Recapture That Homecoming Feeling

This Christmas Recapture That Homecoming Feeling There’s something very unnatural about not being home at Christmas. A few years ago my wife and I were separated from our youngest daughter on Christmas Eve. We were so miserable! We vowed that, if at all possible, she would always be home for Christmas – in familiar surroundings, with those who mean the most to her. As this wasn’t possible in 2000, we missed her once again, and sent her presents that included a silly but sentimental Veggie Tales cucumber that sings “Where is my hairbrush?” It’s curious when you think about it. Most people plan to be any place but home on other major holidays. They go away for the sun or the snow, to the beach or the mountains for holidays. They spend their vacations anywhere except home. But Christmas is different. People fly across the country or drive through the night to be “home” for Christmas. It’s all rather ironic when you listen to the account of the Christmas story in the Bible, because you find that no one was home that first Christmas (Lk. 2:1-20). Mary and Joseph weren’t home in Nazareth because a census took them to Bethlehem. The shepherds weren’t home as they had to work that night in the fields. In a very real way, Jesus, the Christmas child, was very far from home. The Bible reminds us that He voluntarily left the security and splendor of His home in heaven to carry out His mission here on earth. But somehow, whenever we see a nativity scene – parents huddled round the Christ child in a manger – most of us never give a passing thought to the fact that no one was home that first Christmas. We just try to make sure that we are. Being At Home Have you ever tried to define what “home” really means, and what the dynamics of home are all about? Think back to the Christmases of your youth. What memories can you resurrect that create a sense of home? A sense of belonging. A sense of belonging probably accompanies the concept of home in your mind. Most of us remember feeling that we fit in our home. We knew our place with our brothers and sisters. We had a sense of attachment to our parents and grandparents, a sense of family ties, of relational warmth and connectiveness. Most of us can think back to childhood Christmases and remember not worrying whether our loved ones would be there for us. We just assumed they would. For many of us, home is about belonging to people who love us. A sense of security. Home is a safe place of comfort and protection from outside forces. It is a familiar place where family traditions provide a sense of continuity and stability, especially around Christmas. That’s where all the traditions and the rituals happen. You remember some of them – decorating your home or eating special foods. Maybe you spent Christmas eve with one side of the family and Christmas day with the other. Those family rituals were a lot more important than you realized as a child, because they gave you an underlying sense of security, an essential ingredient of home. A sense of optimism. Young children growing up in loving homes, where they feel secure and where they feel like they belong, are more likely to be hopeful about the future. Life is going to get better. There will be more freedom, more fun and more opportunities in the future. What they didn’t get for Christmas this year, they might get next year. There’s always another Christmas coming when you’re young. Optimism and hope run high in a warm, well-functioning home. So a sense of belonging, security and optimism capture much of what it means to be at home. Away From Home But what does living in the real world do to our understanding of home? What happens when young people grow up, leave home and begin to find their own way in the real world? Lack of belonging. Sooner or later, they are forced to redefine what a sense of belonging is all about, because, as the years go by, relationships change – even the ones you thought were permanent. Unthinkable things happen. Parents split up. You weren’t banking on that. Marriages break up. That wasn’t the plan either. Loved ones die. And somewhere along life’s way, that strong sense of belonging begins to weaken and crumble. Eventually, an honest person wonders if any earthly relationship is capable of offering a permanent sense of belonging. Some of you thought that this Christmas was going to be like previous ones, but it didn’t turn out that way? For some, there’s a husband or a mother who isn’t around. Or there’s the piercing pain of a recent death – like my own brother who died while jogging in the snow in Canada just before Christmas 2000. A few years ago we had to be very careful to share Christmas equally with both mother and mother-in-law; this year we have neither. This Christmas many of us are going to think a lot about how tenuous relationships really are, how thin is the thread that holds our sense of belonging. Lack of security. You’ll also find that the real world destroys the sense of security that home afforded our youth. Unless you’re living with your head in the sand, you know that places like the Middle East are powder kegs ready to explode. Addictions to alcohol, drugs and pornography are out of control, and we are becoming increasingly disconnected from one another. More family break ups, increasing numbers living on the streets, an increase in suicide, and nearly 10% of all Australians now living alone. If you live in it long enough, the real world rips the word “security” right out of your dictionary. The homes of our youth may have given us a sense of security, but it was short lived and it hung on a thin thread. Lack of optimism. Show me grounds for optimism. Are matters in the hot spots of the world going to improve on their own? Show me any grounds for believing that by next Christmas there will be less terrorism, fewer homeless people, less crime and drug use, and more love among people. The real world has a way of shattering our concept of home. I have a sneaking suspicion that part of the pull toward home we feel at Christmas time is really a yearning for the sense of belonging, security and optimism that we once enjoyed in the homes of our youth. Christmas seems to trigger memories of our childhood for some reason. And we wonder if maybe God’s Son, the Christmas child, can meet the needs that our homes once met – in a complete, permanent and perfect way. Home Is In ChristBelonging. The Bible says that God knows you. Your name has been on His lips countless times already, and it is on His lips again today (Heb. 7:25). God knows your needs. He knows you have a deep need for a lasting sense of belonging (Ps. 68:6). He also knows that earthly relationships are vulnerable and only meet that need in a partial way (Job 19:14). So God says to each of you this Christmas, “I know you and you matter to Me, and through the Christmas child, Jesus Christ, I will make a way for you to belong to Me permanently.” Through Jesus’ redeeming work on the cross, God says, “My Son will pave the way for repentant people like you to become members of My eternal family. And once you’re adopted into My family, you will belong to Me now and for all eternity. Nothing will ever break that bond of belonging” (Jn. 1:12-13; 10:28). Many of us know what it’s like to be permanently and eternally attached to God in a warm Father-child relationship. It makes you feel like you’re home no matter where you are, because you know you belong. There are some people away from home right now, maybe half way around the world, yet they have a sense of being home because they belong to God (Rom. 8:15-16). Security. God says to us this Christmas, “I know you, that you need a sense of security. I know the world situation and all the uncertainties. I know that planet earth is a scary place to live. But fear not.” Did you know that God says “Fear not” more than 360 times in the Bible? High on God’s list of priorities is His desire to make His adopted children feel secure. He knows how important it is for us to feel secure in uncertain times. So He says, “I will never leave you or forsake you. I will never abandon you or make you feel like an orphan. Call upon Me and I will always answer you” (Heb. 13:5; Jer. 33:3). These are promises from God. Beyond His promises, He gives us His very presence. It sounds mystical, but many of us know what it’s like. Many of us can attest to the fact that in the deepest valleys of personal tragedy and heartbreak, we have felt God’s sustaining presence in a powerful way. Somehow, while our worlds were falling apart, we felt a strong sense of God’s security (Jn. 14:16-17). Some of us have stood by hospital beds or beside open graves. Some have received devastating medical reports or bad news at work. Yet while our worlds were crumbling around us, we felt sure that God was not going to let us sink into the abyss of despair, but that He would put us back on solid ground where we would eventually feel stable and secure again (2 Cor. 1:3-4). When you grow in your relationship with God to the point where you regularly feel secure in His care, it feels a lot like being home. No matter where you are, you feel at home because you are in His presence. Optimism. What about that youthful sense of optimism that was shattered by your real world years ago? Can any of it be recaptured or must we be a doom-and-gloom people? When Jesus began His three-year teaching ministry, one of His favorite themes was optimism. He had many variations on that theme. He would say things like, “You who feel like you’ve lived in the worst place in this life, cheer up. I’ll make sure you live in the best place in the next. You who have lived humbly in this life, have hope. I’m going to exalt you in the next. You who have given of yourselves and your resources to others are going to be rewarded. You who have been treated unjustly in this life, will be treated justly by My Father. You who are mourning will soon be comforted. You who have suffered for kingdom causes will be honored some day. You who have shown compassion to the poor will be richly compensated” (Mt. 5:3-12). Can you hear the message of optimism coming through Jesus’ words? Sometimes He would sense the dark clouds of despair hovering over the heads of His followers, and would gather them around Himself and remind them that “with God all things are possible” (Mt. 19:26). God is bigger than any problem you have. He is stronger than any force that’s facing you now. He’s ready, willing and eager to apply His power to your situation. And need I remind you that you belong to Him. You are secure in His care. With His power, you can face the future with optimism. You can move forward into your future with faith instead of fear (Mt. 6:32; Phil. 4:19). So the Son of God left His home, was born a homeless person in a temporary shelter, identified with the homeless throughout His ministry, was buried in a borrowed grave, and yet, through His death and resurrection, enables all wandering people to recapture a sense of home, a sense of belonging, a sense of security, a sense of optimism and, beyond that, the promise of a permanent home in heaven – forever (Jn. 14:2-3). Home Or Away? Are you really home this Christmas, home in the ultimate sense? Are you really enjoying the fact that you belong to God? If you belong to Him, do you really feel secure in His care? Do you feel that sense of optimism about your future because His power is available to you? Do you feel optimistic about eternity because you know you have a home in heaven? If you are already home in Christ and are sure of it, don’t let this Christmas season pass without worshiping God for the gift of His Son – the gift that makes “home” possible wherever you are. Make sure you worship God in a personal and authentic way for His bringing you home. If you are feeling far from God this Christmas, why not come home? Why not mark today as the day that you came home to Christ? Why not admit your distance from Him, your confusion about Him, and your sin that separates you from Him? And why not say, “Oh, God, through Christ, forgive my self-willed ways that have put distance between You and me. God, bring me home today in the ultimate way. I want to come home.” He will answer your prayer. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Colin Tizzard and his wife live in Sydney, Australia where they have been involved for many years in Christian service with both youth and the elderly.