Day 101: “A Covid Safe Home: Fall in Love, Be Safe and Happy.”

DAY 101

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK FIFTEEN: TUESDAY 23 JUNE 2020

“A Covid Safe Home: Fall in Love, Be Safe and Happy.”

“Everything you need is here, exactly where you expect it to be. Everything is connected and running smoothly. There is abundant, wonderful food in the refrigerator, spa goodies in the baths, and the beds are made up with wonderful linens. The intent is to heal, to provide safety and security, to nurture and to comfort, to bring safety and peace.” - A full page ad in the current issue of a national magazine

Incredible – real estate that is listed as ‘covid safe,’ with 5,223 square feet of living space, 2,468 square feet of decks, fully furnished with ‘heirloom furnishings,’ food in the refrigerator and the nearest neighbor 10 acres away – talk about social distancing. Plus this house also comes with “healing, safety, security, and peace, and it will nurture and comfort you.” All this can be yours, an escape from the pandemic, for a mere 2.39 million dollars. In the absence of funds I fantasized and ‘lived’ for a brief moment in this alternate universe at yourcovidsafehome.com.

Spotting me as a tourist walking through his neighborhood in Islamabad, Pakistan, the man had come out of his mud-walled home to see if I spoke English. Once he discovered I was a Christian as was he, I was ushered into his home, an honored guest of total strangers, in a walled enclave of poverty inhabited by Christians who worked in the homes of wealthy Muslims. He and his family served me tea and cakes and excitedly told me how much their faith meant to them and the other residents of this Christian ghetto. They were ‘dirt poor’ – but were they really?

The reality is that hundreds of millions live in houses that we would find repulsive in their primitive construction and lack of clean water, electricity and sanitation. We are blest to live in comfort, but we can’t live forever in the houses we call home and, contrary to the real estate ad, no house can provide what is only found in God’s ‘house,’ safety,  healing, and peace. Surrounded by the stunning art and architecture of the Vatican, Pope John Paul II’s last words were, “Let me go to the house of my Father.” He knew the location of the only home of lasting value.  

Reflective question: Where is your true ‘home,’ where you live spiritually?

Reflective Scripture: Psalm 23:6 – “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Reflective hymn:

“This World is Not my Home” – Mary Reeves Davis (1929-1999)

This world is not my home I’m just a passing through,

My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue;

The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,

And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.