Finding Our Way Home

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In her book, Traveling Mercies, Anne LaMott shares a story from her pastor about a time when her best friend got lost as a little girl. “The little girl ran up and down the streets of the big town where they lived, but she couldn’t find a single landmark. She was very frightened. Finally a policeman stopped to help her. He put her in the passenger seat of his car, and they drove around until she finally saw her church. She pointed it out to the policeman, and then she told him firmly, ‘You could let me out now. This is my church, and I can always find my way home from here.’”

LaMott picks up on the metaphor and says, “That’s why I have stayed so close to mine – because no matter how bad I am feeling, how lost or lonely or frightened, when I see the faces of the people at my church, and hear their tawny voices, I can always find my way home.”

We all need people in our lives who help us feel at home with ourselves and the world around us. We all need people who will comfort us and encourage us and even challenge us to live better.

Some of us have returned to church after an extended period of social distancing. Others of us, have not yet been able to return. Whatever the case is for you, I pray today that you would find ways to stay connected to your faith community. Even if you can’t be with them in person, make the effort – so that when you are lost or scared, or confused, or hurting, you always can find your way home.

Let us pray: God of Hope, we long for deep meaningful relationships. We long for people who know us and accept us for who we are. We long for others with whom we can share life’s joys and burdens. In these difficult times, so full of health concerns, help us find creative ways of staying in touch. As we offer our time, our love, our acceptance, our listening ears and caring hearts, fill us again with your grace and hope. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.