Wherever you go, there you are!

God, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. --Psalm 90:1-2

This is the day our sabbatical officially begins. I say "our" because we have all been commissioned to lay down some of our busy-ness this summer and learn to rest... be renewed.

For me, this first day is a transitional day -- still a few tasks to finish before I can leave. So it's a busy day; not yet a restful day. Someone asked me yesterday if I'm excited yet. I've been excited for a while. Right now I'm just a little anxious, and expect that will dissipate when I've tied up these loose ends, packed the car and headed out.

It's too full a day to think creatively. So for today I'll post an excerpt from one of my favorite worship resources, a three-volume series called Imaging the Word from United Church Press in Cleveland, OH. This is from Volume 3, p. 54. There is a quote from Douglas Meeks ("Love and the Hope for a Just Society," in Burnham, McCoy, and Meeks, Love: The Foundation in the Theology of Jurgen Moltmann and Elizabeth Moltmann-Wendel, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988, 44, 45.)

"We have all had at least fleetingly, an experience of home. Home is where no one ever forgets your name. Home is where no matter what you have done, you will be confronted, forgiven,and accepted. Home is where there is always a place for you at the table.... The heart of justice is participation in God's economy or God's household."

Some of us have more of a longing for home than a memory of home. Some of us have heard of it, read what others had to say about it, but haven't yet found the place where there is such grace that regardless of what we've done, we will be "forgiven and accepted." Maybe the "confronted" part was all you ever got. So if you're still looking for home today, I'm thinking of you especially. I'm praying that you'll find a place that feels like home.