20th Sunday after Pentecost: The Rev. Aimee Baxter

When my family first moved to Savannah six years ago, we left a community that had been home to us for twelve years. My husband, Shannon, and I served the same church and it became a huge part of our world. We also lived in the same town as my parents and Shannon’s family was not far away. In essence, moving to Savannah felt like moving away from home.

On top of those factors, I was working as an Adoption Recruiter where my job had me traveling across South GA to visit with different teenagers in foster care to help find them a family. I was kind of like a family match maker.

While the job was a lot of fun and very rewarding, I felt a bit scattered, disconnected, and lonely. We weren’t settled into community here in Savannah yet, and I was gone a lot. It was a strain on me and my family because we were all trying to figure out what home was now.

I came to realize in that year or so that location didn’t really have much to do with it, and home became wherever I was with my people. If they were there, I was home.

Our psalm today talks a good bit about home and dwelling places, and how those are found in the house of the Lord and in the presence of God. It speaks to finding refreshment, nurture, safety and joy in God’s courts. It declares that those who dwell in the courts of God are happy and draw strength.

This psalm in so many ways feels like a big hug and a pep talk to us as the people of God. After all home is like hugs and pep talks, isn’t it?

It’s the place where you can be your full self. The place you feel accepted, nurtured, and loved for all you are.

It’s interesting to look at our gospel and see two different ways that people approach the dwelling place of God. The Pharisee comes across as calloused, braggadocios, and a bit full of himself. The tax collector brings his sin, places it before God, and acknowledges his need for mercy.

It begs the question: who is more at home at the temple? Or maybe another way to ask is who is coming to the house of God looking for renewal and refreshment?

You could argue, quite ironically, that the Pharisee wasn’t at home in the temple, but the tax collector was.

How we approach the house of God and God’s people matters. When we feel at home, it changes and reorients us to experience God’s presence.  It’s not about the performance anymore. We lay down our pride and self-righteousness. When we are home, we can breathe. We can be authentic. We can rest.

I was listening to a podcast recently with Tricia Hersey. Tricia is the author of the book Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, and the founder of The Nap Ministry where she is affectionately known as the Nap Bishop. Her work is deeper than napping and began with her acknowledging that countless black individuals were dying from sleep deprivation due to structures that placed a heavy burden and demand on them.

She says, “Rest pushes back and disrupts a system that views human bodies as a tool for production and labor. It is a counter narrative. We know that we are not machines. We are divine.”

She posits that rest is resistance. It is a way to counter the high demand to constantly generate new things and let our bodies, and in turn, our souls be at rest. Rest is the opposite of grind culture and hustle.

I wonder how much differently the Pharisee would come to the temple if he rested more. He seems like he might need a nap.

If he laid aside the hustle mentality of getting everything just right and making sure he followed all the rules, could he experience the home that is God’s presence and the gift that is the people of God differently?

The church can be home to many of us, but it usually isn’t because the sanctuary is beautiful. It’s often because we have experienced the warmth of fellowship with one another and had an encounter with God. It’s how the psalmist can declare, “How dear to me is your dwelling!” and acknowledge that it is like springs in dry places. It’s because the dwelling place of God becomes a spiritual home where rest is found.

I’ve loved hearing from our different Annual Giving speakers about why they give to St. Thomas. The running theme in every talk is that St. Thomas is home.

What a gift you are to each other and to me! You have been a place of refuge, acceptance, and refreshment. You restore, renew, and bring joy to those around you. You are home and God is here.

To stay faithful to who we’ve been and who we are, may we all consider how we can continue to make St. Thomas a home for others.

Let us remember that we too need to find rest throughout our days, so that we don’t show up in the dwelling place of God like that guy over there that needed a nap.

The Nap Bishop talks about how her dad would tell her, “You’re perfect because God created you. There is nothing else you need to do.” Those words freed her from striving toward perfection and feeling like she had to do everything just right.

She went on to explain that she doesn’t overbook her calendar because when she does it doesn’t leave space for mystery and curiosity. Instead, she proclaims that her open calendar grounds her life in faith and enoughness.

Life looks different for each of us. Some of us have carefully coordinated calendars and others may not have one at all. Some of us are much better at rest. And those of us that aren’t as good at it, well we know it.

Don’t be afraid to get creative with how you find space in your life to rest. My junior year of college I completely overbooked myself. I was going to school, working every day and really active in my campus ministry.  I started this practice of going to the chapel at our Wesley Foundation and lying face down on the floor for 10 minutes between class and work. This was before cell phones, so, I would ask God to wake me up if I fell asleep when it was time to go to work. I was never late for work. Those 10 min naps saved my life. In that season, I felt at home in the courts of the Lord in a unique way.

Rest can help us heal ourselves and connect to the Divine. It can lead us home.

My prayer for you is that you can find rest in new and different ways and that you will continue to feel at home in the expression and experience of God here at St. Thomas.

Most of all, that you know you are enough, and that you are perfect because God created you.