I was back in Penang the last few days to be with mum. (Penang is my home town about 250 miles from Kuala Lumpur where I presently reside.) I took a cab from the airport and discussed world affairs with the cab driver in Hokkien (Chinese dialect) as we went along. I knew I was home.
I have lived in Singapore, Vancouver and Kuala Lumpur but it is only when I return to Penang that I get this sense of coming home. Stands to reason. I lived on Penang island from birth till I left for college. I later went back to serve as a pastor there for a further four years.
I recalled the days when I would take the night train back from Kuala Lumpur. It would reach the Penang railway station (Butterworth) early in the morning. I remember the morning chill,the slow clackity clack of the train as it pulled into the station. Across the Penang straits, the hills were slowly taking colour as the morning sun rose. I was home. I imagine that dying would be something like that.
We often refer to those who have died in Christ as folks who have gone home to be with the Lord. There is much truth here. Home after all is where the heart is.
As a follower of Christ I take it that our hears are inextricably and wonderfully linked to our Saviour and our Lord, and to His community. And dying would be a home coming to where our hearts are fully at home.
Paul felt this homeward call acutely.
“For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.” [Philippians 1: 21-26 NRSV]
Paul was also aware that our earthly bodies are but temporary addresses.
“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling…” [2 Corinthians 5:1-2]
More than that, he groans for home, he aches for it.
Have you ever felt like a misfit in this world? I guess that is the price we pay for fitting elsewhere. Because sometimes you have to wonder, who cares? Who cares about ethics? Who cares about justice and compassion? Who really cares about peace and forgiveness? Who cares about God? Are we the only fools?
No, not fools. Only aliens.
It’s Peter who reminds us that we are “aliens and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11) but that is only because we are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9)
Them’s the breaks. If you a member of God’s people you end up as aliens in this world. But you get truth and love and God and an eternity thrown in. If you want to fit in into this world then you may end up not fitting in the world to come.
This is not an easy call. No one likes being an alien. Our soul cries for home. But it is not here.
There are days you wake up and feel that you ought to be elsewhere. You feel lost for awhile. And then you remember and smile because you remember home.
In the meantime there is work to be done. Paul chooses to remain behind for the sake of those he is called to serve. Peter reminds us that as exiles, we are to proclaim the realities of the God who called us and thereby shine as light in the darkness.
Indeed it is when we live out the values of heaven on earth that we are the salt and light we are called to be (Matthew 5: 13-16). Light in the darkness. Salt that preserves. You have to be misfits to play those roles.
This world is not home. But it is school. And testing ground. And a place for adventure.
Until it is time to go home.
Your brother, Soo-Inn Tan