{"id":76672,"date":"2020-05-15T18:29:32","date_gmt":"2020-05-16T01:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=76672"},"modified":"2020-05-19T22:57:11","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T05:57:11","slug":"a-liturgy-for-those-with-an-inconsolable-homesickness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2020\/05\/15\/a-liturgy-for-those-with-an-inconsolable-homesickness\/","title":{"rendered":"A Liturgy for Those with an Inconsolable Homesickness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-file aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/AnInconsolableHomesickness.pdf\">AnInconsolableHomesickness<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/AnInconsolableHomesickness.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button\" download>Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"860\" height=\"484\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6lllEOZI4Ew?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Let me steward well, Lord Christ,<br>this gift of homesickness\u2014this grieving for a<br>childhood gone, this ache for distant family,<br>lost fellowship, past laughter, shared lives, and<br>the sense that I was somewhere I belonged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">It is a good, good thing to have a home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">But now that I have gone from it, let me steward<br>well, O God, this homesick gift, as I know my<br>wish for what has been is not some solitary<br>ache, but is woven with a deeper longing<br>for what will one day be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">This yearning to return to what I knew is,<br>even more than that, a yearning for a place<br>my eyes have yet to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">So let me steward this sacred yearning well.<br>Homesickness is indeed a holy thing,<br>like the slow burning of an immortal beacon,<br>set ablaze to bid us onward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">The shape of that ache for another time<br>and place is the imprint of eternity<br>within our souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">So let those sorrows do their work in me,<br>O God. Let them stir such yearnings as would<br>fix my journey forward toward that place for<br>which I\u2019ve always pined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">O my soul, have there not always been signs?<br>O my soul, were we not born with hearts on<br>fire? Before we were old enough even to know<br>why songs and waves and starlight so stirred<br>us, had we not already tiptoed to the edge of<br>that vast sadness, bright and good, and felt<br>ourselves somehow stricken with a sickness<br>unto life? Hardly had we ventured from our<br>yards, when we felt ourselves so strangely far<br>from something\u2014and somewhere that we<br>despaired of ever reaching\u2014that we turned to<br>hide the welling of our eyes.<br>We knew it, even then, as the opening of a<br>wound this world cannot repair\u2014<br>the first birthing of that weight<br>every soul must wake up to alone,<br>because it is the burden<br>of that wild and<br>lonely space that only<br>God in his eternity can fill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">And as we wait, this sacred, homesick sorrow<br>works in us to cultivate a faith<br>that knows one day, he will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">That is the holy work of homesickness:<br>to teach our hearts how lonely<br>they have always been for God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">So let these sighs and tears, Lord Christ, prepare<br>me for that better gladness that will be mine.<br>Let all your children learn to grieve well in this<br>life, knowing we are not just being homesick;<br>we are letting sorrow carve<br>the spaces in our souls,<br>that joy will one day fill.<br>O Holy Spirit, bless our grief, and<br>seal our hearts until that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let me steward well, Lord Christ,this gift of homesickness\u2014this grieving for achildhood gone, this ache for distant family,lost fellowship, past laughter, shared lives, andthe sense that I was somewhere I belonged. It is a good, good thing to have a home. But now that I have gone from it, let me stewardwell, O God, this homesick gift, as I know<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[5670,658,5669],"class_list":["post-76672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","tag-doug-mckelvey","tag-hope","tag-the-rabbit-room"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76672"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76747,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76672\/revisions\/76747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}