Home
20/03/22 02:22
Recently, I have been doing some work on the archives of my journal. The process gives me a chance to read entries from several years ago. I’ve posted daily journal entries since 2007, but they have been disorganized. It has been several years since they were all easily accessible on this site. I’ve been carefully working my way through the old entries and getting them into a new format that, hopefully, will mean it is easy to search by date for any of my entries. In the future, I hope to make it possible to search by title and subject as well. One of the themes I have noticed is that over the years I have written a number of posts on the theme of home. There are three or four posts in 2008 that have the title, “Home.”
When we left Montana to go to graduate school in Chicago, I made a point of telling people that my home was in Montana. I expected that after we completed our degrees I would be moving back to Montana to serve a church there. As we prepared for graduation and made our first search for a call to ministry, there were very few congregations in Montana seeking a pastor and none was a match for us. Our search included the surrounding states and we ended up accepting a call to serve in North Dakota. We had a wonderful seven years in North Dakota, serving congregations with wonderful people. We made lifelong friends there, but we kept our eyes on Montana. We looked at congregations in Montana, but no matches were made and when we moved on from North Dakota it was to a congregation in another neighboring state, Idaho. After a decade in Idaho we once again thought and dreamed of moving to Montana, but the congregation that called us was in South Dakota. South Dakota really became our home. Our children graduated from high school there. We made a lot of friends there. We loved living in the Black Hills and we became deeply engaged in the community of Rapid City. We served on numerous community boards and organizations. While it is true that we did consider options for moving to Montana a couple of times, but none was the right choice for us. We stayed in South Dakota for 25 years.
While we lived in South Dakota, our families were changing. Our parents reached the ends of their lives and passed away. Our siblings moved to different states as their lives and careers progressed. Our children grew up and followed their lives and careers to other states and other countries. Montana was no longer the center of our family. Our South Dakota home became the place of many family gatherings. Nieces and nephews came to visit. Susan’s father and my mother came to live in South Dakota near the ends of their lives.
When the time came for us to retire, it was difficult to explain to our friends and members of our congregation why we had decided to move away from South Dakota. Our move was in part an effort to help the congregation we served and loved for 25 years move on. By leaving the church and joining one in a different place we felt that the congregation was freed to move on without ongoing ties to our personalities. And so we moved to Washington because it was near our son and his family. At the time we moved, our daughter was living in Japan and though she knew that they would be returning to the United States, she had no idea where they might land for their next assignment.
Last night at our home was another reminder to me that we have arrived at a new home that is really home for us. At our dinner table were our son, his wife and four children, a niece and her husband and their infant daughter. There were two babies in our house, both less than 2 months old, a 4-year-old, a 7-year-old, an 11-year-old, four adults in their thirties and forties, and three of us seniors. Just a week prior our table had our son and his family, my sister and one of my brothers.
In less than two years we have received siblings, nieces, nephews, children, grandchildren, great nieces and nephews. That big oval oak dining table that used to grace the dining room of Susan’s parents’ home is getting all of leaves put into it. Last night we set up an additional table to make room for all of the people gathered. We have only been in this house for five months, but it certainly has become home for us.
I don’t know that I spent much time imagining what it would be like to be retired. I was blessed with work that I loved and I wasn’t eager to stop working. Over the course of decades as a minister, however, I have had the opportunity to visit a lot of people who were lonely in their aging years. Other family members had moved away or passed away and left the seniors a bit isolated and a bit lonely. Whatever else is going on for us, we aren’t getting lonely. We live close enough to our grandchildren to see them several times a week. Yesterday we had both lunch and dinner with them. We went together to the festival of birds in Blaine, a celebration of the outdoors and wildlife with crafts and projects for children. The children made kites and bird feeders and played whistles and drums made in the ways of the Lumi people. We wandered among booths learning about the mammals of the Salish Sea and lifted whale bones to feel their textures and experience the size of those magnificent creatures.
The fact that this place has become our home does not change the fact that South Dakota was our home for many years. Idaho and North Dakota and Montana have also been our home. Like our ancestors, Abraham and Sarah, we have sought to follow God’s call and that call has led us to places we never imagined going. Each place has become home for us in ways that are deeply meaningful. For now this is our home.
Perhaps, I’m learning that home is not a place after all. I’ll have to keep thinking about that idea. In the years to come, there will be more journal entries on the theme of home.
When we left Montana to go to graduate school in Chicago, I made a point of telling people that my home was in Montana. I expected that after we completed our degrees I would be moving back to Montana to serve a church there. As we prepared for graduation and made our first search for a call to ministry, there were very few congregations in Montana seeking a pastor and none was a match for us. Our search included the surrounding states and we ended up accepting a call to serve in North Dakota. We had a wonderful seven years in North Dakota, serving congregations with wonderful people. We made lifelong friends there, but we kept our eyes on Montana. We looked at congregations in Montana, but no matches were made and when we moved on from North Dakota it was to a congregation in another neighboring state, Idaho. After a decade in Idaho we once again thought and dreamed of moving to Montana, but the congregation that called us was in South Dakota. South Dakota really became our home. Our children graduated from high school there. We made a lot of friends there. We loved living in the Black Hills and we became deeply engaged in the community of Rapid City. We served on numerous community boards and organizations. While it is true that we did consider options for moving to Montana a couple of times, but none was the right choice for us. We stayed in South Dakota for 25 years.
While we lived in South Dakota, our families were changing. Our parents reached the ends of their lives and passed away. Our siblings moved to different states as their lives and careers progressed. Our children grew up and followed their lives and careers to other states and other countries. Montana was no longer the center of our family. Our South Dakota home became the place of many family gatherings. Nieces and nephews came to visit. Susan’s father and my mother came to live in South Dakota near the ends of their lives.
When the time came for us to retire, it was difficult to explain to our friends and members of our congregation why we had decided to move away from South Dakota. Our move was in part an effort to help the congregation we served and loved for 25 years move on. By leaving the church and joining one in a different place we felt that the congregation was freed to move on without ongoing ties to our personalities. And so we moved to Washington because it was near our son and his family. At the time we moved, our daughter was living in Japan and though she knew that they would be returning to the United States, she had no idea where they might land for their next assignment.
Last night at our home was another reminder to me that we have arrived at a new home that is really home for us. At our dinner table were our son, his wife and four children, a niece and her husband and their infant daughter. There were two babies in our house, both less than 2 months old, a 4-year-old, a 7-year-old, an 11-year-old, four adults in their thirties and forties, and three of us seniors. Just a week prior our table had our son and his family, my sister and one of my brothers.
In less than two years we have received siblings, nieces, nephews, children, grandchildren, great nieces and nephews. That big oval oak dining table that used to grace the dining room of Susan’s parents’ home is getting all of leaves put into it. Last night we set up an additional table to make room for all of the people gathered. We have only been in this house for five months, but it certainly has become home for us.
I don’t know that I spent much time imagining what it would be like to be retired. I was blessed with work that I loved and I wasn’t eager to stop working. Over the course of decades as a minister, however, I have had the opportunity to visit a lot of people who were lonely in their aging years. Other family members had moved away or passed away and left the seniors a bit isolated and a bit lonely. Whatever else is going on for us, we aren’t getting lonely. We live close enough to our grandchildren to see them several times a week. Yesterday we had both lunch and dinner with them. We went together to the festival of birds in Blaine, a celebration of the outdoors and wildlife with crafts and projects for children. The children made kites and bird feeders and played whistles and drums made in the ways of the Lumi people. We wandered among booths learning about the mammals of the Salish Sea and lifted whale bones to feel their textures and experience the size of those magnificent creatures.
The fact that this place has become our home does not change the fact that South Dakota was our home for many years. Idaho and North Dakota and Montana have also been our home. Like our ancestors, Abraham and Sarah, we have sought to follow God’s call and that call has led us to places we never imagined going. Each place has become home for us in ways that are deeply meaningful. For now this is our home.
Perhaps, I’m learning that home is not a place after all. I’ll have to keep thinking about that idea. In the years to come, there will be more journal entries on the theme of home.
