December 28th

Home

               I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.  And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.  The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.  Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.  But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.  And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be any curse.  The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.  They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  There will be no more night.  They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. 

Revelation 21:22-2:5

            John is given a picture of Heaven, the City of God coming out of the clouds.  He sees an enormous city made of gold and jewels, illuminated not by the sun or the moon, but by the presence of God Almighty.  This is the endgame; this is what everything is moving towards.  It is God and His children, living together as intended.  There is no separation.  There is no sin or pain or curse that drives them apart.  Humanity is everything that it has been created to be, living in perfection with its creator.

            This is home.  This is what our hearts long for.  This is what we were made for.  Home. 

            When I travel with my son there are new foods to try and new sights to see and new adventures to have….and not long into our trip we always want to return home.  We want to get back to where everything makes sense, where we are loved, where we are understood and where we belong. 

            Whenever we travelled with little kids, we brought lots of reminders of home.  We had favorite videos and favorite books and pictures of our house and our family.  We brought the same white noise machines and the same toys and the same snack foods because each one of these things helped my son to feel more grounded and know that even though he was not in his bed, he could relax and sleep.

            We live in a world that feels strange; it feels off.  It feels that way because we were not meant to live like this.  We were not meant to carry our brokenness on our shoulders.  We were not meant to question the sincerity of everyone that we meet.  We were not meant to be separated from God.  We have figured out how to get along in this world, but it is not home.  It is a long-term trip but one day we will get to go home and everything will make sense.  Everything will be complete.  Everything will feel right and we will be lacking of nothing.  We will be healed.  Our children will be healed.  The nations will be healed.  We will be complete and content and finally be able to lay our straining down.

            The light will no longer hurt our children’s eyes.  The air will not hurt their skin.  The food will not hurt their guts.  Music will not hurt their ears and they will throw aside their wheelchairs and braces and implants and medications.  They will be more free than they ever were in life and our souls will finally find peace as our beloved run free.

            Home does not sound too bad at all, I think.

           

A moment to reflect:

Arts time!  Draw the Holy City that John described in his vision.