To Do What?

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

July 30, 2017

To Do What?

Selected Texts

It was John Milton, in his classic Paradise Lost,

who imagined God speaking of his children:

“I made [them] just and right,

sufficient to have stood,

though free to fall….

Authors to themselves in all,

both what they judge and what they choose;

for so I formed them free

and free they remain.”

(Book 3, line 96ff)

Poetry—fiction— to be sure,

words written in 1667,

but still, it sounds right, doesn’t it:

that God made us just and right,

though free to fall.

We can look,

we can examine,

we can decide;

we can choose.

We can choose wisely and well;

and we can choose poorly and painfully:

“sufficient to have stood,

though free to fall.”

We are free to fall;

free to make bad choices;

free to go down wrong paths;

free to turn away from God;

free to close our hearts and minds to God;

free to deny we’ve done any such thing.  

Last week we talked about Jacob,

and you heard me refer to him as a liar, a cheat,

a thief and a coward.

Jacob, one of the patriarchs,

a man found in the very first chapter of the Bible,

and yet the words I used were apt and accurate:

he was a man who lied to his father,

stole from his brother,

and then ran away like a coward

rather than face the consequences of his choices.

Milton assumed we were

made for the good as children of God,

and Augustine made the same assumption

a thousand years before, writing,

“God…made man upright,

and consequently with a good will.”

(City of God, 14.11)

And yet, for as much as

we would like to believe that,

believe that of ourselves,

the Bible begins with Adam and Eve making bad choices,

Cain making a truly horrifying choice,

Isaac’s wife Rebekah making a bad choice,

Jacob making one bad choice after another.

Keep reading, chapter after chapter,

book after book,

and that’s what we find –

children of God,

followers of the Lord God,

“Authors to themselves in all,

both what they judge and what they choose;

… formed .. free and free they remain….

free to fall.”

If we are free,

it begs the question, free to do what?

Read through the Bible and it seems

that we are free to turn from God

and make bad choices, small and large.

major and minor.

And always free to deny we’ve turned,

slipped, strayed.

Born just and right we may be,

born with good will each of us,

but can we think ourselves any better than

those whose stories run through the pages of the Bible?

Aren’t their stories our stories, too?

When we are baptized,

as we just heard,

the liturgy of the sacrament

reminds us that we are given

the gift of God’s Holy Spirit.

Doesn’t that protect us, help us,

if not keep us from making bad choices,

at least keep our bad choices,

to a minimum?

The very fact that we are here on Sunday,

when we could be somewhere else,

every one of us,

doing something else –

doesn’t that somehow inoculate us,

immunize against the virus of waywardness,

against making bad choices?

                                                                       

If we are honest with ourselves

—and that’s often no easy thing—

we know the answer is, no.

Churches of all denominations,

including our own,

are filled with Jacobs, Rebekahs,

Adams, Eves;

Peter, the rock,

denied our Lord 3 times.

We come to church,

come to this place to learn,

to learn how to live good lives,

godly lives,

to learn how to make good choices,

godly choices,

to learn what God wants from us,

to learn what God wants for us,

to learn what Jesus has to teach us.

We learn here in worship,

with the pastor the “teaching elder.”

We learn in the hymns we sing;

we learn in classrooms;

we learn as we work and serve;

We learn from one another;

we learn with one another.

God knows his children well

knows you and me–

“Formed free, and free we remain”

free enough to have led to this lament from God:

“I was ready to be sought out

by those who did not ask,

to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”

to a nation that did not call on my name.

I held out my hands all day long

to a rebellious people,

who walk in a way that is not good,

following their own devices;”

(Isaiah 65)

This text isn’t just about

a particularly troublesome group

who lived long ago and far away.

Every text in the Bible is a text about us,

about you and me, here and now.

God knows we walk our own paths;

That we pride ourselves on our independence,

our freedom, our ability to choose.

And so God uses grace and love to call us to him.

God uses grace and love to teach us.

God uses grace and love to remind us

that no matter how far we might stray

we can never stray from God’s loving embrace:

“But now thus says the Lord,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior….

you are precious in my sight,

and honored, and I love you.”

(Isaiah 43)

Even though you may fall,

our Lord says to us,

do not fear;

Even though you may choose poorly,

our Lord says to us,

do not fear.

Even though you may follow your own way,

your own will,

your pride and your stubbornness leading you

to stray far from me,

our Lord says to us,

do not fear:

“for you are precious in my sight…”

Frederick Buechner has observed,

“The world does bad things to us all,

and we do bad things to the world

and to each other,

and maybe, most of all to ourselves.”

As though we cannot help ourselves.

As though there is a bit of Mr. Hyde within us

fighting our outward Dr. Jekyll.

Still, here we learn a better path

a better road to walk.

Here we learn how to make good choices.

Here is where Liam and Regan will learn.

Here is where you and I,

even as we qualify for senior discounts,

continue to learn,

all the days of our lives.

Follow Jacob’s life through the pages of Genesis,

and you’ll follow a path that seems so ordinary.

Jacob continues to chisel and lie,

but less so as time goes on,

less so as he grows in faith, mature faith.

He finally is reconciled with his brother Esau,

for that is always God’s hope for us,

that we live reconciled with one another.

But even Jacob prevailing against an angel

could not turn Jacob into an angel.

Life is to be lived,

lived fully and without fear.

Life for us is to be lived in gratitude to God

as we follow our Lord Jesus Christ

learning to live Christ’s grace,

Christ’s love,

Christ’s compassion and peace.

We have been made just and right,

sufficient to stand,

though free to fall….

Authors to ourselves in all,

both what we judge and what we choose;

for so God formed us free

and free we remain.

Free to choose.

Free to do.

But free to do what?

AMEN

“I Will Keep You”

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

July 23, 2017

“I Will Keep You”

Genesis 28:10-19

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran.

He came to a certain place

and stayed there for the night,

because the sun had set.

Taking one of the stones of the place,

he put it under his head and lay down in that place.

And he dreamed that there was

a ladder set up on the earth,

the top of it reaching to heaven;

and the angels of God were ascending

and descending on it.

And the Lord stood beside him

and said, “I am the Lord,

the God of Abraham your father

and the God of Isaac;

the land on which you lie

I will give to you and to your offspring;

and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth,

and you shall spread abroad

to the west and to the east

and to the north and to the south;

and all the families of the earth

shall be blessed in you and in your offspring.

Know that I am with you and will keep you

wherever you go,

and will bring you back to this land;

for I will not leave you

until I have done what I have promised you.”

Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said,

“Surely the Lord is in this place—

and I did not know it!”

And he was afraid, and said,

“How awesome is this place!

This is none other than the house of God,

and this is the gate of heaven.”

So Jacob rose early in the morning,

and he took the stone that he had put under his head

and set it up for a pillar

and poured oil on the top of it.

He called that place Bethel;

but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

**************************************************

I am not making this up;

it is not fake news.

Many hotels have them,

especially higher-end hotels,

luxury hotels in larger cities.

They are called “pillow concierges”.

Yes, you heard right: “pillow concierges”.

Someone on the hotel staff who will see to it

that you have a pillow that is just right for you,

a pillow that is neither too hard, nor too soft;

feather pillows, memory-foam pillows;

a pillow that’s perfect for side sleepers,

back sleepers,

and those who sleep on their stomachs.

                                   

The pillow concierge will remember

your pillow preference,

so on your next visit

your room will have your preferred pillow,

right there on your bed,

ready for you, ready for you to lay your head down,

for a restful, refreshing night’s sleep,

“flights of angels singing thee to thy rest!”

How far we’ve come over the past 4,000 years

since poor Jacob was forced to

lay his head on a rock;

a cold, hard stone for his pillow

as he slept outside under the stars.

Of course, as our text tells us,

the rock on which Jacob rested his head

would become the next morning an altar to God,

an altar Jacob set up and anointed with oil

to mark the place where he had slept,

the place Jacob would thereafter call, “Bethel”,

Hebrew for “house of God.”

But it isn’t the stone as a pillow

or even as an altar,

that captures our attention in this story.

It’s that ladder,

that ladder with the angels going up and down:

“…a ladder set up on the earth,

the top of it reaching to heaven;

and the angels of God

… ascending and descending on it.”

It’s that ladder we call, “Jacob’s ladder”

that fascinates us,

artists by the scores over the centuries

capturing the image in mosaic,

oil,

pen and ink,

sculpture,

perhaps most majestically,

carved into the towers

of Bath Abbey in England.

Jacob always sound sleep in the pictures –

he’s dreaming, after all -

his head on that awful rock,

the ladder in the background,

angels going up one side and down the other.

What our text calls a ladder, though,

is probably better translated as, “ramp”,

a ramp as part of a building

built to rise up to heaven,

a building with ramps leading from earth to heaven.

Such structures were not unknown in Jacob’s time.

A ramp, or perhaps a stair,

that’s probably what the author of our text

had in mind as he wrote the words of our lesson.

But there’s something about a ladder

that makes for a more compelling story,

something about a ladder that’s more fascinating

than a staircase or a ramp –

they both sound so ordinary.

A ladder is vertical, steep,

wobbly, dizzy-ing.

A ladder can pierce the clouds

and reach the highest heavens.

Of course, with all our fascination

about the ladder,

all those artists capturing angels

going up and down,

no one seems ever to have taken a step back

and asked,

why would angels need a ladder,

or for that matter a staircase or a ramp

to travel between earth and heaven?

Don’t angels have wings?

The angels in every work of art that I’ve seen

capturing Jacob’s ladder

all have wings,

wings presumably that allowed them to fly,

fly about,

But setting aside the ladder,

the ramp, the stair,

angels flying or not flying—

even the stone,

there is something more here,

something that is easy to overlook,

buried in a single verse,

“And the Lord stood beside [Jacob]”,

The Lord God, Yahweh,

the one we call holy, eternal,

loving, gracious,

our Creator,

our Redeemer,

the one we praise—

this God,

this very God

appeared,

and stood by Jacob;

not delegating his message to the angels who were—

and the pun is clearly intended—

just a stone’s throw away.

The Lord God stood by Jacob

and spoke to him:

“Know that I am with you

and will keep you wherever you go…”

“I am with you…”

“I will keep you.”

God’s promise to Jacob;

a promise all the more extraordinary

because it was a promise made to a liar,

a cheat,

a thief,

a coward.

The Lord God stood there and spoke to Jacob,

the son who conspired with his mother;

the son who lied to his father,

the son who took advantage of

his father’s age and blindness;

Jacob, who stole his brother Esau’s birthright,

cheated his brother out of what was rightfully his,

and then having done the deed,

fled like a coward,

ran away, afraid of Esau’s wrath.

Was there anything good,

anything honorable,

anything decent about Jacob?

Still, God did not hesitate to make the promise:

“I will be with you.

I will keep you.”

The Hebrew word we translate as “keep”

also meaning “watch over”.

And this is God’s promise to all God’s children,

the scoundrel as well as the saint,

that God will watch over us,

for God’s love for us is unconditional.

There is no more beautiful evocation

of this promise than the words of the Psalmist

found in Psalm 121:

“I lift up my eyes to the hills—

from where will my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved; 

he who keeps you will not slumber.

He who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;

the Lord is your shade at your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time on and forevermore.

This is God’s promise to us,

each of us,

all of us, you and me,

God’s promise to us even when

we ourselves lie as Jacob did;

even when we ourselves cheat, as Jacob did;

even when we behave cowardly,

run away from responsibility, as Jacob did.

But this promise,

like all God’s promises,

is not something for us

to just sit back and praise God for.

It is a promise that should evoke a response

in us, from us.

To use the imagery we used a few weeks back,

this is a vertical promise

that comes down to us from God,

and it calls us to respond horizontally,

taking God’s promise to keep us, watch over us,

out into the world,

we—you and I—

responding to God’s goodness

by keeping and watching over all God’s children,

especially the most vulnerable,

the young, the old,

the sick,

the stranger, the hungry,

always remembering that the answer

to Cain’s infamous question to God,

“am I my brother’s keeper?”

(Genesis 4:9)

is YES.

It is so obviously “YES”,

that God didn’t even bother to respond.

“The Lord bless you and keep you,”

is the blessing Moses taught his brother Aaron

and the first group of priests

to offer to all God’s children.

Moses didn’t make up those words himself;

it was the Lord God who taught them to Moses.

The Lord God who wanted

all God’s children to know

that they are blessed,

that they are kept,

they are loved.

                                                     

We are blessed,

we are kept,

we are loved,

not for who we are

or how we worship,

or where we live,

or what language we speak,

or where we are from.

We are blessed,

we are kept,

we are loved,

scoundrel and saint,

for who God is,

And so, in our the words of the Lord our God:

“The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face to shine upon you,

and be gracious to you;

the Lord lift up his countenance upon you,

and give you peace.”

(Numbers 6:24-26)

AMEN  

Older, Not Old

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

July 16, 2017

Older, Not Old

Selected Texts

The young man was eager to be helpful,

eager to provide the best in customer service,

so he smiled broadly

after he’d rung up my purchases

and asked me,

“Sir, do you qualify for a senior discount?”

The question caught me by surprise.

Me? A senior?

Just because AARP hunts you down

and harpoons you at age 50

doesn’t mean you’re a senior.

I asked him,

“What’s the age for the senior discount?”

He replied with the same broad smile, “60!”

60 a senior?

Hadn’t this young man seen the t-shirts,

the bumper stickers

that say, “60 is the new 40”?

I firmly and adamantly responded, “No.”

Not because I didn’t qualify;

I was more than year past my 60^th birthday.

I said no because I was hardly ready

to think of myself as a senior;

I said no because – I’ll admit it –

I was in denial.

    

It happened again a few months later.

Same grocery store,

different location,

different clerk,

same helpful attitude,

same question;

same forceful, adamant response from me:

“NO”.

Fast-forward a year,

just a few weeks ago.

Same grocery store,

but this time I was going through

the self-check-out lane.

I had just a few items:

milk, bread, and the like.

Purchases done, I pressed the button that said,

“Complete purchase and pay.”

Up popped a screen that asked,

“Any coupons today?”

No.

Up popped the next screen,

one I had not seen before:

“Do you qualify for a senior discount?”

That question now had Velcro

and it was determined to attach itself to me,

determined to confront me until I gave in.

I hesitated as I looked at the screen—

one second, two seconds, three seconds,

finger poised above the screen,

No? Yes?

And then I did it.

I hit the button that said, “Yes”.

Yes, I qualify for the senior discount;

I wouldn’t fight it any longer.

Now let’s be clear.

I may be old enough to qualify for a

senior discount at grocery stores,

but that does not make me old.

Older is not old.

I am not sure that 60 is the new 40,

but 60, or in my case almost 63,

is certainly not over the hill.

Still, ever since I turned 60,

I’ve been thinking about age,

my age;

and I’ve been thinking in particular,

at what age should I step down from the pulpit;

not retire – I’m too young for that,

too young for Social Security and a pension,

even if I do qualify for a senior discount.

             

No, I’m talking more about at what age

should I step aside,

make way for the next pastor,

a younger pastor,

probably a generation younger.

I’ve been around long enough

to have seen pastors

who served too long,

stayed too long;

and I have also seen pastors

who didn’t stay long enough,    

who left too soon.

For the past year or so,

I’ve put the matter squarely before God

as I’ve looked for guidance.

When, God?

And, as God always does,

God answered in God’s time,

and set the answer before me:

Summer 2017 –now.

Time to step down,

time to step aside.

As I thought about it,

God’s answer made sense,

as God’s answers always do.

It’s a good time for our church,

a good time for me to step down.

The church is strong, vibrant, healthy.

We are hard at work implementing the many projects

funded by our incredibly successful capital campaign,

and we’ve been joyfully celebrating

our 150-year history of ministry

in the name of Jesus Christ.

The wisdom of the teacher known as Qoheloth,

found in the book of Ecclesiastes,

tells us in those very familiar words,

“For everything there is a season,

and a time for every matter under heaven.”

(Ecclesiastes 3:1)

And so, there was a time back in 2006

for me to be called

as this Body of Christ’s 27^th pastor.

And in the same way,

there is a time now for me to step aside,

and make way for the one God will choose

as this Body of Christ’s 28^th pastor,

someone who will lead this church

to its 160^th anniversary and beyond.

The process that we Presbyterians

impose upon ourselves in calling pastors

can seem cumbersome, slow,

even anachronistic.

Wouldn’t it be so much easier

if we had an administrative bishop

who would simply appoint the next pastor?

But the process is intentional,

purposeful,

thoughtful;

I’ve seen it from both sides,

lay and clergy,

and as imperfect as it is,

it works.

Last April I met with Wilson Gunn,

the Executive Presbyter

of our National Capital Presbytery,

to share with him my thoughts and plans.

He recommended the Reverend Lisa Kenkeremath

to come in as Stated Supply in September,

to lead worship and provide pastoral care

so there will be continuity and consistency,

something that was and is very important to me.

Later in September the Session will form an

Interim Pastor Search Committee       

to call an Interim Pastor,

the person who will lead this church

during the search process for the new installed pastor.

That process will take 12 to 18 months.

I met with Reverend Lisa on Friday

and had a wonderful conversation with her. 

She just completed an interim term

at another church similar to ours

and she’d would love to come here

and serve this congregation as Stated Supply and,

if it is God’s will, as Interim Pastor.

Melissa worked with her in the past

and thinks quite highly of her.

She’ll come worship with us on August 6

and also meet with our Elders that day.

Presbytery will provide guidance and assistance

throughout the process.

I’ve been in conversation not only with Wilson,

but also with the Presbytery’s

Committee on Transitions

to help make this time of transition

as smooth as possible.

Those of you who remember the process

from 12 years ago,

will recall the Reverend Jeri Fields

as the Presbytery’s liaison,

and she was enormously helpful

not just to the Pastor Nominating Committee,

but also to me.

These are challenging times

for churches of all denominations.

But that is nothing new for us,

those of who gather in the name of Jesus Christ.

Two thousand years ago,

Paul warned his young protégé Timothy,

“For the time is coming

when people will not put up with sound doctrine,

but having itching ears,

they will accumulate for themselves

teachers to suit their own desires,

and will turn away from listening to the truth

and wander away to myths

...without understanding either

what they are saying

or the things about which

they make assertions.”

(1 and 2 Timothy)

Those words could just as easily

have been written yesterday.

But so too is Paul’s advice to Timothy

in the face of such challenges:

“Pursue righteousness, godliness,

faith, love,

endurance and gentleness.”

That’s our call as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Our call even in a time of transition,

for God, our rock, as well as our redeemer,

will be with us every step along the way,

you and me.

And so, we can embrace

the Psalmist’s words as our own:

“You are our chosen portion and our cup, O Lord;

We keep you always before us.

Therefore our hearts are glad,

and our souls rejoice;

our bodies rest secure.

….For you are our shepherd,

we shall not want.

You make us to lie down in green pastures;

You lead us beside still waters;

You restore our souls.

You lead us in right paths for your name’s sake.

Even though we walk through the darkest valley,

we will fear neither evil nor anything else,

for you are with us;

your rod and your staff—  they comfort us.

You prepare a table before us

in the presence of our enemies;
you anoint our heads with oil;

our cups overflow.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us

all the days of our lives,
and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord

now and forever.”

(from Psalms 16 and 23)

AMEN  

Welcome Hone

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

July 9, 2017

Welcome Hone

Selected Texts

We start when we are very young,

start with our bedrooms,

putting pictures on the walls,

crafts we made at Vacation Bible School

or YMCA summer camp on shelves,

photos of family on vacation at Disney World

or the Outer Banks next to our beds.

We continue with dorm rooms,

and then on to first apartments,

condos,

townhouses,

the 3-bedroom ranch,

the 4-bedroom colonial,

even a room in a nursing home.

We make these spaces our homes—

home: a place that give us comfort,

a sense of peace and serenity,

a place of welcome, family,

laughter, love;

a place,

the place,

where we feel we truly belong.

Those of us of a certain age

may remember a beautiful,

haunting song by the Beach Boys.

Brian Wilson wrote the song

and sang it so plaintively back in 1963,

sang of a place

where he could lock out all his worries

and his fears;

Do his dreaming and his scheming;

Do his crying and his sighing,

Lie awake and pray…

(“In My Room”)

For Wilson, a teenager at the time,

he was singing of his room,

his room, which for him was home.

There is something in all of us

that longs for home,

searches for home.

Home – not a house;

Home is more than structure,

more than walls, furniture and appliances.

Home is an embrace,

a deep breath,

a place where the door is always open

– to you.

                                            

Home is the place we spend our life seeking,

all of us restless,

whether we admit it or not,

Augustine spot-on when he wrote

more than 1500 years ago,

“God, you made us with yourself as our goal,

and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

(“Confessions”)

Our hearts are restless;

we are restless,

until we come to rest in God;

until we find our home in God,

until we make our home in God.

The Bible is filled with story after story

of how we humans scramble, stumble,

and tumble our restless way through life,

filling our lives with possessions and things,

things we think will nourish us,

but turn out to be lifeless and empty.

The book of Jeremiah—

which for a book written more than

2600 years ago,

is as timeless a book

as might be found in Scriptures—

shows us the folly of our ways,

and God always wise to them, always:

“For from the least to the greatest of them,

everyone is greedy for unjust gain;

and from prophet to priest,

everyone deals falsely.

They have treated the wound of my people

carelessly,

saying, “Peace, peace,”

when there is no peace.

They acted shamefully,

they committed abomination;

yet they were not ashamed,

they did not know how to blush.”

(Jeremiah 6:13-15)

The Reverend Frederick Buechner has written,

“Our stories are all stories of searching.

We search for a good self to be

and for good work to do.

We search to become human in a world

that tempts us always to be less than human

or looks to us to be more.

We search to love,

and to be loved.

And in a world where it is often hard to believe

in much of anything,

we search to believe in something holy

and beautiful

and life-transcending

that will give meaning and purpose

to the lives we live.” 

We search,

for we are restless

until we find our way home,

home to God,

home with God.

The joy is that we can find our way there

here and now,

our lungs still full of breath,

the majesty and mystery of

God’s world all around us.

We don’t have to wait for that euphemism

we use for death,

one I’ve never cared for

because I think it is wrong,

that in death we go home,

that God calls us home.

No, we can find home in life.

Here, now.

Our Lord Jesus Christ shows us the way,

the way home,

with his invitation:

“Come to me, all you that are weary

and are carrying heavy burdens,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me;

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy,

and my burden is light.”

(Matthew 11:28)

“Come to me”,

our Lord says to us,

all  of us with restless souls,

chasing sign after sign,

everyone that looks like it says,

“Welcome Home”

but which we find on closer inspection,               

say, “Welcome Hone”,

a critical piece missing,

the most critical piece,

the God piece,

the Christ piece,

missing,

the piece that gives peace to our souls.

As Reverend Buechner has put it,

“the home we long for and belong to

is finally where Christ is.

I believe that home is Christ’s kingdom,

which exists both within us and among us

as we wend our prodigal ways

through the world in search of it.

…[Christ’s] peace comes not from the world

 but from something whole and holy within himself

which sees the world also as whole and holy,

because deep beneath all the

broken and unholy things

that are happening in it even as he speaks,

Jesus sees what he calls the Kingdom of God.”

The Kingdom of God,

the home we long for,

the home we can find even here,

even now,

for as our Lord has told us,

“the kingdom of God is among you,

the kingdom of God is within you.”

(Luke 17:21)

Our Lord has the sign out for us

for you and me, here and now,

the sign that says, “Welcome Home”.

“Home”, not “Hone”;

there no piece missing.

The sign calls us to this Table,

where our Lord will feed us,

nourish us,

quench our thirst,

still our restless hearts,

and grace us with peace in our souls.

The sign is out.

It says, “Welcome Home”.

Welcome Home to all who seek,

who search,

who long to find peace,

long to find wholeness,

long to find the holy.

We who gather round this Table

are in the presence of our living Lord,

and he says to each of us,

all of us:

“Welcome Home.”

AMEN 

(The idea for this sermon and the phrase "welcome hone" came from the writings of Rev. Frederick Buechner)