First Baptist Church on Littleton Common    

There’s No Place Like Home

Luke 1:39-56

Micah 5:2-5a

In the 1939 movie classic the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy along with her small dog Toto, are searching for home.   Both she and her pup end up somewhere over the rainbow, after a devastating tornado hits their farm and the winds whisks their farmhouse up, up and away.  When it settles it lands in Munchkinland right on top of and killing the Wicked Witch of the East.  Dorothy meets two other witches; Glinda the Good Witch of the North, as well as the Wicked Witch of the West who is the sister of the witch who was killed.  The Wicked Witch of the West wants to claim her sister’s magical ruby red slippers, but just as she is about to reach for them, the red shoes magically appear on Dorothy’s feet.   The Wicked Witch of the West blames Dorothy for her sister’s death, but in truth really wants the shoes off her feet!

The rest of the movie is a telling of the adventures and lessons that Dorothy, played by Judy Garland, learns while she is trying to find her way back home.  It seems that the only way she can get back home is by way of the Emerald City, where she goes to meet the Wizard of Oz.  Glinda tells her that the great and wonderful wizard will be able to help her find her way back home to Kansas.  It is ironic that the majority of the movie is about Dorothy wanting to return home to Kansas, when the reason that  she got stuck in the house during the storm, was that she had run away from home.   She once longed to be away from home, once away from it, all she wants, all she yearned for was to be back home. 

 Through her adventures as she journeys towards the Emerald City, Dorothy makes three new friends who are also searching and yearning for that which they do not have. There is something empty in their lives and they are all searching for what they believe, something outside of themselves, that will make them complete; the Scarecrow, who was stuck on a pole and was rescued by Dorothy, wants a brain; the Tin Man who was completely rusted desires a heart; the Cowardly Lion, who was afraid of everything including his own tail, wants courage.   They go along with Dorothy, still yearning for home and follow the Yellow Brick Road in search of that which they long for. 

When they finally meet the great and mighty Wizard, he sends them back out to accomplish some tasks which put them in harm’s way.  Along the way they exhibit smart thinking, heart and soul, and courage and in the end Dorothy throws water on the Wicked Witch of the West and she melts away.  They return to see the Wizard, so that he can send Dorothy back home,  but Toto exposes the Wizard as a fraud and he turns out to a regular guy.  He does however turn out to be quite wise and he tells the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion, that they already had the qualities that they desired within them.  

As we now know however, his plan to take Dorothy home by balloon doesn’t happen when Toto jumps out of the balloon basket and she goes after him just as the balloon floats off into the air.   Dorothy is devastated and consoled by her friends.  And then Glinda reappears and tells her the power to find her heart’s desire was always within her, but she had to discover it herself.  The lesson that Dorothy learned, was the same as the lesson that the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion also learned.  The ability to find our hearts desire or our inner longings comes from within.   Glinda tells Dorothy to “Close your eyes and tap your heels together three times. And think to yourself, there's no place like home.”

“There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”

“Dorothy wakes up in her bed, surrounded by her family and friend, is able to verbalize what she learned and how thankful she was to be home.  She concludes, “and I'm not gonna leave here ever, ever again, because I love you all, and - oh, Auntie Em - there's no place like home!”

Dorothy’s yearnings came to rest when she realized that her heart’s desire was always within her grasp.  She got pretty mixed up and realized that she had to change the way she was thinking about home and happiness.  Home was not something far off and unattainable, it was found in the love that had already surrounded her.

We can easily get mixed up about what we want and how we should feel during the holiday season.   We have had many competing messages that are in our face, coming both from the secular and sacred worlds.  

There’s Jesus and then there is Santa Claus.  They both get a lot of attention and it is no wonder that our children get the multiple messages about the birth of Jesus and the gifts from Santa confused.

There are Nativity scenes and North Pole scenes.

There is a manger and there are stockings.

There are camels and then there are reindeer. 

There are gifts in the nativity story and gifts in the Santa story.

There are worship services to attend as well as holiday parties.

But it isn’t just our children who are confused.  We are confronted with the same mixed messages and we often journey through the season trying to balance the messages. 

We hear the song “I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus,” as well as “Mary’s Song, Breath of Heaven.”  Or we sing “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree” in one breath, followed by “Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright.”   We yearn that which we do not seem to have.  There is too much rockin, dashin, and shoppin going on - when we long for some calmin, lovin and carin.  

Images of the perfect Christmas and the perfect home go dashing through our head. Images of a freshly cut and perfectly decorated Christmas tree, in our spotless home that smells like a roasted turkey just out of the oven, mixed with the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg from the homemade pumpkin pie which was Grandma Jones special recipe.  A perfect home – the illusion of perfection.   A perfect Christmas. 

But home is not like a Norman Rockwell picture.  We may have come from a good home and long to return to a time in the past.  At times we feel homeless.   Or we may have had an abusive home, and we long for a new home and a place that can heal our memories.    A Norman Rockwell home or the home of our illusions – is what M. Craig Barnes calls those ideal places that we long for. [1]

But we don’t live in a Norman Rockwell world. Home is not perfect; it never was and never will be.  The reality of life – including the secular and sacred expression of Christmas is that it never will perfect.  However the good news which is available for us to grasp at any moment is that our true home, the place where our yearnings are met is with God.  Barnes says that “home is the place where we were created to live from eternity and for eternity – with our true Family of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”[2]  With the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.  Barnes also suggests that all of our internal and external longings are really yearnings to return to our true home with God.  We try to fill those yearnings by working too hard and too long, shopping too much, moving around and never sitting still as we try to fill that empty ache inside our soul.   Barnes writes that our true home is with God, the place we began and the place we will return.  He says “that is our home.  That is where we find life.  It is where we belong and we will never be content with any other place than that communion.” [3]

There is no place like home – and that home is with God through Jesus Christ who is Immanuel, God With us.   Our yearnings are met by Jesus Christ whose birth we remember. 

Christ has come. Christ is here. Christ is coming again.  Jesus is God with us.

The early prophets yearned for and spoke of the one who would come – the one who would make us complete.  Micah tells us that he would come from Bethlehem.    Listen to Micah’s yearnings;

Micah 5:2-5

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
       though you are small among the clans of Judah,
       out of you will come for me
       one who will be ruler over Israel,
       whose origins are from of old,
       from ancient times.”

 ³ Therefore Israel will be abandoned
       until the time when she who is in labor gives birth
       and the rest of his brothers return
       to join the Israelites.

 ⁴ He will stand and shepherd his flock
       in the strength of the LORD,
       in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
       And they will live securely, for then his greatness
       will reach to the ends of the earth.

 ⁵ And he will be their peace.

Micah was yearning for the one who would be their peace.  There is no place like home. 

Philips Brooks, the writer of O Little Town of Bethlehem, which we will sing on Christmas Eve, identified this universal yearning and longing of our hearts.
      

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

And Luke identifies the yearnings of Mary who had the tiniest glimpse of what was to come, and who sang from the faith in her heart, yearning and hoping that her child would be the one who would set things right.  Listen to the yearnings of Mary:  

 ⁴⁶And Mary said:
   "My soul glorifies the Lord
    ⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 ⁴⁸for he has been mindful
      of the humble state of his servant.
   From now on all generations will call me blessed,
    ⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
      holy is his name.
 ⁵⁰His mercy extends to those who fear him,
      from generation to generation.
 ⁵¹He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
      he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
 ⁵²He has brought down rulers from their thrones
      but has lifted up the humble.
 ⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things
      but has sent the rich away empty.
 ⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel,
      remembering to be merciful
 ⁵⁵to Abraham and his descendants forever,
      even as he said to our fathers."

Amy Grant in her album, Home for Christmas, gave a musical voice to Mary’s yearnings and longings. 

Breath of Heaven
Hold me together
Be forever near me
Breath of Heaven

Breath of Heaven
Lighten my darkness
Pour over me, your holyness
For your holy Breath of Heaven.

We find our home with Jesus who is with us.  Immanuel -God with us.  We are not promised that our human life will be perfect.  There is no perfect life or perfect home.  Instead we have the promise that God will be with us in everything. 

And so this week and in the New Year ahead, whenever you are feeling restless or homeless and you are yearning for something, you may want to click your heels together three times and pray:

There is no place like home, Immanuel God is with us.

There is no place like home, Immanuel God is with us.

 Immanuel God is with me.

And God will be your peace. 

Amen

Rev. Deborah J. Blanchard