My parents would return from a Hawaiian vacation drawing together family and friends for a slideshow of beautiful landscapes and tropical flowers. They would tell stories of the sights they saw, wonderful food eaten, and afternoons relaxing with a book on a pristine white sand beach. But I was most excited by their description of the cities of refuge which provided a safe compound for a person accused of a capital crime. It was a sanctuary protecting the life of anyone within its boundaries.

Sanctuary is a time honored custom. Throughout Christian Europe churches were inviolate places of refuge even when one fled the tyranny of a monarch. But the practice is not universal. During the Rwandan genocide of 1994 a whole village that sought sanctuary in their church was burned alive by their enemies who barred all exits. The bombing of mosques by rival Muslim sects is evidence of a breakdown in respecting the sanctity of religious places.

The Safe Sleep program authorized by the City of Ventura is intended to provide a sanctuary, an approved and protected place for homeless vehicle dwellers to rest at night. With the help of a Salvation Army case manager Safe Sleep clients, having met the conditions of eligibility, actively look for work and learn money management and new life skills as they progress toward permanent housing. Some must participate in 12 step programs to maintain eligibility. The Safe Sleep program offers sanctuary, a safe place from which lives can be rebuilt.

            The Salvation Army and the churches that volunteer to host vehicle dwellers asked that any public announcement not include the parking lot locations for the safety and privacy of the vehicle dwellers. The city staff, police department, and local newspapers accepted this sensible request.

Early this past week I thought Greg and Alice Wolpert, the only couple assigned to our parking lot, might be exposed adversely to publicity. On Wednesday morning I learned they granted an interview that appeared with bold color photos on the front page of the Ventura County STAR. That night a reporter and videographer from KTLA channel 5 appeared just as our Lenten program was concluding. That interview for the 10 o’clock newscast was in progress by the time I arrived. I expressed our concern to protect our neighbors’ privacy and for the Wolpert’s safety from others who might make their lives even more miserable. In each case the media focused on the client’s story in order to protect the place of sanctuary.

Less positive attitudes appeared in the online comments to the STAR article about a place of refuge for eligible vehicle dwellers. There were some nasty, even cruel remarks about homeless people; how worthless and shiftless they are; undeserving of mercy and kindness; their presence lowers property values. Being homeless makes one a target for hateful words that may turn into violent acts.

            To search for sanctuary is to seek of a place where one is safe and has the freedom to live, grow and flourish. The term is most often associated with places of worship, for in worship we sense an inner security and freedom to become what we are created to be. We mark the place and return to it physically and/or spiritually for there we are grounded, gain strength, and go forth renewed.

            My story of the opening week of the Safe Sleep program recapitulates the search for a safe place to live we read about in today’s scripture lessons. Bear with me, because the actual passages read are but momentary events in the ongoing journey of God’s people to find a safe home. Yet, those momentary events are portals through which we enter into the larger story.

            The Joshua reading is the most obvious. The wilderness journey of the Israelites came to an end when they crossed the Jordan River into Canaan, the land God promised would be their home. Joshua had the people memorialize the event by taking 12 stones from the river and building an altar to offer thanks to God. God spoke to Joshua, Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt. “Rolled away” is the root meaning of the word Gilgal which became a name for that place. Once they had entered the Promised Land they were “home free”, no longer disgraced slaves but rightful dwellers in the land. So they celebrated. Forty years earlier the Passover initiated their escape to freedom. In a weak moment after that dreaded night Pharaoh released the Israelites, then changed his mind and chased after them to regain his slave labor. So the first act of their freedom after crossing into Canaan was to repeat the Passover meal, but the provision of manna had stopped the other side of the Jordan and this generation ate the produce of the new land, a sign of their possession. They were a free people living under their God, safe and secure. To recall Gilgal the place then was to celebrate the full experience of God’s gifts of home, safety and freedom.

            A bit less obvious is the reading from 2 Corinthians 5. Here Paul does not locate a specific place of sanctuary, though the function of sanctuary is clear. Since all the Christian converts in Corinth had been baptized into Christ they are a new creation, a new people. They, not a specific plot of land, are the place in which God dwells. Elsewhere Paul talks about gathered Christians as God’s field, God’s building (I Cor 3:9). In the same instance he calls them God’s fellow workers. A few verses later they are God’s temple…God’s spirit dwells in you (I Cor 3:16). Home, if you will, is where the heart is. God dwells in the community of faith and desires to draw together all people to live in the realm of God’s love. In today’s reading Paul notes the factionalism that threatens their unity. To counter it Paul says in Christ they have been charged with a ministry of reconciliation. He urges them to rise above their petty differences and grasp hold of the tools God offers – the example of Jesus’ death for the sake of all, long-suffering love, a generous spirit, compassion, willingness to bear another’s burdens, loving the stranger. These enable harmony to be restored between human beings and with God.

            The third reading, Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, is many things. In our context this morning the parable becomes an invitation to celebrate our homecoming. All too often attention is given to the younger son who squanders his inheritance, and then to the older brother who is self-righteous and overbearing. But the father’s behavior is especially important because it is outrageous. Handing over his estate during his lifetime was unheard of. Then to have a third sold off for the younger son’s whims meant an economic loss to the estate and to the villagers whose livelihoods depended on the work it provided. When the younger son returns the father gives away a robe, ring, and shoes that no longer belonged to him. Plus he orders a feast for the whole village which the older son deems the crowning insult. In a final breech of social grace the father leaves his place as host of the party to go out and mend relationships with the older son. Each step along the way the father behaves uncharacteristically. He acts out of compassion with great mercy to provide a sanctuary for his sons to live in freely and to restore the environment in which the community can thrive. Contrary to all approved norms, says Jesus, but this is what life in the kingdom looks like.

This is homecoming at its best. Our sense of place is expanded beyond physical ground and structures to sincerity of heart, reconciling actions, healed relationships which are not bound by time and space. Oh, if only the contending voices arguing over custody and access to holy sites in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel could imagine places simply as touchstones of God’s mercy and mighty acts. For it is God who is worshiped not the physical landmarks.

            Sanctuary remains the bold purpose of God. For all the waywardness of humanity since Adam and Eve, including the Chosen People’s own rebellious ways, God kept his promise of home with provision for food and shelter, safety and freedom. Early on the promise showed fulfillment in very concrete ways – national identity, property and secure boundaries. In Christ the physical limitations are secondary to the greater bonds of affection sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law (Gal 5:22-23). Home is an element of God’s saving purpose. Serving Christ in others, striving for justice and peace, respecting the dignity of others, are fundamental to our baptismal life together. All of these are practices that conform to Jesus’ Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20) which advances the kingdom of God on earth.