“Come home, come home. Ye who are weary, come home.”
Today, this Monday, in mid-May, it’s not going to get out of the 50’s. Really? In Alabama, at this time of year? Yes, it’s that damp, wet cold feeling. We have that longing in our hearts for that just right, bright, sunny Spring weather. But, you know what? Life is not like that. We have troubles, trials and storms of life. We have loss and loneliness, grief and despair, hurts and failures as well as good and bad. Yet, through it all, we hear, “Come Home!” Just like the father in the Prodigal Son, God is waiting for us and yearning for us to come home.
There was a movie, I forget the title, but there was a black lady who had served a rich family on a plantation. Later, after her daughter was about 10 years old, she wanted to show her where she once worked at this big old Southern house, with a long driveway. As they walked to the place and it came into view, you could see that everything had grown up around the house. Briars, tall grass and weeds had taken over where previous to this had been a well manicured lawn. The door was standing ajar. The paint was faded and peeling with shutters barely hanging. The whole place was just plain run down.
The mother and daughter stepped inside the vacant house. She was telling her daughter about the by-gone days of the vast lands, elegant furnishing with opulent surroundings, whereupon an old white woman, disheveled and haggard appeared at the top of the stair landing yelling, “Get out! Get out of my house!” The black lady took her daughter by the hand and they left as quickly as they could. As they were walking down the drive, the little girl said to her Mom, “Was that your home?” To which the Mother replied, “No, dear. Home is where your heart is.” What a poignant statement; probably the point of the whole movie.
So I ask you today: Where is your heart. What are you yearning and searching for?
Cynthia Clawson, a renowned Christian musician, sings a version of the hymn we sometimes sing at the close of a worship service. It’s partly with a different tune, but the words stick in my mind because of the unusual tune and the timbre of this gifted singer’s voice:
Softly and Tenderly
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me;
See, on the portals He’s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me.
Refrain:
Come home, come home,
Ye who are weary, come home,
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, oh sinner, come home.
Oh, for the wonderful love He has promised,
Promised for you and for me!
Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon,
Pardon for you and for me.
– Will Thompson, pub. 1880
Won’t you come home today? You are greatly loved!!
As we serve, side-by-side, I remain, your friend,
Mark David Jackson
