It’s Still…All About Relationship
John
1:35-42
A
Sermon Preached by
University
Congregational United
I love this scripture, for it
speaks to my longing for home.
“Home” has always been a good
word for me.
It’s a word that seems to be
somewhere beyond my reach, somewhere in my past,
But someplace that was safe and
loving.
“Home” has always been a good
word for me.
And yet… I have struggled, and
often, with being at-home in myself.
When I was a teenager in Junior
High, I struggled with changes in my family, with my body changing. It all felt too much, too hard at times. And at particularly hard times, I imagined
taking my life, for I couldn’t imagine being at-home with all these changes
taking place within me and around me.
In high school, I struggled
with my growing awareness that I might be gay.
I didn’t know what to do about that.
I covered over my failures at dating and close friendships by being good
at everything else. I was not at all
at-home with myself or with others.
In college one day I was
overwhelmed by the love of God. I knew
God loved me and I knew that I wanted to give my life over to loving God by
being a minister. But it was years before
I told anyone about that. I couldn’t
imagine taking in this God who could love me and have a call for me. I couldn’t imagine being at home with such
amazing good news as God’s love.
As an adult, I have struggled
often with being at home in myself, and no more so than in the past several
years.
The last several years in our
world, and in many of our lives, have been very hard years. It is a hard time to be human. It is a hard time to be at-home in a world
which is so not-at-home with itself.
War, violence, dis-ease of many kinds, tsunamis of unbelievable
proportions – no, it is not an easy time to be at home in the world, and at home in oneself.
We come from a long family
tradition of people who have sought to escape this not-being-at-home through escape
of many kinds. Nicotene,
alcohol, drugs, sex, shopping. I understand that. I really do.
It is hard to be at home in yourself when yourself
is not how you want to be or to feel.
And I know that some of you
know that while any of those escapes may provide some temporary relief – they
have no lasting effect. In fact, their
effect is but more lostness, and more feeling far
from home with ourselves and others.
I love this scripture for it
speaks to my longing for home.
Two disciples follow Jesus. One of them we learn is named Andrew, the
other is never named. Who is he? Is he me?
Is he you?
They follow Jesus, not sure
what they see in him, maybe it is some kind of deep at-homeness
in himself, some deep comfort in himself, knowing who
he is.
He turns and asks them, “What
are you seeking?
And they respond, “Where are
you staying?”…. Where is your home?
“Come and see”, Jesus
says.
And they spend the rest of the
day at home with Jesus.
We have no idea what they
did.
But in that being-together at
home with Jesus their lives where changed.
They knew what they didn’t know
before.
They knew something they
couldn’t keep to themselves – and before we know it Andrew goes and finds his
brother Cephas and brings him to Jesus.
I believe that Jesus is not
out-there somewhere but that Jesus makes his home right here in us.
When Andrew goes and brings his
brother, Cephas, to Jesus, Jesus looks him in the eye
and calls him by his true name, “You are ‘Peter’”.
When Jesus looks us in the eye
and invites us to come and see where he is staying, he looks us in the eye and
tells us our true name, “You are beloved.
You are God’s beloved child. Come
home to your true name.”
We need to be invited home,
home to our true home and true name every day, several times a day.
We need the gifts of home:
Listening spaces
And dreaming spaces.
We need people who can listen
to us. To hear the stories of our
lives. Do you have a person like that in
your life? Too many of us are eating
alone. Too many of us have no people who
can really listen to us. We need each
other as the church to be some of those people for each other. We need to invite someone over to eat a meal
with us, to have a cup of tea with us, to listen to the stories of our lives
together. Can you imagine doing
that? Could you take a step to do that
today?
And we need to listen to
God. There are so many ways to do
that. I take time, every day, just to
sit and listen for God. I need that time
and I encourage you to find 10 minutes a day just for you to be quiet and to
listen to God. Keep doing that each and
every day and your life will be changed.
And we need to dream.
This Martin Luther King
weekend, we remember people who were at home in themselves in a time when the world
was not at all at-home in itself. A time
of war, violence, hatred and fear of people who looked different than they
did. A time not unlike our time. But in such a time, there were some people
who were at home in themselves. People
who knew that Jesus made his home in them.
People who knew their true names, that they were beloved children of
God, despite what others said about them.
Diane Nash was one of those
people. She was in her 20’s in the early
1960’s when she led the drive to desegregate busing in
The mayor later said that
something came over him and he had a change of heart right then and there. He said yes, they ate together and the battle
against desegregation in
When people are at home in
themselves, they make others feel more at home in themselves as well. Diane was at home in Jesus’ love for her and
that love swept up the mayor of Nashville and the people of Nashville right in
it.
Breathe that in.
Breathe that out.
Know that the love of Jesus is
right there in you,
inviting you
to be at-home in yourself. You are God’s
beloved
Come and see.
Amen.