{"id":5845,"date":"2016-04-26T12:40:20","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T17:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=5845"},"modified":"2016-04-20T13:37:31","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T18:37:31","slug":"may-1-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/may-1-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"May 1, 2016, Being Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dennis Sepper, South Hill, WA
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Warm-up Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n

What do you think of when you hear the word \u201chome\u201d?\u00a0 What do you see in your mind\u2019s eye?\u00a0 What feelings do you associate with the word home?<\/p>\n

Being Home
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April 16, 2016\u2014Greece.\u00a0 Pope Francis made a five-hour visit to the Greek island of Lesbos.\u00a0 He was joined by the head of the Church of Greece and Orthodox Christian leader Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.\u00a0 On this humanitarian visit the religious leaders visited Camp Moria, a camp where refugees are awaiting deportation to Turkey.\u00a0 Camp Moria was home to migrants free to come and go at will, notes NBC\u2019s Bill Neely<\/a>. Now it\u2019s a detention center where some 3,000 people are held.<\/p>\n

It is hard for most of us reading this week\u2019s Faith Lens to imagine what it would be like to leave our homes and possessions behind to go somewhere else in the country or world. Yet as noted above thousands are now refugees in our world due to war, famine or oppression in their countries.\u00a0 Even here in the United States people are without a place to call home due to poverty or illness.<\/p>\n

\"shutterstock_142464652\"<\/a>\u201cHome\u201d is very powerful image.\u00a0 While we often think of home as a building, it is really much more than a structure.\u00a0 Home is where we feel safe and nurtured by those around us no matter where we are.\u00a0 Home is where we find love and are empowered to go out from home to follow Jesus and to serve our neighbor and the world.<\/p>\n

Now we know in a sinful world home is not a comfortable place for some.\u00a0 Broadening our definition of home allows us to see that there are places and people who create \u201chome\u2019 for those who do not find it in their place of residence.<\/p>\n

When Pope Francis left Camp Moria he took three families with him so that they could create a new home in Italy.\u00a0 Francis also told the thousands of refugees that they were not alone.\u00a0 Even though they were hundreds of miles away from their homeland people would be praying for them and God and Jesus would be with them.<\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n