Pastors' Weekly Message: From Pastor Pat

"Keep the change, ya filthy animal.” Not exactly the line you’d expect from a Christmas movie, is it? But for me, Home Alone (especially Home Alone I and II) is one of my favorite Christmas movies. 

Besides the antics of the mini-MacGyver wannabe, who if nothing else is the affirmation for why children rarely if ever should be left to their own devices, or near power tools, this is a movie that actually has a meaning. 

Once you look beyond all of the comedic moments you find the invitation for some who have been estranged, and some who have been lost, to come home for Christmas.
 
For some home is the place where they were raised, the place where every growth mark is permanently etched on a door frame, the place of secret hideouts, and memories time will never erase. Home for others is the place where loved ones reside, whether townhouse or apartment. Home for some is the shelter of underpasses, the bench in the park that converts to a bed. Home for yet others is the place from which they have escaped in search of a better or safer life.

My first Christmas as a pastor, a member who had been ill and away from his family longed to be home for Christmas. He made it, but not necessarily the way you would imagine. For he did make it home to his wife a few days before Christmas, but on Christmas morning he went home to be with our Lord. 

Home means many things to many people, but home truly is wherever Christ is. 

-- Pastor Pat 
pallen@stpaulsk.org