Sarah and the kids had traveled to a wedding while I stayed back to attend to some ministry duties. It had been a busy summer with travel, ministry, and moving from place to place. During the summer, “home” meant Camp Berea. Then we would head off on vacation to the family camp which would be home for two weeks. Finally, we would return to the parsonage, after more than two months away. Would we finally be home?

My second son, four at the time and the youngest for a little while longer, had figured out what it all meant in a way that caught his parents off guard and amazed. “When we are all back together, then we will be home because home is wherever we are all together.”

Such a simple calculation and yet all these years later, I am still stunned by the depth of his child-view. Already at four years old he had learned that home was less about which building we were dwelling in at the moment.

The spiritual application writes itself at this point. The Bible calls us aliens and strangers, using the language of the Hebrew exile to remind us where home is. So often when we talk about our spiritual home, we talk of heaven. We begin to talk about what the place might look like. Sometimes we might even wonder whether we will like it there if it is just a bunch of clouds and harps.

There are few descriptions of what heaven will be like, especially once you strip away the metaphorical devices often employed. Furthermore, the Bible speaks of a new heaven and new earth in the future, which is not described in detail, but offers a tantalizing hint of new creation experiences beyond the puffy cloud pictures held by our classic culture.

What the Bible does emphasize is togetherness. Paul writing to the Thessalonian Christians sought to reassure them as they worried that perhaps their loved ones who had died had missed out on the return of the Messiah. Paul assures them that not only will those who have died not be left out, but that will actually be the first to experience resurrection. He continues,

Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
(1 Thessalonians 4:17)

Often we focus on the timing of this event, or what the trumpet will sound like, or all the other details that often capture our attention when we think about the end times. The focus of the text seems to point more toward the people than the time or place. Paul emphasizes first that we will be “together with them” and then concludes, “so we shall aways be with the Lord.”

One of my favorite quiet places is the Mount Auburn Cemetary in Auburn, Maine where Nana is buried. My mom’s mother was a devout believer who loved Jesus. She died when I was eleven, and I often think about how excited she would be if she knew I had grown up to be in ministry. I love to visit her grave and think about the day when I will see Nana again, and get to share with her all that God has done.

This isn’t home. It can’t be home. We aren’t all together yet. There are dear believers who have gone on. We miss them. There are more goodbyes and separations in our future, but as one music artist said, heaven is a long hello. Or in the words of my young son those years ago, “When we are all back together, then we will be home because home is wherever we are all together.”