By the Way: God has made a home among the ‘homeless’

By Rev. Jeff Lackie on December 7, 2019.

Home is an idea that is tossed around with great intent at certain times of the year – December being one of those times. Songs and cards and cheesy made-for-TV movies rattle on about the benefits of being “home for the holidays,” suggesting that it’s the thing everyone wants; the thing no one should be without.

And I agree; home is a valuable resource – a thing to be most desired. And I know far too many people who, for one reason or another, are reluctant or unable to claim the privilege of ever being home. For some, home holds only memories of abuse or ridicule. Some have fled their homes in fear, some have been driven out in anger and still others are made homeless by the revelation that the expression of their personhood doesn’t fit the expectation of the family into which they were born. The world is full to bursting with many kinds of homelessness, whatever public policy, commercial entertainment, or social agency may desire. And it has (sadly) always been thus.

As one who has been fortunate to live in three different provinces and found myself able to call each of them home, I’m drawn to wonder more about these things than some people. And as a minister of the Christian gospel I am inclined to understand the idea of home through the lens of Christian Scripture. And in those often ridiculed and mostly ignored texts I discover yet another kind of homelessness.

God’s people are an aimless, wandering, “homeless” bunch throughout most of the biblical record. Sure, there’s that halcyon period of David and Solomon – a kingdom (mostly) united in the land that God promised (kind of, and not all of it) – but everywhere else, they wander. Captive, oppressed and ruled by foreign powers (read the prophets and all of the new testament), enslaved (the early chapters of Exodus) occasionally landless (read the rest of Exodus). The Bible is about a vast collection of people who always seem to be searching for a place to call home – a place that most believe to be their God-given right. The promise of home is elusive and Scripture causes me to think differently about what that promise means.

Rather than being a human preoccupation, Scripture suggests it is God who desires a place. Temporarily satisfied by human promises to build that home, God’s most resonant desire – expressed first through the prophets and made real in the person of Jesus – is to make God’s home among them. John’s Gospel describes this in the opening chapter; “In the beginning was the Word…” John writes which “became flesh and lived among us.” This is what passes for a Christmas story in John’s gospel, and while it may not have the same emotional effect of a manger attended by shepherds and angels, it is God’s homecoming, and that is what makes it special.

As the month of December propels us toward the season of Christmas you will be bombarded by images of joyful homecomings. You may even have that experience in your own lives. But remember that the best sense of Christmas comes because God has made a home among the homeless, and that is good news of great joy for all people.

Rev. Jeff Lackie is minister of Word & Sacrament, St. John’s Presbyterian Church.