It is always good to go home, O God.

We are grateful that our final home is in you, for that is where our hearts are. But in the meantime it is wonderful to return to our earthly roots, and to celebrate the sense of joy and familiarity we feel when we go there. . .

It reminds us that the whole earth is yours, and that wherever we go, we are still part of a larger family. We thank you for the things about home that remain comfortable to us—the good people we knew, the memories that are rekindled when we return, the places where we once walked and sat and studied, the stores where we shopped, the church where they sing the old songs, pray real prayers, and declare the gospel the way they always did.

And we thank you for what those returning bring to us at home—a sense of freshness, a reminder that there is a world out there beyond the one we know, a witness to the power of the church and the congregation to draw them back, and a testimony to the way the gospel continues to go out from this place to the farthest corners of the earth.

Give us an assurance that life goes on and is good, and the knowledge that our fellowship in you can never be broken, regardless of how far we roam or what we do.

Let the spirit of Christ reign in our hearts today, and make us glad together. And let your name be glorified in the renewal we experience. For you are our God, and we have never forgotten it!

Amen.

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This article is adapted from a prayer for Homecoming Sunday, in Prayers for Holy Days, by John Killinger. Copyright © 2006 Abingdon Press. The complete digital edition of this book is included in the Ministry Matters Premium Subscription.