Christ Episcopal Church
	Riverton, New Jersey
	Can you go home again? HOME. “an environment offering security and happiness … a valued place regarded as a refuge or place of origin”. If there was ever a word that conjures up vast floods of emotion it is this one. But even an accurate dictionary definition only scratches the surface of what ‘home’ really means. Perhaps that is why so many best selling songs have been written about it: Stephen Foster’s “Old Kentucky Home”, John Denver’s “Country road take me home”, Simon and Garfunkel’s “Homeward bound” or the old chestnut “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home” (not to mention the refuge sought in “Show me the way to go home”!). These few examples only serve to emphasize the powerful desire for a place of security, happiness and refuge. The tug is so powerful that I can recall more than one Alzheimer’s patient coming up to me in nursing facilities and pleading, “Can you take me home?” I remember one woman who, after asking me that question, grabbed my hand and held on with such a grip that it took two people to gently get her to let go. However, in spite of an almost visceral desire and the tinting of nostalgia, home for many has rarely lived up to the ideal. There are those for whom home was not or is not a haven of quietness and peace. For others, the loss of loved ones, be it through death or relocation, means there is no longer a family homestead to return to. Even for me, in spite of the fact that my parents are still in the house I grew up in, it isn’t the same place. In the last twenty-five years my mother has replaced all the furniture and the walls are all different colors. The only exception is the dining room. But even in that place of family dinners innumerable and extraordinaire, there is now a bay window, seasonally decorated, which offers an unimpeded view of other 75-year-old colonials on 40 x 100 lots. When I complained about this many years ago, a friend of mine said, “Perhaps Thomas Wolfe was right, ‘You can’t go home again’”. I believe this desire for home is so strong because it is a longing implanted within us. It comes from our souls’ desire for our heavenly home with God. Jesus promises that there are many dwelling places prepared by him for us. But while these are part of God’s eternal promise, our Lord does not seek to leave us without any place to hang our spiritual hat in the here and now. For ‘the home of God is among mortals’ (Rev. 21:3). Where on earth might that be? I believe it is in church. As John Bowers so eloquently expresses in Hymn 51: This is the Lord’s house, Home of all his people, School for the faithful, refuge for the sinner, Rest for the pilgrim, haven for the weary, All find welcome. The church is the place where we can find short of heaven, the kind of peace, security, and joy for which the human heart longs. And what I find most wonderful is that (in spite of Thomas Wolfe), with God you can always come home again. And while there are externals that do change, God’s welcome mat and hospitality are eternal. So, if you’ve been away, be it for a half a summer or half a year, why not come to Christ Church. We have designated September 10^th as Homecoming Sunday. It will not just be a kick-off of a new church program year, but a time to reconnect with people and with all that is good and great about this house of God. Certainly God wants you and without a doubt we want you. But there is also something deep within you that wants to be home, too. See you in September?!