Introduction
Recently, Fuller Seminary asked me for my permanent address. The question stumped me. Where is my home? I currently live in a small one bedroom apartment in Fuller Housing, but I will be moving shortly after graduation. That apartment is my home right now. But there is no sense of permanence. The homes I lived in back east belong to other people now. My father has remarried and their home welcomes me as a visitor, but it is not my home. So again I ask, “Where is my home?”
Settlers
My grandfather would have had no difficulty with this question. He never lived more than a couple of miles away from where he was born. He was a coal miner and had to live close to the mine. His father was also a coal miner as were all of his brothers. And he married a coal miner’s daughter who worked in the company store. Life was hard and not expected to get much better. He worked in the mines from his sixteenth birthday until retirement. He never had few luxury items or spare time. His life was centered on work, family and church. He lived on the land originally settled by his parents who had come from
Settlers always went to the local community church. It would have never occurred to them to go to church in someone else’s community. Church is where their community gathered together for worship. Since life was difficult and not expected to improve the church gave them hope in life after death, when settlers would live in paradise. Heaven, for settlers, was located on the other side of death when they would finally receive their great reward. Listen to these comforting words from the prophet Zephaniah.
“At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the LORD.” (Zephaniah 3:20)
Settlers understood that home was where they lived and worked during their lives. And they looked forward to their heavenly home where God the father would graciously welcome them home as his beloved children.
Exiles
My father grew up knowing this coal mining town as home. But after high school he was drafted into the army and served in World War II. After returned home a grateful country sent him to college on the G.I. Bill. After college he went to work for a corporation and bought a house in the suburbs. Several times each year we would get into the station wagon to drive over the mountain back home. Home was always back there in
Exiles lived in one community but considered another community as home. They enjoyed all the luxuries and extra time their new lifestyle allowed. But they longed for the community that they had left behind. So exiles joined churches to be part of new exile communities where they could remember home. In these church communities exiles could use their free time as volunteers, something unknown in my grandparent’s day. They could join committees and become deacons and elders. The watchword for exiles was “upward mobility”. Every few years they could expect a better job, a better home, and a better car. Their goals were to have the corner office and to be an elder in the church.
For a people experiencing upward mobility the church began preaching a new message. Rather that seeing heaven as a place where you go when you die they saw it as being somewhere in the sky above the clouds. The role of the church was to help exiles look up toward their heavenly homes. Listen to these words from Revelation.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell be with them as their God.’” (Revelation 21:1-3)
Settlers joined community churches to wait for their opportunity to enter heaven. Exiles joined churches that looked up to see the heavenly home they longed for. But today I am neither settled in a community, nor do I long for a remembered home. I am moving from home to home never settling down very long. I live somewhere for as long as I want to live there them I move to another home. I am neither a settler nor an exile. I am a nomad.
Nomads
Nomads live wherever they want. They move from apartment to apartment, house to house, city to city and even country to country. They stay in an apartment, a job or a church only as long as they find fulfillment. As soon as they experience dissatisfaction they move to a new experience, always hoping that the new experience would be better. Sometimes it is. The watchword for nomads is “change”. Settlers never expected change. Exiles expected change as upward progress. But nomads look for change whatever it is.
A few years ago I was offered a job from IBM. I would be managing the installation of cash registers for Wal-Mart stores. Had I taken this job I would have been homeless because IBM expected that I would be traveling to various Wal-Mart stores 100% of the time. I would fly to a
Most young people today live somewhere, but they do not consider that somewhere as home. Since most are the children of exiles they never considered the place where they grew up as home either. So unlike exiles the nomads have no longing for where they grew up. They go wherever the wind blows.
For nomads “home” is not defined by a physical location. Rather “home” consists of the network of relationships they develop. These relationships cross geographic and cultural barriers. Let me give you an example. A little while ago I was looking at my church’s bulletin. Since my church is in
When ministering to nomads the church must assist them in developing a network of relationships grounded in a relationship with Jesus Christ. A friendly church is one where members will exchange cell phone numbers with visitors, and use that contact information to meet visitors for lunch or coffee. For nomads heaven in not someplace you go after you die, nor is it found high above the clouds. Rather heaven is where relationships are formed and people gather together to follow Jesus. Listen to the following words of Christ from Matthew.
Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:19-20)
For nomads heaven exists whenever two or three of them come together in Jesus’ name. Church should be the place where relationships are formed and nurtured by the word of God. Exiles see heaven as above the clouds. Church is where they gather to look up. Settlers see heaven as their ultimate destination. Church is where they anticipate this glorious event. Now let’s look at home from the perspective of the Prodigal Son.
Heavenly Home
In the Old Testament home was tied to the land. The land you lived on had been farmed by your father and grandfather and his father going back to the conquest of the land by Joshua. The land was holy because
Jesus explained all of this in the parable of The Prodigal Son. The Father and his two sons lived on the land that their family had lived on forever. They were settlers. But when the younger son demanded his inheritance the land that had fed the family for generations had to be sold. The old system of land inheritance was over. After the younger son left and lost his money he longed for home. He remembered his family and the food the land produced. He was an exile. When the younger son returned he saw that everything had changed. Home was no longer tied to the land. Rather home consisted of the relationships among the father and his two sons. Jesus was preparing us for a change in the meaning of “home” from being a place where you live to being the network of relationships you have with others. Heaven exists whenever your network of relationships follows Jesus.
Amen
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