Home away from home

Last week, my adventuring took me away from Fort Waynederland to Iowa for a family reunion. The entire week was great, but Sunday gave me an opportunity to both be a congregation member without having to play organ and visit a new church.

I attended Bethany Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with extended family. I'd never been to the church before and didn't know anyone except my relatives, but I had a unity with everyone anyway. They had the same liturgy and they said the same prayers and creed in the same cadence as here. The voice and heartbeat of the services was the same.  In the past, I've had the same experience at my grandparent's church: Immanuel Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Fairmont, Minnesota. Of course, there were small differences depending on the church, but the substance was the same. Even though I was physically away from Indiana, I was home.

I was with people who pray along with the psalmist at the start of a few of our liturgies:

"O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise." (Ps. 51: 15)

I was with people who pray along with the psalmist in a Responsory used in a few of our liturgies:

"Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells." (Ps. 26:8)

I was in the house of God where He gathers us to come and hear His Word and receive His Sacraments, and opens our lips to declare his praise. I was gathered with others who share a common identity as the baptized children of God. I was home.