Our home in God

A Christian Science perspective: A look at what home really is.

Home. “The quiet awareness of being loved” is how a friend of mine described it. She was in her 90s, living alone in her modest home, after a remarkable life devoted to God’s service. That her sense of home came from a certainty of God’s love for her spoke volumes to me.

If we’re honest, in everyone’s heart is a longing for what we feel home should be. The trouble is that it’s usually thought of in terms of property, possessions, people, and place. But in a world where there is so much homelessness and dispossession, where refugees are being uprooted from their homelands, where family care may have failed, and where fixed points in life have disappeared, home has to be something more.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, was once quoted as saying: “Home is not a place but a power. We find home when we arrive at the full understanding of God. Home! Think of it! Where sense has no claims and Soul satisfies” (Irving C. Tomlinson, “Twelve Years Mary Baker Eddy, Amplified Edition,” 1996, p. 211). Her sense of home was a spiritual one, as the basis of her thought moved from sense to Soul, a name for God. The basis for her understanding of God and home came from following the teachings of Christ Jesus.

Jesus’ unique, world-changing ministry showed that his home in God – in a consciousness of living in the embrace of God, who is Love – was with him wherever he went. As he explained to his disciples: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2, 3). I’ve often thought that all the qualities of home – hospitality, welcome, and care – are expressed in that “place,” not just for a time, but for eternity. What assurance this gives of our home in God, now and forever.

In our search for home, when my husband and I were first married, a dear friend provided a generous gift to help us buy a house. But she gave us more than money. She lifted our concept of home from something we owned to something we could share. She told us she hoped we would think of ourselves as custodians, not proprietors. Everything she gave (and she gave generously to many) carried the tag, “To be used to help people,” and a second tag saying, “In due course you can give this gift to others.” It was an ongoing development. Home wasn’t just bricks and mortar; it was a spiritual idea – not self-serving, but centered in service to God who gives us a true home to share with our neighbor. This wise, gentle friend gave us the vision along with the gift, and set us on a path that was to expand through the years.

From then on, our homes almost always included a number of friends and visitors from around the world in addition to our own family. Some came for one night while others stayed for several years; but they came, and left when they needed to, and the timing was always just right. We realized this lifestyle wasn’t for everyone, but in a world where home and family can be hard to come by – especially for young people on their own – we chose to interpret our friend’s vision in this way. And God gave us a wonderful extended family!

During this time, we learned much about home. We weathered economic recessions – when it seemed almost impossible to afford what we needed. We had to be patient with repairs and alterations. But those “elastic” walls kept on expanding to make room for those who needed to share our home and feel God’s love for them – and each one brought new dimensions to our view of God’s universal family.

Through experiences such as this, I’ve learned that as changes take place in the shape of our lives, we find ourselves in new situations, with new demands and opportunities. But whether our lot is to live as simply as a nomad in a tent, or in the complexity of a modern city, the home that never changes is that spiritual sense of home within us – our home in God, blessed by that “quiet awareness of being loved by Him.”

This article was adapted from an article in the Jan. 5, 2009, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Our home in God
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/A-Christian-Science-Perspective/2015/1210/Our-home-in-God
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe