Musing for Aug 13 - Storm Home
During my adolescence I accidently came across a storyteller on the radio on Saturday night. I loved the sound of his voice, his stories and the old-fashioned radio show that surrounded it. I was sort of mesmerized. It took a while because there was no Google but finally, I discovered who it was and what the show was called. The storyteller was Garrison Keillor and he hosted “A Prairie Home Companion” every week on Saturday evenings on NPR. During the show he would tell a story from his fictitious hometown of Lake Wobegon Minnesota. This was a place where “all the women were strong, all the men were good looking, and all the women were above average.”
As it turns out I was not alone in my enjoyment of this show – though I was probably well on the outside of the intended target audience’s age category. If you ever find a recording (and by the way I am linking one), I think you will understand more why people are drawn to Garrison Keillor, his incredibly comforting voice, his radio show’s fun escapades antics, and his deep talent for storytelling. In his stories about Lake Wobegon which always began “it has been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon” (though it never really was) you will laugh and cry and think and find some truth which is not a bad way to spend your time.
One of my favorite stories is the story entitled Storm Home. It is the story from his childhood. He recalls when he was in a school that was a long way from his home, how he and the other rural students were given a “storm home” that they could go to in the event a blizzard hit during the school day making it difficult for them to get to their own homes.
He complained in the story that he never got to use the Storm Home occupied by a kind old couple, as the storms always hit on the weekends or holidays. However, he thought of the Storm Home often and it gave him a sense of peace and comfort just knowing it was there.
I have thought of that story a few times over the past few weeks, even taking time to find it on YouTube. The story has always made me think of my own storm homes – my own safe places. They have been places like my parents’ home and my grandparents’ home. However, for me it has also always reminded me of the church. The church has long been my storm home. Even when I do not always use the church or her resources, it is always comforting to know that it is there. That at a moment’s notice I have a community of faith praying for me and cheering me on.
I pray that we each have a “Storm Home” that helps to quiet us and bring us solace during the fearful and uncertain moments in our lives. Simply knowing these places exist helps our ability to cope with our fears and provide comfort when the winds of life are blowing us to and fro.
And I pray that one of those homes for you is the church. Friends, the church was given as a place where the fellowship of believers might gather, not because they agreed but because they loved. The church at its best is a place where we are pointing to our storm home that we will live with both our Lord and all the saints in that day which is promised. A day when every tear will be wiped away and suffering will be no more.
Until that day though I pray that we at LaFayette Presbyterian, and as the church universal, will indeed be a place of shelter and refuge for one another and for those we have yet to meet – the stranger and the lonely and the hurting for they are our sister and brothers and as such heirs to the Storm Home Kingdom that we wait for as we eagerly pray “Come, Lord Jesus.”
Alleluia Amen.
Have a great week.
Clay