Welcome Home!

Our Sunday School lessons in November focus upon "home" -- what it means and how God provides us a home. 

"Home" means more than a house.  It's a place of safety, comfort, shelter, and belonging. Think about all the Christmas decorations, Thanksgiving meals, photographs of children's first days (preschool, kindegarden, the various grades, middle school, and high school), places where you put trophies, ribbons, and family photos; and meals. You celebrated graduations, jobs, promotions, births, and weddings at home. Family and friends visited and mourned with you in times of grief.  You raised children, loved, and (when needed) corrected them. Love abounded at home.

Unfortunately, many do not have a home. According to one study, 3,625 North Carolinians were unsheltered homeless. Of that group, 482 were children!  

Even those with a roof and four walls can be "homeless."  Domestic violence and child abuse and neglect afflict many families. The Department of Health and Human Services reports that 21,242 children in North Carolina suffered some type of mistreatment. Households often lack the means to provide the basic necessities of life. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly one out of every seven people in Forsyth County (or 14.3 percent) lived in poverty. 

In Exodus 25:42, God declared that "I will be at home among the Israelites, and I will be their God." These words were meant as comfort to a people in the Wilderness after having been delivered from bondage in Egypt and the pursuit of Pharaoh. God provided them manna and water. Likewise, God meets our needs -- physical, spiritual, and otherwise. His Spirit comforts us in times of mourning. He strengthens and equips us to face the trials of life. The Psalmist says, "The LORD is my light and my salvation. Should I fear anyone? The LORD is a fortress protecting my life.  Should I be frightened of anything?" (Psalm 27:1). We have a home with God in his presence and one day in Heaven.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to provide a "home" for those in need. Jesus reminds us that whenever we feed hungry people, provide water to those who thirst, clothe those lacking clothes; welcome strangers and those (literally and figuratively) homeless, and visit the sick and imprisoned, we do these things with, to, and for Jesus. (Matthew 25:31-40)  When we do these things, we give hurting, forgotten, and broken people a place of refuge, safety, and hope. We introduce them to the Jesus who rescued us (all of us) from the bondage of sin. We offer them a "home" in the presence of God! 

You can do this through supporting ministries such as Crisis Control Ministry, which combats poverty in Forsyth and Stokes Counties. Beyond this, invite someone to Shiloh for Sunday School, worship, Bible Study, or one of our special events. (The Christmas Potluck on December 9 would be a great opportunity.) Take time to encounter and listen to someone pour out their hurts and anxieties. Tell them of how God guided, sheltered, and delivered you and how God will do the same for them. Show acts of even simple kindness each day.  Offer books, other materials, and school supplies to school systems or needy children to enhance their opportunities to learn. 

Shiloh United Methodist Church invites all of you to a "home" with God and to our "home" at 6496 Baux Mountain Road, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. We meet at 10:00 a.m. for Sunday School. Worship begins at 11:00 a.m. Join us! If you are already with us, invite all you know and encounter to join us and to come "home" to God! 

Welcome Home!