When my sister Holly and I visited our childhood home after many years away from there, she rang the doorbell and we were met by two young girls who were home alone. I explained that we had once lived in their house; and would we be allowed to visit them? They answered that they would have to call their mother to know if it was OK, which they did; and surprisingly, their mother said “Yes, you can show them the house and yard.” We promised not to stay long.

It was a nostalgic visit. The girls were eager to know how the house had changed. It was almost the same, but the kitchen had been made into a family room, with a fireplace added, and what had been our dinging room was now their kitchen. The experience left a deep impression on me, and the girls seemed intensely interested as well. Saying “Thank you, and good by,” was like a second and final good bye to a period of my life. I was quite sure that I would not see that house again.

Afterward Holly and I drove to Church Street, where the church of our growing up and our confirmation stood. We searched and thought we were lost in the small central New York town of Cortland, until we understood that the church had been razed some time ago, and the grassy place it used to occupy was all that we could see. After visiting the house, finding the church completely gone was a shock. It had been built in 1803, when both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were alive. I experienced a sharp sense of loss. Later I learned that the congregation had moved to a new building just outside of town, where there was plenty of room for parking and growth; both of which were lacking at the old site.

Places are not living things in themselves, yet they hold meaning for us: My Father’s house has many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. ( John 14:2-3)

Clearly Jesus knows the need we have to be “at home” in a place, to feel connected to a place, and he offers himself and his Father as the “place” where we will find ultimate home, the love and acceptance of family that makes places dear to us. It brings me joy to know that other children are growing up where I did, and that other people have a new church home. Jesus promises that where he is, is home.

Love in Him,

Prue