It is interesting how they say that you can never go back again. I remember traveling back to my boyhood home where so many of my childhood memories still run rampant through the neighborhood. The memories were all there; but the place looked different somehow. the tree we planted when I was only six or seven years old (that I had to carefully mow around without mowing over!) was there, but it was now huge! The ballfield where I played Little League was still there, but the bases seemed so much closer together now than they did then. Perhaps the perspective of age, or the distance of time somehow managed to change everything around a bit. But still, it was good to go home again.
Next week at this time, I shall be walking the shores of the Sea of Galilee with Ron, Belinda, Carol, and Gracie. I am looking forward to making that trip again - having made it just last year. There is so much that I want to see again: the Synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus spent much of his teaching ministry; the Upper Room where the disciples had the final meal with Jesus before his betrayal and crucifixion; Golgotha, or "the place of the skull" where Jesus was proportedly crucified (it actually looks like a skull in the rock formation!); the shore where Jesus cooked breakfast for the disciples after the resurrection; and all the rest!
I cannot help but wonder if Jesus could somehow go back to his boyhood home of Nazareth, if he would recognize the place. What would he think? How would he feel? Of course, you might say its silly to think about whether Jesus would care about these things. But I wonder about what he would think if he were to look at the Christian Faith in the same way. Do you think that Jesus might be wondering where our faith has led us down these two thousand years or so? Do you ever wonder what he might say to the congregations that bear his name? What do you think He might say to you and me about the expectation He has of us learning the faith - and living it out daily? Would He say, "Well done, good and faithful servant"? Looking at our congregation, I'd like to think so, but I also know we can do better. There are still folks who are outside our doors who desperately need to hear the good news, and to feel the warmth of God's forgiving, sustaining grace. While we have been very faithful, there is much yet to be done.
Perhaps I spend a little too much time wondering about these things. But then again, I will have a long flight to ponder these things going home again to Jesus' home, and then coming home again to Jesus' other home!
See you in Church!
Grace and peace,
Brad
