Our True Home

They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11:14-16

Home Away from Home
By Rev. William Dohle

It's moving day at the Dohle household. The moving truck is here and all our earthly possessions are being loaded on the truck. It is, in one way, a happy day.

It is also potluck day. The congregation here is throwing a potluck in which all are invited to say their farewells. In another way, it is a hard day.

We leave Columbus, Montana, our home for the past five years to journey to Peoria, Illinois, a place that is to become our home. But neither this place, nor that place is, in the end, our true home. Neither is Ogden, Utah where I grew up. Neither is Mesa, Arizona where my wife grew up. Neither is any of the other places we've ever lived.

No, our true home isn't on this earth. Our true home with with God. This passage from Hebrews has always inspired me on my journeys through life. For, though we call a place "home" for a little while, we know that we are but pilgrims here on earth. There is another place, a heavenly city, prepared for us by a God who is not ashamed to be called our God.

We are but foreigners and strangers here in the world. We seek to bring Christ to life here. We seek to make a difference. But we do so knowing that our citizenship is not of this earth. This is not our true home. Nor is any other place we've ever lived. Our true home is with God who loves us, claims us, makes us His people. We live now by faith, confident in God's grace. Confident in his amazing, outstanding, awesome love for us.

God has, after the hard labors of life on earth is done, prepared a city for us to live in. A place that we can truly call... home. May this give us strength and hope as we continue to labor in the fields of this our earthly home. Amen.

God of the wanderers and strangers, your people have moved from place to place for countless eons. Reminds us of our tasks here on earth. Give us strength to complete the journey. And bring us at last to our destination, your Holy City, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Hardest Part

"[Paul said] Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again." Acts 20:25

The Hardest Part

I do enjoy moving. Besides the packing part(which I spoke of before), moving itself really isn't that bad. It allows you to see more of the country, to taste exotic food, and, best of all, to know a variety of people.

In my life I have lived in nine different states for a month or more. A couple of them I don't remember(my father was in the military and we moved...A LOT!). A couple I only lived in a few months. But all of them have led me to a greater understanding of the marvelous country that we live in. It's a marvel how people as different as Montanans are from Californians can agree on anything, let alone government and living together.

The hardest part of moving, though, hasn't been the packing or the different cultures. The hardest part has been leaving the people I have grown to love behind. In each and every place I have met the most amazing people! And its hard to say goodbye.

Thankfully we have things like the internet which keeps us connected despite our distances. We never have to say what Paul said to his friends, the Ephesians. "Now I know that I will see none of you again." It's so sad! So heartwrenching! I cannot imaging leaving someone forever without even the hope of seeing them again. Without even the promise of Facebook updates and emails and postcards. With nothing to hold on to...

Except Christ! For Paul to live was Christ, to die was gain. For Paul, who was in Christ, leaving those who were also in Christ wasn't a loss. It was sad, alright. Paul ends each of his letters wishing he could see them again and greeting, by name, the saints that he had met there. But for Paul, whose life was taken by Christ and used to expand His Kingdom, the goodbyes he said was only temporary ones. For someday Paul would see them as Christ returned to take them home.

So as I leave I take on the same mind as Paul. For though I will miss those I leave, I know that the goodbyes we say are only temporary ones. We will meet again, whether on this life or in the life to come. We are together in Christ. Now...and always. Amen.

Almighty God, in Christ we are united with Christians throughout the world. Even in our goodbyes assure us of your grace that we might know for sure that we will meet again, in Christ our Lord. Amen.

Packing... Yuck!

“So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.” Genesis 12:4-5

Packing...Yuck!

My family started in earnest last week in what is, for me, the worst part of moving: packing I don’t mind the moving part. And getting to know new people, places, and faces is really quite fun. But there’s something really humbling about taking out everything you’ve stored in closets and basements for years, sorting through it, and deciding what you need and what you don’t need. It makes you feel rather burdened by all the stuff of life.

That’s why it’s nice to remember that, even Abram, that touchstone of faith in Scripture, had possessions that he moved. In fact, Abram doesn’t even “go through” his possessions. There is no downsizing for him. No sorting. Instead, Genesis tells us, he took his wife, his nephew and “all the possessions they had accumulated...” Not only that, but he also took “all the people they had acquired in Haran” which means that all of THEM had to move with all of THEIR possessions too.

Can you imagine the size of their moving truck? Can you imagine Abram telling his people that they need to pick up stakes and move...with everything they have... because GOD told him too?

Abram is the first, I believe, real mover in the Bible. He’s the first one who goes from where he was(in Ur) to where God is calling him to be(Canaan) and goes there with everything in his household. The worst part of all is... HE DOESN’T EVEN GET TO STAY IN CANAAN! That’s right. Once he gets to this promised land God is promising him, God shows him it from a distance...and then Abram settles somewhere else. Near Sodom to be exact. And we know what happens to him in Sodom...right?

But here at the beginning of his adventure Abram is seen packing all his possessions to get there.

We too are called to go where God calls us...with our without all our possessions. Some will go with very little on their backs. A pastor from eastern Montana, Joshua Magyar, went to Tanzania with very little possessions. Others of us(my family for instance) will be packing nearly 10,000 pounds worth of possessions as we follow God’s call.

But however many possessions we do, or do not, have. God’s call remains. And our faithfulness is measured, not in how we pack our things or even how much stuff get go with, but in how we respond to that call of God in our lives. Let us not let our possessions stand in the way of our higher calling. For when God comes knocking...we should be ready for action, no matter where he he calling us. Amen.

Faithful God, you call us on paths uncertain and in ways yet untrodden. Teach us to manage our earthly possessions so that we may follow your call, wherever you are leading us, through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

In Matthew's Steps: A New Beginning

The First Steps: Read: Matthew 28

Focus Verse: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20

Meditation: A New Beginning
At the end of every chapter...something new begins. At the end of the school year...the summer begins. At graduation...a new life in college or in the world opens up. At the end of our time with our children...a new life together opens up. At the end of life...a new eternal life.

Here at the end of Matthew we find the same to be true. The Gospel moves quickly from the resurrection experience to the last words of Christ. Here you will find no post-resurrection sightings. Jesus doesn't appear to any of them on the road or in their homes or on the shore. None of them see him until they reach the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And only there does Jesus say anything substancial to them.

On the mountain, we read nothing of Jesus ascending into heaven. The words read on Ascension Sunday are not spoken from the clouds. They are said as Jesus "came to them." Not as he leaves. And they do one important task. They send the disciples forward. They are sending words that transform the disciples, the learners, into the apostles, those who are sent. These words open doors. They pave the way to the greater adventures the disciples will have as apostles, as those sent forth, from Christ.

This chapter is an ending...but it's also a new beginning.

We too are given the chance to begin anew...to move from one ending into a new beginning. SIn the past we've gone through trials and hardships. Leaders we know may have derided us as they did Jesus. We may have suffered tremendously, physically, mentally, or spiritually. But here...at the resurrection and on the mountain where we see the Risen Christ...we are given a new beginning. A chance to start over. And a new horizon to meet.

For me and my family, we too have been through an ending. Our time at St. James Lutheran Church in Columbus, Montana has ended. There we leave people who cared about us. In a sense... we have died to our life there... and now God has opened up an exciting new beginning.

This week I accepted a call to serve as pastor of a church in Peoria, Illinois. Peoria is an exciting place with numerous opportunities for both me and my family. The church is forward-thinking, exciting and enthusiastic about mission and ministry. There will be challenges as there are in every place. But this is a brand new frontier. I feel like the disciples did. Nervous. Anxious. Believing...and also doubting. Wondering what the new future has in store for us. Hopeful. Excited.

But through it all, I know that Christ Jesus is with us. This promise, at the end of his speech, is what sustains us all through all the chapter changes in our life. Jesus says: "I will be with you always to the end of the age." Here at the end of Matthew, Jesus doesn't leave us. He doesn't disappear in the clouds. He doesn't go and disappear into heaven. Instead, Jesus is WITH US! Still, Jesus is still with us even here. Even now! Jesus stays by our side through all the chapter changes of our lives. And that's a promise we can bank on! Amen!

Questions to Ponder...
1) What chapter-changes have you faced lately? How have you gotten through them?
2) What sustains you through all the changes in your life? What gives you faith and assurance of God's grace?
3) Where have you seen Jesus lately?

A Prayer to Pray...
Almighty God, your Son, Jesus, is still among us just as He promised. Open our eyes that we might see him through all the changes in our lives that we might find faith, even in the midst of our doubts, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


**Faithful devotion readers... we come to the end of our study of Matthew. Stay tuned as life brings us stories of transition as my own family goes through their own transition this month! **