December 3, 2006
Rev. Terry D. Campbell

Home For Christmas
Luke 1:39-45 (NCV)

“Mary got up and went quickly to a town in the hills of Judea. ⁴⁰She came to Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the unborn baby inside her jumped, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴²She cried out in a loud voice, ‘God has blessed you more than any other woman, and he has blessed the baby to which you will give birth. ⁴³Why has this good thing happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? ⁴⁴When I heard your voice, the baby inside me jumped with joy. ⁴⁵You are blessed because you believed that what the Lord said to you would really happen.’"

Going home for Christmas is not always easy. In fact, sometimes it is downright difficult! We like to think that life at home is all hunky-dory, but truth be told many often run the other way when the invitation is made to go home. We run because we may have been hurt or disappointed, and we find it hard to open up our hearts again.

The call from God is to “Come and talk with me.” (Psalm 27:8), and the call from your family is the same, “Come and talk with me.” If we are God’s hands and feet in the world today, then our response is, “Lord, I am coming.” (Psalm 27:8b). Our response to our families is the same. In my family we would say, “Put the big pot in the little one, we’re coming!”

In Luke we hear the familiar story about Mary running home to family during her difficult days. She thought about who will understand and listen to her, who will not care about the rumors around the town, and who she can turn to for help when she is pregnant with, of all things, God’s child. Her mind and heart turn to Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Zechariah. Mary goes to them, only to find out that they are experiencing their own miracle from God: a miracle of pregnancy at a very old age. Elizabeth is delighted to see Mary, and gives her a blessing even as her own child leaps for joy in her womb. Uncle Zechariah has seen an angel and can’t speak at all, so the two women get a lot of time to talk about what the Lord is doing in their lives.

When we need help, we all want an Aunt Elizabeth, or a mom, dad, sister, brother, friend, to help us sort things out. If that is true, why do we hesitate so much when it comes to going home and opening our heart and soul to those we love?

I think we hesitate to run home because often we have unfinished business there. Often this is business we’d rather leave unfinished, for that matter! You know the stuff: the time Uncle Joe called you "fat"; the feeling you were never as good as your sister; the unresolved anger over that one big blow-up; the time your dad forgot your birthday—all of these are the things that hold on to us and keep us from really wanting to go home.
I think we hesitate to go home because we are afraid. We are afraid of the past and we are afraid of the future. Certainly we are afraid of the present. If only we could speak a portion of what we really want to say. If only we could find a way to lovingly resolve our old hurts and bitterness. But we don’t. We stop just short of intimacy with those who love us the most.

Perhaps we try too hard to fix things, and fail to look at the purpose of going home. When you think about it, do you want to go home so you can have a knock-down, drag-out counseling session? Do you need to fix the past in order to love in the present? We have been taught that we do, and to some extent, that is true. But, it is not the reason most of us have a longing to go home. The reason we want to go home is so we can get rest, restoration and reconnection.

To be at rest is to cease the normal activities of everyday life and do what brings rest. Mary ran home to her Aunt so she could have some rest away from the talk-of-the-townies, and so her soul and body could be at peace while this child grew inside her. To cease normal activities involves giving up-giving up control, giving up perfection, giving up activity, giving up the normal structures of our day. to rest is to embrace a different route and routine. Rest sets our bodies and our souls on “pause.” It means listening, receiving, and relaxing. Going home for the holiday is a time for rest.

It is also a time for restoration. Restoration means to be revived or renewed. When I go home I always feel restored. The smells and sounds of my childhood are at my parents home. My mother’s hugs, my father’s jokes and my sister’s laughter are at home. At home, beans and dumplins, rubarb pie, and chile will always be there. After being home I feel restored and rebuilt and revived.

Lastly going home is for reconnection. It is for remembering from whence we come, connecting with those we haven’t spent time with lately—folks we dearly love. It is for reminding Mom how her apple pie always made you feel special. Home is for reconnection with those whom we’ve left out because our lives are so busy. When we reconnect to home, it is like our batteries are recharged. When the computer battery is dead, it is a useless tool. However, if I plug it back into the electrical source, the battery gets reconnected so the battery can be recharged. The same is true for us: we need to connect like we need to sleep. We have a constant, never-ending need to be connected with other humans.

Some say the Bible may be summed up in this way: “Love God and your neighbor as yourself.” If that is true, then each of us must spend time at home, rebuilding relationship with neighbors, family members, and friends. Also, we must spend time at home with God, and we need reconnection with God on a regular, breath-like basis. Our heart cries out, “God, come talk to me.”

In the story of Home Alone 2, Kevin connects with a lonely woman and they talk about our predicament of loving. They begin a relationship. But Kevin, true to form, is lost from his home and his family, and lost in New York City at that. As you can imagine, his mother is beside herself. Finally she realizes just where her son might go and . . . just watch the ending of this story and mom finds Kevin at the Christmas Tree.

Kevin finally found his mom. Mary ran to Elizabeth. We will go home. We will go home to our families and home to our God. Have a Merry Christmas. And don’t forget to enjoy being in Relationships! Amen.