July 19, 2020 - "You Asked For It" Summer Series - The Church After COVID

Worship Service on YouTube

Sermon: Home is Where the Heart Is”. By Carolyn Smith, July 12, 2020

Scripture: Deuteronomy 6: 1-9 Doorposts, Love the Lord Your God…

Scripture: Matthew 7: 24-27, House on the Rock

Our “You Asked for it” Sermon request for this week is our familiar phrase “Home is where the heart is.”   Such a sweet, nostalgic ring to it, conjuring images of a homestead, flowers, dinner on the table and rest.  Jay & I received a handprinted sign as a wedding present so long ago and it came to my mind- It says “ The Smiths, established 1992.”  Like a tangible reminder of the home we hoped to build together.  It’s important in the fun times, but I’m most grateful for it in the stormy times we’ve had.  

 I’m curious to hear the sermon requests and wonder thought them up, and what brought it to mind.   I’ve learned that it was Anne who suggested ‘Home is where the heart is,” someone who. like so many of us, has been keeping at home all spring, isolating, and missing friends and family and routine, and missing church too.   

When the world is upside down, (and - the sarcastic jokes about 2020 abound right now- ) it sounds pollyanna to say “Home is where the heart is” - if we say Home is about the people we love, but my sister and family are stuck in the US, and some of our St. Paul’s friends have spent months separated from their husbands and wives, or wee grandchildren, and we struggle with managing our bubbles - how can we be sweet about it?   Or Home is where the heart is, but we know in our town and in our world, the experience of living quarters is not equal, not always comfortable, reliable, spacious safe or chosen for too many of God’s family, and so our care and awareness extends beyond my little house or your condo.  With that in our heart, the idea of Home shifts darkly….  If it isn’t about all our favourite people close by, and it’s not about contentment with what we have as a roof over our heads, well it must be something!  

When the world is upside down, and our sense of Home is rocked, it happens that we know something about this in our collective memory, digging back to our ancient stories, flipping back the pages to Deuteronomy - we find a book of the Law, part of the Torah for our Hebrew ancestors.  We might call them guidelines now, since life on this planet has evolved since a few thousand years ago, but heck. - there’s a reason we’re still reading after all this time.  Deuteronomy is a reading of God’s law to the Hebrew people, reestablishing themselves, understanding themselves as a nation, after escaping slavery in Egypt, living a nervous existence in the desert, seeking a land of promise.      Who are they without familiar homes, or rooted center of community, a temple to gather in, and reassurance of life as they knew it?   Who are we?   And so the law, as spoken by Moses, and retold by Judy today,  the central commandment of the people is proclaimed:  Hear, my people:  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 

All they knew of love and life and hope and longing, they knew in the face of disruption, displacement and despair, and becomes entwined as their story as People of God.  What kept them strong and focused, what keeps us hopeful is remaining steadfast, is staying grounded in it.    And from this place, the law continues: These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

In our homes, in our activities, with our kids, and like wearing our hearts on our sleeves, present to all, this love and assurance is kept front and center.  

If you were a Jewish family - or know one, you may very well be doing this tangibly for real… A Mezuzah like this (Picture) one is on your door post, just like this few thousand year old law - a small little box mounted on the door frame, and inside it is a real scroll, written with the Shema - the law in Hebrew… Love the lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength…. And on going in or coming out, you never miss it - a touch, a mindful moment a kiss, - how could you forget?  Sometimes I bet it is met with a grumble or ignored… but not forgotten.  

God is in your heart, the love and the connection and the assurance, is kept in your heart and ON your home.  The law even suggests, and there are people who follow this literally - on your arms, and your foreheads.  

This is so tangible… we modern people like to moderate such things, but for the Hebrews, they were tangibly recalling their story of the plagues of Egypt, the taking of the first born at the first passover -with a tangible Angel fo Death, passing over the faithful homes in Egypt, passing over the homes marked with doorposts painted with lamb’s blood, a tangible prayer to protect all within their homes.  To escape from those houses to no home at all, to escape with hope for the future, for a sense of community and reassurance that faith withstands death and the raging storms of life.

Home is where the heart is - and where is your heart?   It feels that this year  is a time for turning in and giving thought to what our hearts tell us.  What do our worries tell us about what matters most?  When have our anxieties gotten away from us, and when have we felt reassured and grounded again?  And how to do we teach and reassure our kids?   I have heard faith described as “all that you give your heart to.”   But it is in the giving and the awareness of our hearts that we find grounding and reassurance.  It impresses upon our young ones and the people around us.   So the idea of having a Mezuzah on our doorposts, suddenly holds some strength- to be SO present to our hearts and to God all the Time isn’t about having a safe house, or all our favourite people around, or even the freedom to gather at church… it’s about knowing wherever we are, There is God, there is courage and direction for going forward to meet the day.   When I picture that, I sense my feet solid on the ground, I sense optimism and compassion, I sense my improved capacity for sending up prayers, calling a lonely friend, and turning inward, aware of my own real needs.  

I don’t have a mezuzah for my forehead or on my doorpost but I notice them. And my ‘Smith’ sign comes to mind, and then I remembered seeing a decorative sign on the walls of families I know:  One says: “In this House We are real, we make mistakes, we say I’m sorry;  We give second changes, we have fun, we give hugs, we forgive, we are really loud, we are patient, we love.”   Do you have one of these? Or something like it?   I’d love to hear about it… Because Suddenly I’m noticing families declaring- proclaiming - what matters in their home, how they build their lives and hope to raise their kids and are you suprirsed? They declare: love, laughter, and reassurance.  It isn’t always sweet - after some stormy times, my house can get really loud, and we need second chances and we need forgiveness.   We need grounding to face fear and nurture resilience whether our homes are noisy with 4 kids or just one person.    With such reassurance, our hearts carry our sense of home wherever we go - sitting inside, or walking down the street, when we settle down or when we’re up and going, perhaps even from a bed when strength and memory fail…. We impress on our kids and the world around us that love and hope is our way forward.   It abides, it is steadfast through raging storms, and all the plagues of Egypt, and now as we care and connect with each other in new ways in upside-down times.   

Home- that idea of the household of God that we keep coming back to this season - imagine the mezuzah on the doorpost of God’s home, or the Sign on the wall, declaring the Spirit within the house of belonging for all people, all creatures, with love, second chances, laughter and hope for the future, … That home is where our heart is.   

Hear, my people:   Love with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. We are never alone, thanks be to God!

Deborah Laforet