Thought for Today

Genesis 33:9  But Esau said, "I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself."  

Judges 7:3  'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home.'"   

Luke 4:16  When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, . . . 24  And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. . . . 29  They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 

“You Can't Go Home Again is a novel by Thomas Wolfe published posthumously in 1940” (en.wikipedia.org)

I believe that book title is a truism. As I have aged, I have also come to believe that the most terrifying word in the English language is ‘change.’ When I was young, the world ahead seemed like it was populated with an almost infinite range of possibilities. Some of them have been realized by now; some of them were pipedreams; some of them were probably not very good ideas. All of them necessitated some degree of change.

The whole topic was brought to mind yesterday as I read a line in a novel. The protagonists were referencing the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz. One of them noted that Dorothy’s wish in the movie was to return home. I must admit that The Wizard of Oz is not my favorite movie. When I first saw it, I found it frightening and a bit creepy. But, any movie where one of the main characters is portrayed by an actor named Ray, is, by definition, a good movie!

Since Greta and I moved to New England, friends in both locales have asked me when we might take a trip ‘back home.’ My stock reply is that we have no current plans to do so, but we might someday. The truth is that the ‘back home’ we left in 2014 isn’t there anymore. That world is part of the past and is distinguishable from the present and the future. The world has moved on. Since we left, Houston has been through major storms and flooding; the entire world has gone through a pandemic. Many of the friends and neighbors we left are no longer there; some have moved; some have died.

Many of us, as we get older, fondly remember the ‘back home’ of our youth. The contrast between that ‘back home’ and the world in which we currently live are what makes that word ‘change’ so terrifying. The ‘back home’ of the Texas Gulf Coast of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s is lost in history. The Texas Gulf Coast of 2024 is vastly different. The world has moved on.

So too, have Greta and I moved on. When we left we were younger. When we left, I had finished seminary and been approved for ordination; but, I was not yet ordained. Since then, I have been ordained and have served as a pastor to 2 different congregations. Like the rest of the world, we went through that pandemic. All of our initial reasons for moving remain valid; but, 3 of those reasons are now away at college preparing for their own moving on.

Christians are called to live in the world. We are called to be part of the city, nation and culture in which we live. Jesus said, "Matthew 22:21 Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." I hear those words of Jesus as a reminder that all Christians are called to be a part of the society in which they live. We are to render to that society the obedience to law and custom that is appropriate, remembering always that God has the priority demand on our obedience.

The Biblical evidence on returning home, on going ‘back home’ is mixed. Jacob fled home, returned to the land of his family’s origins. His own relatives tricked him into an extended indentured servitude. When he decided to return back home to face up to the consequences of his own malfeasance, things worked out well. But the home to which he finally returned was quite different from the one he left. The brother he cheated out of everything was now a powerful, wealthy leader in his own right.

Jesus returned to Nazareth. He found a mixed reaction. After the initial approval of the man he had become, he ultimately realized that truly, “You can’t go home again.” We cannot live in the past of ‘back home.’ Christians live in the now of where we are, working toward the future of the Kingdom of God.

Stay safe, look toward the Kingdom, trust God,

Pastor Ray