Homesick
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
August 4, 2019
Preaching text: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old– and Sarah herself was barren– because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”
All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.
Sermon
Last week when I was at the Barbara C. Harris Camp there were some campers who were terribly homesick. Like “call my parents, I’m done” homesick. And as an adult I thought to myself – they have to just work through this and if they do, and can, they will build up their sense of self-esteem and resilience. And they all did make it through and I am sure were quite rightly very proud of themselves when they made it to Friday. But, I have to say, as a person, who as a child at the age of 11 who went to a four week overnight camp for the first time – I know that awful feeling of homesickness. I was deeply homesick. I just longed to be home. Everything was just not great – the food was terrible, we bathed in icy cold brooks, the bathrooms were about 300 feet away from our cabins and smelled of a combination of aquafresh toothpaste and Dr. Bronner’s pure-castile soup, and they had a surfeit of flies, spiders and all sorts of other ghastly critters. The girls in my cabin were constantly getting into trouble and we were all punished as a group with gruesome chores, and to top it all off, halfway through, I got really sick with a 104f temperature and put in the infirmary for several days with very little supervision or care. I could go on and on – but suffice it to say – I was homesick because nothing was quite right at camp – at all.
Homesickness. That’s really at the heart of our Hebrew’s lesson for today. “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” When we read Hebrews we know that the author is talking about two things at once. He is talking about those ancestors who were never able to make it to the promised land of Israel. But he is also talking about heaven, the Kingdom of God, the life hereafter. But what brings these two things together is that the author is talking about a longing in the heart for something better, for something that looks like what God promises – fed, happy, reconciled, healthy people, free from fear, oppression, and injustice.
And we can identify with this, right? “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one” is what a lot of us are feeling right now. We are homesick for a different kind of country. We learn from Hebrews this is nothing new, it is a universal feeling that has been around since the beginning of time. That there has always been something about this earthly life that is just not right.
Although we are living in a place and time when there is a lot that is right, and good – let us not lose that, we are living in greater safety, have more prosperity, have better health, than our forebears could have ever imagined. And yet there is just something not quite right. There is something not right about the number of children who experience food scarcity in our country. There is something not right about the numbers of people that are incarcerated in our country. There is something not right about mass shootings, hate crimes that happen over and over again – and it is so frustrating that we cannot seem to do anything about it. There is something not right about racism and oppression. There is something not right about the rising levels of anxiety and depression in our youth. There is something not right about what is going on at our southern border. “We all desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”
So maybe, we can take comfort that as the author of Hebrews told his audience – that beyond this life there is a heavenly country where things are right, and fair and just. But at the very same time as we can feel comfort in that promise of the hereafter, we are still called to long for something better during our earthly lives. God still calls us to go out into the world and make this world more like that better country that we dream of. And it is not easy. It takes the faith of our ancestors, and the patience of Job to be involved in this work. If it were easy, it would be done.
So as I was writing this sermon – I was trying to think of one piece of advice I could give at the end of this sermon so you all could go home feeling full of possibility, self-efficacy, and promise that there is a better country waiting to be built rather than feel defeated that we have to accept the world as it is. And it came to me – the framework for the work has already been laid and built. You do not need to start from scratch to solve the world’s problems. So if I were to give you one piece of advice it would be this – check out the Episcopal Policy Network. If you google it, see if there is anything that you are interested in learning more about – getting involved in. The Episcopal Policy Network is not affiliated to any political party or politician. Its primary purpose is to be connected to the values that we profess to be ours in the Episcopal Church– care for the poor, hungry, oppressed, and stewardship of creation just to name a few. On that website there is not only information but there are also action steps that you can undertake.
And if you look at the Episcopal Policy Network, and you think that this is not really for you – these are not issues you want to get involved in – don’t give up. Instead, see where you find your heart drawn. Where do you feel the need to be involved? Where do you see yourself and your energy drawn? God has put you in the place you need to be, right now, right here, in your community, to be the builders of that better country that we long so deeply in our hearts to find.
And to end, I want to give you some advice. One of the middle school aged campers at the Barbara C. Harris camp wanted to share with me the best pieces of advice she was ever given – and now I share it with you. She said to me “put your hand on your heart” and then she said “Can you feel it beating? If you feel it beating you know you still have purpose in this life.” May you be blessed, as long as your heart is beating, to know that you have purpose in this life, and that purpose is all a part of building that better country for which we all long.
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