Christmas Reflections Continued:
4: Home for Christmas
The most interesting thing happened when I went to the second church service on Christmas Eve at the local mega-church. I walked in and felt right at home. I had only been there one time, last summer, for a funeral. But I walked in and knew that I was at home. It was all familiar in a strange, spiritual way. I didn't see a single person I knew. But that wasn't a problem.

As I went in and sat down I realized that for me, being in church is being at home. Part of that may very well be that I spent 30 years as a pastor and church was where I did my daily work and activity. But this had nothing to do with work.

When I am in church, I am at home. It doesn't matter what (or where) the church is, it is home. I have felt it standing in awe in an ancient cathedral in Seville, Spain. I have known it in a white, block, almost open-air church in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad singing "Hallelujah" on Easter. I have been aware of it among the remarkable art and Spirit of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Or Ash Wednesday in Limon, Costa Rica or the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem of Judea.

Home. It is where the heart is, we were told. I think it is better to say that it is where the Spirit is.

I know that I need a Spiritual home. It is a place where I am safe and loved and cared for. I have known that since that long, long ago June day at age 14 (almost 15) when I first set foot into a Christian Church and have never looked back.

Sadly there is a difference between church as a place of Spirit and church as a place of Religion. When it becomes simply a place of religion and ritual and regulation and rule and power, it loses the Spirit. Are there some churches where I might not feel at home? I have a hunch that this is so. Fortunately, in spite of our human failings and foibles and addictions and issues, the Spirit is often able to be far more present than we can prevent. The Spirit may get lost at times, or even be pushed to the outside, but I have no doubt that we can find home when we need it.

So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised on Christmas Eve when I discovered this. I need home- Home. It is essential to my spiritual connection. Perhaps that's why a room or a building becomes sacred. We need that place where we can connect.

Maybe Christmas IS about going HOME for the holiday. Mary and Joseph did it and the Savior was born.