Greetings …

We have now reached what we might call the interval in the 2024 Olympic Games.  Our able-bodied athletes are returning home and our paralympians are about to compete on the world stage.  I, for one, love the olympics.  Every four years I enjoy watching the competitors from all nations, in sports I might not normally see, as they get to participate on the world stage after years of hard work and perseverence.

On Wednesday morning the Australian athletes enjoyed their traditional welcome back in the Qantas hangar at Sydney airport.  Many were interviewed, and whether they were medal winners or not, all of them expressed something of the joy that they had to be home – and ‘home’ wasn’t just about a place.  Whether it was getting back to school, heading out bush for a few days or being with family, in each case ‘home’ was a place of relational connection.

This got me thinking about the places that we call ‘home’ and it seems to me that ‘home’ is where we can be who we truly are.  It is the place where we can let down our guard, be honest and even be vulnerable.  It is the place where we can feel truly safe.

God is that place for me … the ‘home’ where I am welcomed just as I am and loved no matter what.  My prayer is that each of us might have that sense of ‘home’ in God.

Blessings – Rev  Heather Hon (she/her).