Homecoming

It is interesting how a word can bring to mind such different images when it is used in different contexts. As I write this the town is getting ready for a parade, a team is getting ready for a football game, and our High School is getting ready to crown a Queen, all in honor of our High School football Homecoming. It is an exciting time for the town, students and alumni of the High School.

We have just completed a study on Wednesday nights of the book of Revelation. As I think about Homecoming my thoughts are drawn to a very different set of images. Revelation tells us of a Homecoming that we will all someday experience. There are some similarities. Instead of a Queen there will be a Bride. There will be a King and we will all be watching for the coming of the King, (of Kings). Instead of a parade there will be a great banquet. Instead of a game there will be a war, complete with a winning side and a losing side. The winners get invited to the wedding feast while the losers get thrown into a lake of fire.

Fortunately, the football game will not end like this, no matter what kind of thoughts we might have during the game.

When the players come to a football game they do not get to choose which side they are on when they get to the field. They make their choice long before the homecoming game. They have to choose before the first practice. They have to be a part of the team before they are allowed to play in the game.

Football Homecomings come and go. We look forward to them as much as we enjoy remembering them. It is fun but the pleasures, and the consequences, are only temporary. This is not true about the Homecoming in Heaven. Heaven’s Homecoming is eternal. We already know which side is going to win. But, we have to choose now which side we will represent.

Will I see you at the Banquet?

Bro. Robin