Today I leave the monastery. I have spent five days here in prayer, silence, reading, hiking, biking, and worship. It has been deep, rich time. I have felt "at home."
I miss my family, but there is something about this place that feels like home. Or maybe it is simply that when you are aware of the presence of God, anywhere can feel like home.
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Psalm 84:3
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God. Ephesians 2:19
I am struck by the thought that anywhere the sparrow nests is "home" and is also described as "at your altars, O Lord of hosts..."
Since sparrows nest in any number of varied places throughout the world, might this mean that as we walk the world today, we are surrounded by the altar of the Lord of hosts? Might it mean that there is nowhere that cannot be described as a "sanctuary," or a place where God and humanity meet?
I am also struck by the language of citizenry. We are no longer "outsiders" but insiders, even outside. There is no place we don't "belong." There is no place that cannot be a place of homecoming for us.
May you walk the world today with that sense...that you are home, a citizen, beloved, and in the presence of God.
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