Orewa campground in dawn light
Warm light has a way of inviting further investigation, speaks of hospitality and comfort as it cuts through low light and cold air. We prefer to think there is a home place, a restful place after arduous travels, where we might find a hot meal and a shower. Bliss.
In a way, all of this life is arduous travel, though it has many bright spots and joys along the way. People of faith understand the ultimate destination is the Father's house. Jesus' words are recorded in John 14: 1-3;
'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.'
What if we begin to live in the Father's house now? Or rather, live out of that house, bringing the values of that house into our surroundings, coming and going from that place, replenishing our supplies and taking the content of untroubled hearts into the world.
I suggest to you that that is how we should read the New Testament and build our theology, as if God's kingdom came with Jesus, and from that time, followers of the way of Jesus are aware of the in-breaking nature of this kingdom into the fractured world.
It's a kind of guerilla warfare of love, a radical hospitality of sharing with those who are in need. You see pockets of this in our communities, but it's not common. Even we in the church seem to buy into the prevailing culture almost by accident. How can we be "a place to belong to the family of God"? Let us be that warm light shining across the harbour, a sign of hospitality and God's love.