A Devotion to Welcome Us Home
A few weeks ago, my
husband and I embarked on one of my least favorite projects of the year: Spring
Cleaning. Baseboards were dusted, ceiling fan blades wiped, shelves and dresser
drawers emptied and cleaned, piles of clothes marked for donation and papers
shredded and recycled. Even though the work was hard, it felt good to have a
clean, tidy house.
To mark the end of
our hard work, I picked up the above welcome mat on a Target run. One of the
main reasons I like to have a clean home is that we like to entertain. I love
having friends and family over for dinner and parties, to invite others to our
home, to hear their stories, to share a meal and laugh and talk together.
Now, I will be the
first to tell you that it doesn’t really matter if your home is always neat and
tidy. Rarely does our home look as clean as it did on this spring afternoon a
few weeks ago. But, it is my hope, that it is always a welcoming place. A place
where people feel loved and accepted, seen, known and heard.
Our Scripture for
this week in Lent is that of the Prodigal Son. It may be familiar to many of
you, but it is a text that I think could be reread and reread, always offering
another insight or depth or realization.
In this passage from
Luke 15, Jesus tells a parable about a man with two sons. The younger son asks
for his share of property; the father agrees and splits his property between
the brothers. The younger son ends up leaving home, squanders his inherited
property, and is left destitute and bereft.
The elder son remains, faithfully works for his father and is
responsible with his inheritance.
When the younger son
does return home, the father’s response is one of deep joy. The son he thought
lost has returned! A celebration is ordered, and the table is set lavishly. But
the older brother, the one who
Reading this text, we
might wonder who we are in this story? The older brother, bitter and resolute?
The younger, sorrowful and contrite? The father, grateful and gracious?
There are many things
this story can offer us: grace upon grace for those who have wandered from God,
an awareness of our own brokenness, compassion that overflows from God’s heart
for all God’s children. As I read this text through the lens of Disaster
Recovery, another theme leapt off the page to me: we are all yearning for home.
When we work with a
survivor, the desire to have a home restored is a given. But as we know, it is
so much more than bricks and boards, nails and drywall. All of us desire to be
welcomed into a place, to be heard and seen and known.
That is what you are
doing as you go about your work each day. Before any recovery plan is drafted, any
volunteer team lifts a hammer, you are helping create spaces where survivors
can feel welcomed, where their pain can be acknowledged, their stories heard
and honored.
The repairs will
come, and with them, a tangible expression of the compassion and grace that has
already occurred in those relationships. The rebuilt and repaired homes will
then allow our survivors to turn and do likewise: to offer welcome, love,
compassion and grace to people in their own lives. To tidy the rooms, set the
table, and lay out the mat and say “Welcome home! We’re so glad you’re here!”
On the journey with
you,
Chaplain Amy
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