie-in – we have been extended an invitation to “come home.”

Maybe we are young, or older; married, single, or divorced; confident in God, uncertain in our faith, or fraught with doubts; happy, or depressed; alternative in lifestyle, or more “traditional”; naturally nice, or kind of snarky; comfortable with people, or more of a loner. It doesn’t matter, we are still all invited to come home.

Home, it is said, is where the heart is. Believe me when I tell you that when you open your heart to God, then you will – maybe for the first time – know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have come home.

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” – Revelation 3:20

Peace, hope, joy, promise, and blessing – DEREK

slide-show of photos from moving day