Welcome Home family of God

June 10, 2012 Friends and Family Day Jeremiah 31:6-17 Luke 15:1-9 A World with no home We live in a world today, where most of the world lives away from their home. In our understanding of the world – home is the place where you grow up, it is the place where you feel safe, it is the place where things make sense, it is the place where your family and friends live, and oftentimes it is the place where we will defend with our lives, in order to keep it as our home. Something is happening in our world – where people are no longer living in their homeland. They have had to move elsewhere. In 1990 there were 154 million people who lived outside of there homeland. In the year 2000 there were 175 million people outside of home, in 2006 that number grew to over 200 million, today it is 214 million – and it continues to grow. There are one in 30 people who have been displaced from their homes. If the number of immigrants in the world had their own country- the population would be the fifth largest company in the world. We live in a diaspora Something is definitely happening in the world. The world is changing. As as the world changes, our definition of what it means to be at home has to change with it. The words of the prophet Jeremiah become not just a story of the jews- but a story of all of us. all of us who ask the question – how can I sing the songs of God in a strange land – how can I celebrate home – when I am not at home? Jeremiah wrote words of hope for his people in a difficult situation. Today, thousands of years later, diaspora is not just a reality for the jews, but for most of the world. Learning how to be at home- in a strange place. Learning to make new friends and to claim new family. Jeremiah reminded the people that in the midst of being uprooted that God would be with them. That God would be their friend. God would take care of them. How can I sing a song in a strange land – by knowing that where ever I am – god will take care of me. Jeremiah’s message of hope But God also wanted to give them a message that they were not alone. That home is not just about a place, and a time, it is about those whom god sends to be with us, with whom we go through the events of life with. Friends and family day is a special day, a sacred day for us to remember what it means to be at home. Some of us know what it means to live in the diaspora - home away from home and some of us not. Being at home is more than a place it is a feeling. We all know what it means to live in adversity, turmoil. We all know what it means to live in changing circumstances. I don’t think that there is one area of our lives, where we don’t have uncertainty in a place that used to make sense.- it may be our health, our jobs, our family, the neighborhood, just in the world itself. Jeremiah’s promise to the people- is that things will get better. The day will come when you will be able to go home again. That means in most cases that we will have to redefine what and sometimes where home is. Jeremiah’s promise of friends But the thing I want to point out to you today – in the midst of that promise. That Jeremiah made another promise. He made the promise of friends and family to go along with you in the journey. He said that people will come from the North, from all over to make this journey together. Sometimes we can be sure that God sends us people in the world to help us along that leg of the journey. A young boy was asked if he would rather have a million dollars or a million friends, he said that he would rather have a million friends. Because if I ever needed money- than I could ask each one for a dollar – and have all of the money I need. An old man was among those who were in the jewish concentration camps – he made friends with many of the people there. They were all in the same boat, going the same place. One their way to death, one little girl came up to him to ask if he would hold her hand. I am not scared, she said, but it makes me a little stronger. I tell that story because she told he man that she believed that god had sent him into her life – for that moment. To walk along side of her in a difficult time. The good news is that as long as we have jesus in our lives – no matter how bad the circumstances, we are never headed toward death – but God does send people in our lives to make things easier. It is our friends and our family that is our greatest asset in life and in church. James S. Hewett tells of a neighbor he had who was trying to put a TV antenna on his roof, but was having a terrible time. Hewett decided to give him a hand. He went over and took with him his best tools and soon had the antenna up. His neighbor asked him what he made with such fancy tools. Hewett replied, “Friends, mostly.” This is a sacred day for us – because the greatest tool that we have is the ability to make friends. Friends are wonderful for what they can do to help us, to support us, to walk with us. But friends are also important in helping in the mission of building the kingdom for God. The more friends we have, the more we can do for one another and for God. Friends are important for who they are During the reign of Queen Victoria, a London doctor visited a 72-year-old lady named Martha Vincent. Her husband had abandoned her some years earlier. She was poor and lived in very humble surroundings. She was undernourished and had neither warm clothes or wood for a fire. The doctor couldn’t believe her friends would allow her to live like that. When asked about it, Maria said she had no friends. Later in the discussion she corrected herself. She admitted that there might be one, but was sure that she had forgotten about her. The doctor pressed her for the identity of the friend. And finally Maria told him that it was the Queen herself. She said that the two of them had been childhood friends. The doctor left, not sure that he believed Maria, but when he got home he wrote the Queen a letter relating the incident. A few days later he received a letter from the Queen. The story was true. The Queen had not forgotten. Enclosed in the letter was enough money to provide for all of Maria’s needs. For the remaining years of her life, Maria Vincent lived comfortably as a friend of the Queen. Wouldn’t we all like to say that we have a famous friend, a friend with lots of money that will take care of us – the good news is that we do. Friends are important for what they do. One of the ancient kings of Persia loved to mingle with his people in disguise. Once, dressed as a poor man, he descended the long flight of stairs, dark and damp to the tiny cellar where the fireman, seated on ashes, was tending the furnace.. The king sat down beside him and began to talk. At meal time the fireman produced some coarse black bread and a jug of water and they ate and drank. The king went away but returned again and again for his heart was filled with sympathy for the lonely man. They became very good friends as time passed. At last the king thought, “I’ll tell him who I am, and see what gift he will ask.” So he did, but the fireman didn’t ask for a thing. The king was astonished and said, “Don’t you realize that I can give you anything—a city, a throne?” The man gently replied, “I understand your Majesty. You have already given the greatest gift a man could receive. You left your palace to sit with me here in this dark and lonely place. You could give nothing more precious. You have given yourself and that is far more than I could ever deserve.” I visited Mrs. Jackson of Englewood church for the last two Sundays. She always gets mad at me, because I cant understand what she is telling me, but lately, she just wants me to hold her hand – for an hours at a time. But it means that in the midst of our misunderstandings, we are still friends, still connected. But friends are most important for what they give in return. The best friend that we can ever have is God. But we always have to ask ourselves are we a friend to God. Who is a friend of God?  Someone who know Him personally  Someone who loves Him  Someone who shares His interests  Someone who enjoys being with Him  Someone who is loyal to His cause A man went to lunch one day with a friend who was a delivery man. After lunch he went to the store, and bought pototo chips based on what his friend delivered. Being on relationship with a friend was a deciding factor in the choices he made. The more time we spend with god – the more god affects our choices. It is in recognizing God as our friend, that we learn to be friends. We celebrate today – because we have to remember that the greatest celebration of our lives is the day that we realize that we have true friends. The greatest celebration of God – is the day he finds us a friend. My last story is the story from the gospel. Jesus tells the story – of how a woman celebrates when she finds a lost coin, she calls everyone together and has a party. And he asks the question, if a woman can celebrate because of a lost coin, then surely God can celebrate because of a found friend. When Jeremiah says that the people will gather together – what do they do – they sing and praise god and celebrate. Today is a special day – a day to acknowledge our friends, today is a special day – a day to praise god for our blessing. But most importantly – you know that you always have a friend in Jesus – but how are you truly being a friend to Jesus? Loving God is the only true way to go home. – wherever we may be in life. We learn that home is wherever our friends are, and the best friend that we can ever have is God. Let us pray….