Homeless

A couple of weeks ago I went on a mission trip to D.C.

The day after we got back a group of people from the trip went to the beach and while we were there one of my friends asked for suggestions for a sermon he was preparing to write. He wanted to include our experiences from our week in D.C. working with the homeless.

I remembered that on our last day during a reflection exercise we went around in a circle and said what we wanted to take back with us. He said something about an awareness that all of us are homeless, not just the people we had interacted with all week.

One of our first days there I read 1 Corinthians 4:11-13 and was struck by this same concept.

It reads,

To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

For some reason a lot of people seem to think that following Christ is easy.

The Bible makes it pretty clear it isn't.

But it is still the most incredible, worthwhile thing we could ever do with our lives.

We are called to become homeless (like pretty much everyone in biblical stories was) in order to follow Christ.

So when my friend asked me what to write his sermon on, this is what I suggested.


He gave his sermon yesterday and I didn't hear from him until after that he had decided to use the idea. I couldn't go to see him because I had to teach Sunday school, but while he was preaching, the guest pastor at my church was talking about the exact same thing.

Unbelievable right?

I was enthralled listening to the sermon (I actually went to two services so I could hear it again.) He had taken a different spin and used Genesis and Revelation to talk about initial creation and the home God has been trying to bring us back to ever since we left it.

It was beautiful. And the whole time I kept thinking about 2 Corinthians 5:6-10.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

His whole point was that we try so hard to make this world our home, but we will never be able to do it because we are meant for something more.

(Ecclesiastes 3:11 would also be completely appropriate here.
..."He has put eternity into man's heart...")

Later that day my friend texted me to tell me he had used the idea.

When I told him the pastor I heard did too we were both a little awestruck. We compared the scripture used and my friend used 2 Corinthians 5:1-10. (I strongly suggest you read the first 5 verses too. They are a beautiful picture of our struggle on earth.)

awe.

struck.

It is so cool when moments like this happen.

When you know that God's hand was in this the entire time.

When a thought you had is also the thought of a couple other people. Then two entire congregations as they leave contemplating what they just heard.

And when moments like this happen, you just have to share them.