Where is home?
Is “home” where you were born? Or is “home” is where you pick up your mail? Is it where your parents live? Is it where you know the rules and crave the local barbecue? Is home where you know you can go in times of trouble?
Where’s home?
 |
 |
| Scott Black Johnston Senior Pastor |
|
Near the end of his life, the prophet Moses was traveling through the wilderness with people who had recently escaped from slavery. As they moved through the desert, the people kept asking their leader: “Where’s home? Where’s this land you have been promising us?”
Responding, Moses assures them: “The eternal God is thy dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (KJV, Deut. 33:27)
When people of faith look for home, our tradition points to God. God is home.
This Sunday is Homecoming at FAPC. It’s time, my friends, to breathe deeply, to hear the familiar hymns, to see beloved faces and, most of all, to be surrounded by God’s everlasting arms. Come home!
Our schedule for Homecoming looks like this:
- Starting around 10 am, walkers from many different religious communities in New York will be arriving at FAPC for a brief service of reflection and remembrance marking the 15th anniversary of 9/11. If you would like to participate in the full walk (which begins at 8:30 am at Temple Emanu-El), read more here. Otherwise, simply join in when the walkers reach our Sanctuary.
- At 11 am we will all gather for worship in the Sanctuary. (Our 9:30 am service doesn’t return until next week.) The FAPC Choir will be back. We will begin our Fall Sermon Series, Backstory: Finding Life and Hope in Genesis. Don’t forget to invite a friend to this festive start to our program year.
- At noon, we will have our annual Homecoming Fair upstairs in Bonnell Hall. This is your time to reconnect with friends, to sign up to volunteer, and to join a community groups. This year also features the unveiling of a new addition to FAPC’s growing collection of religious art.
It is going to be a grand day. I can’t wait. It feels really, really good to be home!
Eager to see you in worship,
SBJ
