Readings

FIRST LESSON

The first lesson is from the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 31, verses 10 through 31

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.
She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.
She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.
She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.
In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.
When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.
She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
"Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all."
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears God is to be praised.
Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

SECOND LESSON

The second lesson is from Acts, Chapter 16, Verses 9 to 15

"During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

"From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

"On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God; her heart was opened to respond to Paul's message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home.

"'If you consider me a believer,' Lydia said, 'come and stay at my house.' And she persuaded us."

This Week's Sermon

Date: May 9, 2010

Title: Making Home

Message Delivered By:Sheri Lohr

In comment and counterpoint to our lesson from Proverbs, I offer these selected quotations from Erma Bombeck

Housework, if you do it right, will kill you.

Housework is a treadmill from futility to oblivion with stop offs at tedium and counter productivity.

My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch on fire or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one cares. Why should you?

No one ever died from sleeping in an unmade bed. I have known mothers who remake the bed after their children do it because there's a wrinkle in the spread or the blanket is on crooked. This is sick.

Mothers have to remember what food each child likes or dislikes, which one is allergic to penicillin and hamster fur, who gets carsick and who isn't kidding when he stands outside the bathroom door and tells you what's going to happen if he doesn't get in right away. It's tough. If they all have the same hair color they tend to run together.

When mothers talk about the depression of the empty nest, they're not mourning the passing of all those wet towels on the floor, or the music that numbs your teeth, or even the bottle of capless shampoo dribbling down the shower drain. They're upset because they've gone from supervisor of a child's life to a spectator. It's like being the vice president of the United States.

It is not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding.

Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight O Lord our rock and our redeemer. Amen

My mother took a lot of pride in her home. She had excellent taste, tending to the sleek and modern. She liked fine art and was herself an accomplished painter. She occasionally tried her hand at furniture finishing or upholstery and she liked to design and style; she did not enjoy housework. At a time when most mothers never worked outside the home, she took a job at the local Girl Scout Council Office and hired a woman to do those chores. It may have been a near even break financially but it kept her mind active. Later as my father became more successful, she spent her time volunteering in various organizations and playing championship-level bridge. Someone else pushed the vacuum cleaner. She enjoyed cooking, but especially liked trying new recipes, like a Hawaiian chicken or an oriental dish from Sunset Magazine. She was a charming hostess at cocktail parties or Thanksgiving dinners. By the time I went to college, she and my father began traveling and living first in Japan and then Mexico. My dad and I used to say she was a good cook, as near as anyone could remember. She had a brilliant mind, and had graduated at the top of her class with a degree in Psychology. She managed all our finances and did our taxes. She taught me to read before I started school; she taught me about classical art and music; she was comfortable in the most formal setting or on a trout-fishing camping trip in the high sierras (and she somehow managed to keep her nails perfect in either situation). She was nobody’s Ordinary Housewife, but what she did was make a Home. I never bore or raised any children (not human ones anyway), and I am not a meticulous housekeeper but I hope I learned from my mother how to make a home.

There are as many ways to be a home maker as there are women and men who claim the role. Some homes are gleaming havens of cleanliness and order; some are chaotic riots of boisterous kids and pets and projects. Some homes shelter traditional families, but many harbor families of all combinations of genders and generations. Some families may at some time find themselves homeless, yet hold a home of love in their hearts that with God’s blessing can carry them through to better times. Some homes consist of a large extended family, or a community of like-minded people. Some people make a home in a household of just one. For some people, home may be largely a memory of a golden past: a place to which it may never be possible to return. Some people may live in a certain city for years, yet still think of “home” as the town where they were born, and where family and childhood friends still reside. For others home may be a hope of a longed-for future. These are the ones who say “ if I work hard enough and have sufficient faith, someday I’ll have the home I dream of.” Between the two, I would choose hope over memory, but best of all is to make the home you can in the present moment. A home maker creates a sanctuary, a place to live and spend time with those you love, as well as to be alone with your own soul and your God. A home maker harmonizes people with the environment in which they live. A home maker welcomes others to share whatever her home can provide. Home is certainly more than a shelter, a roof over your head, a place to eat and sleep. You can have all those things and still not feel at home. Home need not be occupied by a large household; if you have created a place where those you love can join you in joy and harmony, where friends old and new are welcome, and where you can abide in peace and comfort, however simple, you have successfully made a home.

In my lifetime home making has gone in and out of style. In the post-war years the ideal was the nuclear family, with Dad the working breadwinner, and Mom at home baking cookies and raising kids. This idyllic image was born in part from memories of the depression when women went to work only out of desperation to feed their families. By the time I was a young woman, home making was seen as being nearly traitorous to our sex. We were to realize our potential, prove our equality, make our mark on the world. But it wasn’t long before some women heard the proverbial biological clock ticking and found themselves in the almost impossible position of trying to be superwoman: continuing a career and being a mother and home maker at the same time. (Fortunately for me, my clock has always been digital; it does not tick.) I think home making is coming back in style again. The style is not as homogenized and rigidly defined as the idealized vision we boomers experienced, but it now embraces a flexible definition of family and home. Once again we can value and admire a person who makes a loving, welcoming, joyful and beautiful home. Here in Key West, in particular, we are often delighted to be welcomed into an apparently unprepossessing little house to discover a hidden jewel behind the doors, then we effusively tell our hosts “what a beautiful home!”

During Jesus’ ministry, he often stayed and taught in the homes of his followers. In the household of the siblings, Lazarus, Mary and Martha, Martha was clearly the home maker. Luke tells us that “a woman named Martha opened her home to him.” Jesus apparently understood a little of the Erma Bombeck school of housekeeping, because when Martha complained that Mary was not helping with the entertaining, Jesus basically told her to lighten up. Jesus also shows himself a friend of the home maker at the wedding in Cana, where he performs his first miracle liven up the party and please his mother. As he travels with his disciples throughout his ministry, he stays in private homes rather than inns. The women support them and feed them and he honors these home makers and shares his teaching equally with all.

After the crucifixion, the early church, the followers of The Way, met and worshipped in homes. When Paul and Silas and their followers are called to Macedonia, they are invited by the woman called Lydia to stay at her house. She manages the household. She listens to Paul with her family and servants and when she is converted, her entire household is baptized. She is the example of a welcoming and providing home maker. Women like Lydia were a foundation of the earliest Christian communities. In Acts and the Epistles of Paul numerous references are made to women as disciples and apostles. In I Corinthians, Paul mentions a church in the home of a woman named Chloe. When Peter is freed from prison by the angel, he goes to the house of a woman named Mary, mother of Mark, where people were gathered to pray. Paul also refers frequently to Priscilla, wife of Aquila, as a disciple on equal level with her husband. Other women named include Phoebe, Lunia, Nymphia and Apphia. These women are respected as managers of large households and owners of their own property, just like the woman in Proverbs who bought a field and planted a vineyard with her earnings. They nurture the new and growing religion through the first centuries, giving material support and teaching their children and the other members of their households. They provided that congenial space where like-minded people could meet, exchange ideas, share meals and find fellowship. Home makers were a critical part of making the Christian church.

The mat at the front door of this church says “The Home Where You’ve Always Been Welcome.” We are all the home makers of this house of worship. We have a job to do and an obligation to one another. Like the ideal woman in Proverbs we should “open [our] arms to the poor and extend [our] hands to the needy.” Our feeding ministries, our clinic, and our community service programs are one way we make this place a home. We must also “watch over the affairs of [our] household.” We are good home makers when we are good stewards, supporting the material needs of this congregation and the building where we congregate. We see to all the daily mundane affairs of keeping the lights on and the roof sound. We must also manage our house to promote harmony and avoid discord. We need to love and forgive one another. If we disagree with one another, we need to learn to get past it for the good of this our spiritual home. We need to hold together through good times and bad, and be a force for good in our community. As good home makers, we help the members of our household, our brothers and sisters, to resolve problems and work together in peace for our common good, and for the good that we can do together in the greater community. Home is a place where love is. We want everyone who walks through our door, for whatever reason, to feel that love.

In this home, we provide welcome and sanctuary. We help one another to learn and grow. We are good stewards of the gifts we are given by the grace of God, and we multiply those gifts to strengthen and increase our house. We are the home makers, and our house is the house of God. Amen