By David Faust

Architecture varies from one culture to another. I grew up in a farm house, but over the years I have lived in college dorms, apartment buildings, and houses in suburban and urban neighborhoods. In my travels I have stayed in Brooklyn row houses, Texas ranch houses, New England cottages, and Virginian colonials. Overseas I have experienced hospitality in compact Japanese homes, rustic African huts, and quaint European lodges.

Healthy Homes

Houses and apartments are more than dwelling places where we lay our heads at night. They stir our imaginations and touch our hearts. Consider these quotes:

• “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in” (Robert Frost).

• “Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave” (Martin Luther).

• “Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House, but on what happens inside your house” (Barbara Bush).

• “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures” (Proverbs 24:3, 4).

Anything that damages the home threatens society as a whole. It’s disheartening that so many residences today are filled with tension and division, because God intends something better for us.

• Homes protect us. We need a roof over our heads to shelter us from rain and cold. We need a safe, secure place to protect our belongings from damage or theft. Imagine the plight of those who are homeless and lack such basic protection.

• Homes nourish us. There we wash our bodies, eat and drink, and recover from stress.

• Homes provide space to build relationships. Even our imperfect homes can still offer an environment where children experience needed guidance, where friends share hospitality, and where a married couple grows together.

• Homes provide rest. There we experience respite from the demands of public life, recover from illness, and enjoy the privacy, quiet, and sleep our bodies and minds require.

Healthy Churches

What houses and apartments do for us physically and emotionally, the church should do for us spiritually. After all, “we are his house” (Hebrews 3:6), “God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9), and “God’s household” (1 Timothy 3:15).

Is your church a safe place? Does your congregation provide spiritual shelter and security as caring leaders shepherd the flock and protect the sheep from spiritual harm?

God calls us to nourish souls. Does your church serve up the milk and meat of God’s Word? Do members of the body exercise their gifts for the good of God’s family?

The church should provide an environment where relationships thrive—where love flows freely, burdens are borne cheerfully, and conflicts are addressed effectively. As in a healthy home, at church imperfections should be readily acknowledged, grace should be constantly extended, and problems or disagreements should be viewed as growth opportunities.

Is your church a place of rest? Instead of pushing members into incessant activity, healthy churches practice the Sabbath principle. They encourage members to cease from work periodically to focus on worship and soul care.

In a broken world filled with loneliness and alienation, one of the greatest services the church can provide is simply to be a healthy family where people truly feel at home.

David Faust serves as the Associate Minister at East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Based on International Sunday School Lesson, © 2013, by the Lesson Committee. Scripture quotations are from the New International Version ©2011, unless otherwise indicated.

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