A child at home

HS #2   2015.9.1

A child at home

The well-known Psalm 23 begins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” and ends “and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  My favorite musical setting of that psalm closes with the phrase, “not as a stranger, nor a guest, but like a child at home.”

Those words give me goose bumps.  The author envisions paradise as being a child at home. What’s the point?

Likely everyone knows from personal experience how it feels to be a stranger – to be uninvited and possibly unwelcome.  Some years ago, Hope College had an outbreak of the Norovirus that caused the entire campus to shut down.  Without access to my office, I spent the morning at a computer in the neighboring seminary library.  Returning after lunch, a note on the front door of the seminary greeted me,  “Please, no Hope students or faculty.”  Entirely prudent and understandable, so no offense taken. However, it provided a valuable lesson, giving just a hint of what it means to be a stranger – not wanted or welcomed.

OK. Understood. No one enjoys being a stranger. But why the distinction between a guest and a child at home?

After all, good hosts serve hearty meals and provide generously for the needs and comfort of their guests. Furthermore, a guest gets a soft chair and pleasant conversation following dinner rather than the task of cleaning the dishes.  What’s wrong with that? Why then do hosts enjoin their guests to “make yourself at home?” Why the universal yearning to be at home?

Easy. The home uniquely offers a deep sense of belonging and the ability and freedom to be oneself. At home I kick off my shoes in the middle of the living room floor, pull my socks off and toss them in a corner, and grabbing a nearby pillow, bury my feet deep into the crevice of the sofa.  I can turn on the TV and surf the channels without asking permission and fall asleep in the recliner or on the living room floor without the risk of offending anyone.

With the imagination of a child, home is even better.  How fun to take the cushions from the couch, balance them on end in a box shape, throw a blanket over the top, and have a cozy, secluded fort.  That’s sweet living – and only done at home.  

It’s no wonder that the lyricist described ideal existence as the security and belonging of a child at home.

Coming to Holland from Iowa twenty-five years ago, I quickly felt at home. I remember attending my first Hope College luncheon casually dressed in my usual tee shirt and shorts and inadvertently sitting at the table meant for the speaker and president. Glancing around at the others who had joined me – all smartly suited in jackets and ties, I greeted them, “I hope you all aren’t feeling over dressed.”  The responding laughter assured me of welcome and acceptance.

Holland, I hope, is a home where all in our community can, figuratively speaking, relax in their tee shirts and shorts. How fun to see the variety of fellow Hollanders  strolling down 8^th Street on a summer evening enjoying the street performers.  Folks are being themselves and socializing with neighbors - all in our common living room.

Maybe most important is to have the belonging, security, and freedom of home in society at large. Indeed, that has been an ideal and hallmark of American life since its founding.  Immigrants were welcomed with their own customs and traditions. Our Bill of Rights guaranteed essential personal freedoms. Later amendments gave a new belonging to slaves (freedom) and women and eighteen-year-olds (right to vote), and guaranteed everyone equal protection.

Equally noteworthy, last year was the 50^th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and this summer was the 25^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  The new Holland sidewalks with divots and without curbs at street corners help everyone - including the blind and those in wheelchairs – to  “be at home” with better access and freedom.  This summer’s Supreme Court decision allows more people to “be at home” by marrying the person they love.  Even the widening array of options for K-12 education is an important way in which parents have increased ability and freedom to choose what is best for their children. It’s heartening that all of these are examples of a continuing trend enabling everyone to belong  - to live as a child at home.

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