A Theology of Home
Book Club | Eat, Drink & Be Merry: Chapter 7 & Conclusion
Welcome to our last week of summer Book Club!
Years ago, a friend was asking me about the idea of “home.”
He was thinking about it in relation to his children, and the importance of establishing a consistent place of habitation versus propagating a sense of “in Christ, you’re always at home”—the your-home-is-where-your-heart-is sentiment.
We began to explore the question, dissecting the conception of home that we hold in our minds.
Home is where we are safe.
Home is where rest is found.
Home is where family is.
Home is what we long for when we’ve been away.
Just saying the word, Home, stirs up certain feelings within us.
Home is a part of our biology, our psychology, our theology.
“Jesus died not only to bring us back to himself but also to bring us back home, but the home we’ve never yet visited.” (p. 114)
In this world, even as Christians, we exist with a constant low-grade restlessness “churning deep within us” (p. 120).
This is our longing for home—the place of rest, the place of safety, the place for family.
In her prayer journal, a 20 year old Flannery O’Connor says, “I want to get near You. Yet it seems almost a sin to suggest such a thing even. Perhaps Communion doesn’t give the nearness I mean. The nearness I mean comes after death perhaps. It is what we are struggling for and if I found it either I would be dead or I would have seen it for a second and life would be intolerable. I don’t know about this or anything. It sounds puerile my saying anything so obvious.”
This young, humble O’Connor is more on the nose than she realized at the time.
She is wrestling with the low-grade restlessness we humans see as normal, but is not. She is looking for in this world what can only be found in another world—and she is beginning to see that.
This relates to the question Ray asks on page 115: “What does ‘arrival’ look like to you?”
He is clear that our longing for “arrival” is not wrong in itself. But we get into trouble when we put the wrong address into the GPS.
We need to have a vision for arrival that is rooted in Truth; and the destination Scripture punches into the GPS for us is The New Heavens and the New Earth.
As Christians, we are moving towards a renewed creation—the universe, corrupted by sin, restored through the cosmic salvation of Jesus Christ.
Ray presents to us on page 110 the wonders of the resurrection of our bodies in this renewed creation ruled by Jesus. At the proper time, God will transform these lowly bodies, corrupt and dying, to be like the glorious body of the risen Jesus.
“And we physical beings will live in a physical universe, like this one but renovated” (p. 110)
This is the ultimate destination for all who have been saved by Jesus: incorruptible, imperishable, glorified bodies made after the likeness of Jesus Christ, living in a renewed world inhabited by God and Humanity in eternal, perfect, loving relationship, to enjoy and rule over the cosmos together.
This is glorious.
This is arrival.
And if the destination we have in our mind for fullness of joy and deepest satisfaction is anything less than the vision of arrival that Scripture casts for us, “we are as unarrived and as distant as ever” (p. 115)
The impulse of Flannery O’Connor to look outside of this world and this life for the nearness she yearned for was right, though she didn’t know why at the time. The longing of her heart to be close to God was a longing for The New Heavens and New Earth—a physical resurrected body in a physical restored universe dwelling in unity with the Loving Creator and Redeemer of all things.
She was longing to arrive at home, but a home she had not yet visited.
Life becomes simpler—the path forward clearer—when we remember where home is.
When we rightly see The New Heavens and New Earth as our eternal destination, we can begin to live our lives here with more joy and wisdom than ever, until we arrive.
“You will long for heaven. And you will savor earth.” (p. 126)
May we long for heaven and savor earth.
May we keep our eyes fixed upon the Savior in heaven—pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus1—and rightly enjoy the good gifts our Father sends us in this world.
It isn’t easy to walk in this wisdom, but it is worth it. Our God will help us, and He will never leave us. He is gently pulling us toward the eternal fullness of joy He has prepared for those who love Him, even now.
Rest in His guiding wisdom and love.
Pray for wisdom, and power to enjoy the good He has given.
Eat, Drink & Be Merry.
Thank you for being a part of Book Club! I have come to see with more clarity how to live with a wise enjoyment of God and His gifts, and I hope you have too. I have appreciated the dialogue both here on the substack, and with many of you in person as our paths have crossed. I’ve also been encouraged to hear about the groups that many of you have formed to meet together regularly around the book for discussion and fellowship.
It is a joy to help foster a context for meaningful connection and discipleship; and I have some ideas that I am excited to share for new and unique ways to continue doing that through Gospel Coffee Club!
More details on those things coming soon, but I would love to hear what ideas you might have for Gospel Coffee Club too! You’re a part of this club, and I’m open to feedback from you about things we could do as Gospel Coffee Club in the future—recommendations for books to read through for Book Club, ideas for events or activities, creative opportunities like the Prize Writing Competition we ran this year. Send me an email with your ideas or feedback: t.r.jones@gospelcoffeeclub.com
Thanks for being a part of the Club, friends. Enjoy the little bit of summer we have left! May God bless you, and make His face to shine upon you.
Philippians 3:14