Chesterton once described feeling homesick even at home. He puts his finger on a truth that every human knows in their bones. There’s a restlessness, a desire, a longing in the human heart which is always there, just out of reach. It lingers in our peripheral vision, and the moment we try to look directly at it, it dances away. We experience a pleasure and yet want that joy to linger just a moment longer, but off it goes like a mist.
This desire drives us to hunt for the pleasure that will satisfy. While mankind is fallen, and our desire has been deformed and misdirected, still it is there. After the binge. After the bender. After the porn. After the cut. After the sex-change operation. After the gossip. After the trophy is lifted. After the award is won. After the glowing profits report. After the investment gains. After the divorce. After the feast. After the rave. Desire lingers, still longing.
The Christian is one who knows that the desire that aches even after enjoying some earthly pleasure, is because we haven’t imagined the joys which are laid up for us in Christ. The homesickness we feel even at home is because we’re not home yet. We’re pilgrims seeking a kingdom whose Builder and Architect is the Lord.
The Lord’s Supper is a meal that is a promise. It holds out a promise that the elusive joy is real. But we won’t find the joy in the stuff. Our thirst won’t be slaked, our hunger won’t be sated, our nerve endings won’t be overwhelmed with everlasting pleasure by anything in this world. The Christian Gospel proclaims that the joy is there. The Joy has a name. The Joy is a person. Joy is found in the presence of One who died, was buried, but rose again, and now reigns eternally.
So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…
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