“Homecoming 2026”
May 17, 2026
Ezra 3:10-13
Woodland Christian Church
David A. Shirey
Before I read this morning’s Scripture, let me first note the goings on in the verses that precede it. The people of Israel have returned to Jerusalem after having been exiled in Babylon for 70 years. And you thought being away from this beloved church building for 3 years was a long time! Chapter three of Ezra in my Bible has a subtitle above it that reads Worship Restored at Jerusalem. You know what that’s about. You just lived Worship Restored at Woodland- those weeks of moving back into this sacred space. The smell of fresh paint and wood stain. The bolting down of the pews spaced just so. The elders, deacons, and Rev. Christy Jo coming in on Palm Sunday afternoon to practice the choreography of worship - who stands where and moves when. The delivery of the communion table and its being placed just so, front and center. Worship was being restored at Woodland. Likewise, worship is being restored in Israel at the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. Which brings us to this morning’s Scripture. Listen for God’s Word:
Ezra 3:10-13
Our stewardship season is underway, an annual invitation to consider the gift of an offering in the form of a pledge card returned to the office or placed in the offering plate next week to undergird Woodland’s ministry and mission for the July 2026- June 2027 church year. This year’s theme is Homecoming: Deep Roots, Open Doors. And it is Homecoming for Woodland. Call it Homecoming 2026 C.E. just as it was Homecoming 516 B.C.E. for the people of Israel. Happy Homecoming to all God’s people way back then and right here right now.
What was the first thing the people of Israel did at their Homecoming? They worshipped God together. Ezra describes it, “When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests … praised the Lord with trumpets and the Levites had cymbals… and all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the Lord. (3:10-11). I made a note to myself upon reading that. Namely, when returning home from exile after 70 years or 3 years: first worship God together. Frankly, that’s a good rule of thumb for life. First worship. When uncertain or unsettled, first worship. When discombobulated and disoriented, first worship. When anxious or afraid, first worship. When thankful, grateful, graced, gifted, worship. When up, worship. When down, worship. In all times and seasons of life, including during a season of Homecoming when returning to a sanctuary from exile, first worship.
The Scripture says “all the people” (vs. 11) worshipped together. All as in oold and young. Ezra explicitly says, “old people” (vs. 12) were there who could remember how things used to be before the exile, way back when before Christy Jo, before Dalene Vasbinder, before Bill Kincaid. “Old people.” Hey, I resemble that remark as many of you do! And young people were there on Homecoming who weren’t even born when Israel was exiled, who never worshipped in the original Temple. Likewise, there are people worshipping in this sacred space during this Homecoming season who never worshipped in this sanctuary until six weeks ago on Easter Sunday. I resemble that remark, too, and many of you do. “All the people” – old and young, old members and new members – worshipped together at Homecoming 516 B.C.E. and at Homecoming 2026 C.E.
And did you hear what happened during Israel’s Homecoming worship service? There was weeping. Ezra says, “Many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first [Temple] on its foundations, wept with a loud voice” (vs.12.) Why did they cry? If I might borrow fromour Stewardship theme – Homecoming: Deep Roots, Open Doors – I suspect their tears flowed from the wellspring of their deep roots in that holy place.They were happy to back, yes, but they couldn’t help but to remember what was. The old-timers remembered how Jerusalem and the Temple were years ago – but were no more. And they wept, too, don’t you know, because they couldn’t help but to remember who was. Being back in the Temple brought to mind the faces of dear people from years gone by whose faithful presence blessed the old Temple for decades but who now are among the great cloud of witnesses on high. I know many of you understand because I saw your tears on Easter at your Homecoming. You were remembering what was and who was in Woodland’s Temple of old and the tears came forth on Homecoming from those deep roots.
But I hasten to add this. Ezra says, “Many … wept though many shouted aloud for joy” (vs. 12). Got that? Mixed in with the grief was gladness. And according to Ezra, you couldn’t tell where the grief left off and the gladness began! “The people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping…” (vss. 12-13). What do you make of that? How could they have grieved and been glad at the same time? Well, two things can be true at the same time. It’s possible to get teary-eyed remembering what was and at the same time get teary rejoicing in what is and what is yet to come. I saw with my own glistening eyes on Easter Sunday here at Woodland tears of wistful grief intermingled with tears of great joy flowing from the same tear ducts at the same time. I hear Angela told the elders at a recent meeting that on Easter her face hurt from smiling so much. And at the same time, I’ll bet, her eyes glistened with tear remembering years gone by. This is to say tears born of grief and gladness were shed in ancient Israel and right here in modern day Woodland on Homecoming because of deep roots in the past and open doors to the future.
Speaking of open doors to the future, if there is one thing this world could use right now it is churches with open doors and people inside with open arms, open minds, and open hearts who welcome all in the name of the one who lived and died with his arms outstretched as if desiring to embrace the whole world. I’m speaking of the inestimable value and saving grace that is a Woodland Welcome. Welcome home, you say. Your doors open to all in the name of Jesus Christ. With all due respect to Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick, What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of. Inclusive. Unconditional love. Such love was the theme of that first Homecoming’s worship. Ezra tells us, “They sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord ‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever’” You know, don’t you, that all of us yearn for a place on earth with open doors filled with people who will welcome us and tell us we’re valued and loved by the God whose steadfast love endures forever. We all want to know we are beloved by God and others. Raymond Carver was a brilliant writer. He died at age 50 of cancer. After his death, a book of his writings was published that concludes with his last poem titled "Late Fragment." The words, his last, are:
And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.[1]
What was true for Raymond Carver is true for us all: we all want to know there’s a place for us where we’re welcomed and beloved. Do you remember the TV show Cheers? The theme song included the lyrics "Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name/ and they're always glad you came./ You wanna be where you can see/ our troubles are all the same./ You wanna go where everybody knows your name.[2]" What’s it say that for millions of TV viewers the place where people know your name, share your troubles, and are glad you came is a bar rather than a church?
The church ought to be a place where all are welcome, but let’s be honest, it isn’t always. And that pains me. I come across people time and again who, when they learn I’m a minister, wince. When I ask, Why that reaction? they tell me how they were stung by one of the church bees. They were burned, bruised, badgered, bewildered, or bored by the church and once you’ve been stung, you never want to go near the hive (a church) again.
Which makes me grateful to be part of a church like Woodland that desires, God help us, to be a healing balm for church bee stings. A place of sincere welcome. A people of Deep Roots and Open Doors offering a Homecoming to all who have been exiled. A church that simply wants to show forth the steadfast love of God in Jesus Christ. Kentucky’s own Silas House, the wonderful author, says when he hears the Great Commandment to love God and neighbor he hears “love those who aren’t being loved.” Who isn’t being loved these days? Open your doors to love those people. Taylor Swift, when criticized by someone years ago, brushed it off, saying, “Haters gonna hate.” Who are haters hating these days? Open your doors to love those people. I remember someone saying “love your neighbor as yourself” means we should want for our neighbors what we want for ourselves. What do you want for yourself? Healthcare? Education? Food and shelter? Safety? Dignity? Opportunity? A sense of self-worth? A welcome? If those things represent love for you and yours, then open the doors of your church, mind and heart and yearn for, advocate, vote, work, and pray for those things for neighbors near and far and their children, too.
Get this: after the people of Israel at that first Homecoming wiped away their tears of remembrance and anticipation, Ezra says they made offerings to the Lord. I counted in the nine verses preceding this morning’s scripture from chapter 3, not one, not two, not three, but eleven mentions of the words offer or offering. Homecoming 516 B.C.E. was accompanied by offerings of thanksgiving to God by God’s people because God is good and God’s steadfast love endures forever and we as God’s people get to be partners in tapping into our Deep Roots and Opening our New Doors and embodying that healing, uplifting love to people who have been exiled, hurt, stung by the church bs. What a mission! What a ministry! So it that next week we’re taking up not eleven, but one offering of pledge cards to undergird that holy mission and ministry of saying and being the Woodland Welcome.
Count me in! Jennie, grab one of those pledge cards in the pew for us. Jennie and I are filling out a pledge card to Woodland for 2026-2027. We won’t be here for the full twelve months to come, but you will be and we believe in you and your ministry and want to be a part of it with part of our tithe. I wouldn’t ask you to do anything I don’t do. We’re in. Join us! And join us next Sunday for worship followed by a catered meal as we celebrate Homecoming: Deep Roots, Open Doors. That’s something I want to be part of. That’s something I want to support through my offering of time, talent, and treasure. How about you?
What the world needs now … are more churches like Woodland.
Let all the returning exiles say AMEN
[1]From Raymond Carver, A New Path to the Waterfall, Atlantic Monthly Press
[2]Theme from Cheers (Where Everybody Knows Your Name). Words and Music by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo
