Good morning…

As each new season begins, it is important to consider, “Where have we been?” Looking back before moving forward allows us to keep our balance, our sense of stability, our essential equilibrium. So, as I stepped up to preach at the Log Cabin Church on Sunday, I began with these words.

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We Come Home Together – Sue Allen sermon, June 2nd, 2019 (section one)

How privileged I feel to celebrate this HOMECOMING service with you.

When I looked up the word “homecoming,” I read these descriptors: “an instance of returning home,” “an opportunity to reflect back on the values and culture of a given community,” and “an annual tradition of welcoming back alumni or former members.” In truth, your pastor Raymond told me that anyone who walks through these little red doors twice moves from the status of “guest” to the honor of “member.” That makes me, and the Allen family of six, proud members of the Log Cabin Church.

My husband Steve and I have four young adult kids. Kyler is 24. Tessa is 22. Adrianna is 20. And our baby, Jeremiah, turns 18-year-old this week. Amazing how time flies when we are having fun! Our family does not live under the same roof anymore and we only “come home” together for holidays now. Each time we gather for a HOMECOMING experience, I have noticed us doing three important things.

  1. We share stories of where we have been.
  2. We talk about the life surrounding us right now.
  3. We discuss the future we sense God unfolding.

I thought we would do the very same thing this morning as a church family. Each of you has your own set of personal stories about how the Log Cabin Church has been a special part of your life, and the Allen family is no different. Here are a few highlights from our history with with this community of faith.

Raymond and his wife Barbara happened to be members with us at Macland Presbyterian Church when we lived in Marietta, GA, twenty-four years ago. Back then we were all new parents, Steve and I were raising our infant son Kyler and they were raising their only child, Clark. Over the next six years our two boys loved playing in the nursery together with Miss Liz and her son of the same age, Jonathan. So, when our family walked through the little red doors of Log Cabin Church for the first time several years back, we were surprised to reconnect with old friends we love dearly. (As a side note, our son Jeremiah was just making a trifold board of pictures for his Eagle scout ceremony last month, and I came across this picture of Raymond holding Jeremiah in the hospital the day after he was born. I will stay for the potluck lunch and anyone interested can I browse through these pictures taken this very week, eighteen years ago.) Where we have been with this church family started with a sense of instant belonging, of being known, accepted, and loved for a long time.

Though Raymond and Barbara formed our family’s initial bond, soon Steve, who is the chaplain at the Lovett School, began preaching here three or four times each year. I also, as a member and the Women’s Ministry Director at Northside Church, have met with several of you on various occasions to encourage the development of your ongoing ministry to women here at Log Cabin Church, and many of you, men and women, receive a blog message from me each morning. Our SueToYou.com posts come into your inboxes and spread out into your lives as a source of companionship on your journey of faith. (By the way, if you are interested you can subscribe yourself today and read notes from this sermon as I post them tomorrow).

For 107 years, God’s love has been growing organically in this little Log Cabin Church. Since the moment we first walked through these welcoming red doors, our family has enjoyed coming home regularly to the love of God expressed freely in this family of faith.

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Looking back over the years, we can each sense the hand of God actively at work, nurturing us, guiding us, supporting us as we grow. Which handful of church families have been instrumental in your development of faith? Be grateful for each one. Who are the people you come home to regularly, feeling known, accepted, and loved for who you are? Lift a prayer of thanks for those who embody home.

God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us… (1 John 4:17, MSG).

…Sue…