What is a home-maker to you? Today we at Chicago
Semester had the opportunity to hear about a new, more Biblical
definition of home-maker than we have been used to. Brian Walsh,
coauthor of
Beyond Homelessness spoke of home, homelessness and homecoming.
Brian began by speaking about how home is rooted in
the Biblical story and covenant of God. He told the arc of the Biblical
story with this concept in mind, meaning that God is a home-making and
home-loving God. This means God partners with
his image bearers to restore the home that has been defiled by sin.
Brian went on to talk about our role as Christians
in this restoration. He closed with a story about a former student of his. She
asked a director of a local charity what she should be doing to help. The man
replied that he did not want her volunteerism
or her pity for people. Instead he wanted her to be a home-maker in her
suburban community.
This meant she opened her home to those around her,
inviting them to gather and enjoy community there. She should invite
children from the community to play in her yard and eat cookies and
milk. If she opened her home for these joyous and
simple activities, people would know it was also open if they had
trials or frustrations as well. So the boy thinking about running from
home might come to her, or the man so frustrated that he didn’t know what
to do might ask her to help, or the woman so flustered
that she didn’t know where to turn would have a support. This
definition of home-making challenges us to be attentive and to look with
eyes opened. We are to be this kind of Biblically defined home-maker in
our communities.
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