Feels Like Home

In November of 2014, I attended a Great Banquet women’s retreat. Right after I returned home, my family and I went “church shopping.” Our first stop also became our last. Having been away from church for nearly 20 years, my family and I were anxious, to say the least. But I remember there were friendly people greeting us as we entered the building and the greeters who gave us bulletins were very friendly, but not overbearing, pushy or too touchy-feely.  The facility was beautiful. The minister was energetic and educated us about the scripture reading for the day. I also appreciated the way he applied the scripture to everyday life. All four of us agreed that the atmosphere felt relaxed and welcoming. When I’m asked why we chose to attend Wesley Chapel, I say, “it felt like home.” I use the phrase “felt like home” to describe places where I feel comfortable. Baptist Health Floyd is my hospital of choice because I’m most comfortable there; “it feels like home.”

Hopefully our homes become a part of a larger community. In actuality, we all belong to several different communities. We belong to neighborhoods, schools, places of work, organizations, churches, and I’m sure I’m forgetting many others. Webster’s Dictionary defines community as 1) a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common, and 2) a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. The dictionary also lists the following words as synonyms: group, section, body, company, set, circle, clique, and coterie.  Well, I had never seen or heard the word coterie before, but we did indeed become part of the Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church community.

I wondered what the Bible had to say about community, so I did a little research. The first community found in the Old Testament began with God and Adam in the Garden of Eden. Eve was later added to become Adam’s companion in this perfect environment, but as we know, sin entered in and perfection was destroyed. The early church consisted of small community groups of believers holding church in their homes. In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus taught about being a good neighbor in the well-known parable of the “Good Samaritan.” Although the purpose of Jesus telling the parable was to illustrate mercy to a self-righteous Pharisee, He also pictured community in action, reaching out to a neighbor in distress. Jesus said, “By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another,” (John 13:35). Love is meant to be the hallmark of the Christian community.

As Christians, the church (our church) is more than just a place to pray and worship. The church is a place to learn and teach. It’s a place to see Christ in others as we love and accept one another. We’re stronger when we are together encouraging each other. Our church is a place to serve each other, our church, community, nation, and world. We are also a source of guidance and accountability for each other. We should also be witnesses of God’s power and presence to the world through our character and actions. And we are all ambassadors of God’s love. We are to take God’s compassion and healing power into our broken world. We all need to ponder how we are contributing to these components of our church.

I envision ALL of us contributing to the above-mentioned components.  Using our individual gifts and talents, we can come together and do great things. We can all be the hands and feet of Jesus, serving to make this broken world a better place to live. And we’ll all (I mean “All Y’all”), continue to make Wesley Chapel the church that “feels like home.”