A House Into A Home

on November 01, 2010 by Walt Dilg

AHouse into a Home

What makes a house a home? When we’re hunting for a new home, we think of the neighborhood, the schools, available services, and the look and feel of the particular house. All these considerations are in the mix and may lead us to choosing a house for our residence. Yet that house will not become a home unless we invest ourselves in it.

We need to spend time in it - get a feel for the place, learn its quirks and sounds, become comfortable within its walls. A house starts to become a home just by being in it. We need to put some money into it – mortgage payments give us a sense of ownership of the place, as do the smaller payments that cover big repairs and remodels. The house becomes our home as we start to take ownership of it. When we put some sweat equity in the house, repairing the broken faucet or unclogging the drain, painting a room or changing the drapes, gardening and cleaning - the house changes into our home as it reflects our tastes and care. When the events of life unfold within its walls – the holidays and birthdays, the broken arms and cut fingers, the dog training, the sleepless nights and joyful mornings – when the emotions of life fill the place, the house fully becomes our home. It’s now the sacred place of our heart and our memories.

This November, we’re invited to turn a house into a home. I’m talking about our church – and – making God’s House into Our Home. During this stewardship month of November, let’s consider how marvelous it would be if we all experience “home” here at LJ UMC.

What is it that would help to turn God’s House into Our Home? I think it has a lot to do with those qualities I mentioned above… namely, how we engage ourselves, invest ourselves, share ourselves, connect ourselves in this place we call church. When we spend time here so we’re comfortable, when we give our monies here so we have a sense of ownership, when we serve here so we see ourselves as part of the larger picture, and when we build relationships here so our hearts are touched and our memories full – the church becomes a wonderful place, it comes alive for us, it becomes home, and we become family, one to the other.

Turning a House into a Home and new acquaintances into family is one of the sublime mysteries of the Spirit and one of the great blessings of the faith. It happens when we live out our discipleship in specific ways in a particular place, and that’s really what stewardship is all about. LJ UMC is God’s House. It is here for you. Make it your Home. Let’s be family, together.

Pastor Walt