Recently, I saw an ad for a big leather chair. It was a beautiful chair, the kind you’d want to sink into with a good book, or plop down on at the end of a long day, or settle in with a child in your lap. It was a beautiful, inviting, comfortable chair.

The ad read: “In my mind, this is a perfect chair. It’s not just a place to sit, but an old friend. It embraces one and welcomes all. This is not just my chair. This is my sanctuary.”

On this Homecoming Sunday, God welcomes us home to our sanctuary to begin a new year in worship and service. We enter into God’s gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. For here God waits to greet us and meet us in spirit and in truth. In this sanctuary, all are welcome and each is embraced in the arms of God’s love.

In November, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the dedication of this sanctuary. Since November 1953, this building has stood here at the corner of 11th and Washington; its magnificent steeple reaching towards God and signaling to all that here is sanctuary. Its stained glass windows and soaring ceiling have enveloped worshippers in the beauty and majesty of the Lord. Its organ pipes and choir loft have sent forth praise echoing the music of the spheres. Its pews have held worshippers in times of joy and times of sorrow, in times of celebration and times of quiet prayer. Its pulpit, table and font have proclaimed the Word and celebrated the sacraments. Its doors have welcomed in the faithful of this congregation and the diversity of this community. And its doors have sent the people forth in service and mission.

This is our sanctuary. It is a holy place and it nurtures life in a holy people.

Children everywhere it seems love that old game of making our hands into a church. Remember? Do it with me now: “This is the church, this is the steeple. Open the door and SEE ALL THE PEOPLE!”

Can you remember a child’s delight every time we’d turn our hands inside out and find all those “people” in the church? It taught us so early on in our lives that for us Christians, church is a place AND church is a people. Our sanctuary is not a museum! It is a living, breathing, dynamic, life-giving holy place that for generations has nurtured the people of God.

And I believe that God delights in finding his sanctuary full of his people! Some of us here today are here for the first time. This sanctuary welcomes you and embraces you and invites you into the presence of God. Some of us are here after a time away. This sanctuary welcomes you and embraces you and invites you into the presence of God. Some of you are here every week. This sanctuary welcomes you and embraces you and invites you into the presence of God. And some of you have been here for three, four generations! This sanctuary welcomes you, embraces you and invites you into the presence of God.

We will be celebrating our sanctuary in worship all through the Fall. We will look back and give thanks for those who dreamed this place and worked so very hard to make it a reality. We will give thanks to those who have cared for and tended it over these last fifty years to maintain and preserve its beauty. But we will look forward, too, peering into the next fifty year to imagine the needs and longings of the people who will live in this community as its neighbors and come through its doors looking and longing for God.

For our sanctuary is not a museum! It is not a historical monument. It is a living, breathing, dynamic, life-giving holy place that for generations has nurtured the people of God and will continue to do so long into the future.

The title of this morning’s homily is “Finding Sanctuary.” On the most literal level, of course, that means finding our way to this place. So many of our visitors have remarked that they actually find their way to this church driving around and seeing our steeple! Our steeple is our best advertisement. People see it and know that sanctuary is here.

But “finding sanctuary” works on another level as well. The word “sanctuary” comes from the Latin “sanctus.” Sanctus means “holy.” “Holy, holy, holy” we sang in our processional hymn this morning. “Holy, holy, holy” we will recite together in a moment in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.”

“Finding sanctuary,” means finding the holy. Finding in this sanctuary that through Word, sacrament, fellowship and service, the God-shaped hole in our heart can be filled with the presence of the living God. “Finding sanctuary,” means finding whatever healing, whatever love, whatever wisdom, whatever strength, whatever reconciliation, whatever hope, whatever grace can make us whole again and carry us forward through another week.

“Finding sanctuary,” means remembering that we are God’s children, now and forever. This is our home. This is our table. This is our shelter, our food, our Word, our life. In this sanctuary, all are welcome and each is embraced in the arms of God’s love.

May God bless us in our new year together. May God bless all our ministries, our programs, our groups, and our events. May God bless our worship, our prayer, our planning and our service. May God bless our families, our babies, our children and youth. May God bless our pastors, our staff, our Councils and Task Forces. May God bless each member, each visitor, and each seeker of faith. May God heal our brokenness and bless our dreams. May God’s welcome bring us home and God’s mission send us forth.

May God be praised. Amen!