God’s Love Leads Us Home
Given by Rev. Kelly Nieman Anderson
August 10, 2025
Throughout August, God’s love is leading us to live out our faith in practical ways. Today’s scriptures remind us that God’s love connects us to the family of God, and that God’s love leads us to create loving spaces for others. God’s love is the foundation of our heavenly home and our spiritual family, and so , as God’s love leads us throughout our spiritual journey, we trust that God’s love always leads us home.
Even when our earthly home is sometimes hard to define.
Abraham was a refugee.
The Bible uses different language, of course, calling Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob “strangers and foreigners”. In other places, the Bible uses the terms “wanderers” or “exiles” for Abraham’s descendants, those Hebrews who wandered for an entire generation with no status, no country, and no home to which they truly belonged.
Jesus was a refugee.
The Bible uses different language of course, saying that he and his family “escaped” to Egypt when he was a baby. Then, as an adult, Jesus and his family and friends were all stateless, in a way, living in the Roman empire without Roman citizenship. In today’s Gospel, Jesus explains to his disciples that they belong to a “heavenly kingdom” and must consider their time on earth a temporary refuge, always ready to rejoin their true master in heaven.
We are all refugees.
The Bible uses different language, of course, reminding all Christians – regardless of our earthly ethnicity, race, nationality, or family history – that we are united by our allegiance to our universal Lord, connected by our true status as citizens of heaven.
God’s kingdom is our spiritual home, and so while we are living here on earth, we are living as spiritual refugees – trying to live fully in a heavenly kingdom while still physically present here on earth.
I may never know what it was like for the Israelites in exile. But I do know what it’s like to be a “stranger” today. I have been an immigrant, I have loved refugees, and I have fought for asylum. God has been with me every step of the way, surrounding me with love, and leading me into ways of loving others more fully.
In 2008, I was an undocumented immigrant in Mexico.
My husband had been transferred to his company’s office in Mexico, and he had a legal work permit, but I did not. I did have a passport, though, which allowed me to enter the country as a tourist. I chose to do that, so that I could live with my husband. Even though, just like millions of spouses across the world, I wasn’t really a tourist. I lived a normal life, in a normal neighborhood, going to work and the store and church, just like all of our neighbors. Except that, officially, I wasn’t there. My name wasn’t on the house lease, or the car registration, or the bank account, or my employer’s official payroll. Legally, I didn’t exist. But my legal limbo was temporary, and my loving marriage was enduring, so I chose to focus on love. Unfortunately, my husband’s Mexican colleagues, and their spouses, were rarely granted the kinds of options that I was. That uneven treatment taught me that God’s love may lead us to homes which defy human-created borders.
Then, in 2011, we had freed African slaves living in our guest room.
After returning from Mexico, my husband and I were licensed foster parents in Michigan, and we welcomed 3 children from West Africa into our home. They had been trafficked into Michigan and held captive for over 5 years before they lived with us. We not only loved and cared for those children, but we also began years of fighting in federal court for their right to stay here. Over time, love and welcome and acceptance into a family, church, and community meant that their new country became their permanent home … but their connections to these new people and places were incredibly challenging to explain to others. Unfortunately, that very long legal process taught me that God’s love may lead us to relationships which can be a struggle for human institutions to define.
Once I was more personally connected to the stories of “exiles, strangers, and wanderers”, I began listening more closely for the stories of spiritual refugees. I quickly discovered that Lutherans do more across the world to help immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers than nearly any other global faith community, because we believe that we are ALL refugees – and God’s love always leads us to our spiritual home.
We may not be political or geographic refugees, in search of a legal passport or a country to welcome us. But we are travelers on a journey. In the waters of baptism, we left behind our sinful selves and became citizens with the saints in heaven. But we’re not in heaven yet. So, our time on earth is always a time of spiritual refuge. We aren’t who we were, but we aren’t yet who we will become.
We each have a time in our lives when we are very unsettled, on some sort of spiritual journey from where we were to where God is leading us, waiting for God to answer our prayers and show us the next step. It might have been a season when your mailing address changed, but it might have also been a season when your name or title or identity or faith changed. Perhaps you’re in a season of change right now – waiting for the call from the doctor, or the news from the lawyer, or the email from your boss. Once that news comes, you can’t go back to who you were before, but you might not be quite ready to enter the land of who you will become.
Throughout our spiritual journey, we are not alone. God is with us. God goes before us, and God is dwelling amongst us. God’s love is leading us, and Gods’ love shows us what home really is.
No matter what season we’re in, we’re all Spiritual Refugees… and God’s love will always lead us to our Spiritual home.
Sin held us captive, and we could not free ourselves. So, Jesus became a refugee for us. He left heaven to walk with humans. Jesus’ death and resurrection has freed us from our past and opened the way towards abundant life on earth and eternal life in heaven. As citizens of heaven, we eagerly wait to return to heaven, or for Jesus to return to earth and re-establish a heavenly kingdom right here. As citizens of heaven, we gather with other spiritual refugees here at church, to support each other on our spiritual journey. We come together as Christians to remember our baptism, to share in God’s holy communion, to receive God’s forgiveness, and re-tell the stories of God’s faithfulness so that our individual journeys don’t feel so lonely.
We prepare ourselves for God’s kingdom whenever we pay attention to the stories of God’s kingdom people. As God lovingly leads us through our own spiritual journeys, God’s love also leads us to make welcoming and loving homes for all.
I was blessed to hear the stories of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers around the world because a few years ago, I received a fellowship to travel the world and talk with Christians who were personally welcoming and serving people on the move. I got to visit Refugee camps and immigration processing centers in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and all around the United States, too, and hear stories of how God’s love accompanied a variety of people through their own spiritual journeys.
Over and over again, I heard stories about how God’s love, shared through churches, church people, and church groups, really made a difference in the lives of others.
Across the world, Christians are the ones who make their town feel like a safe home for new arrivals. In Greece, church volunteers run an internet café, so refugees can speak with family back home. In Denmark, church volunteers host a summer camp for families, so they have time for healing and fun together. In Uganda, churches offer college scholarships for refugees, and in Kenya, Lutherans run soccer leagues. In El Salvador, Lutherans get young adults to school and to work safely.. Churches across the United States offer English classes, construct and furnish apartments in spare rooms, and donate much needed food, clothing, and school supplies to new neighbors.
God’s love leads us home – and God’s love leads us to create welcoming and loving homes for others. God’s kingdom is our spiritual home, and this promise gives us confidence to live fully in God’s kingdom while still here on earth. We welcome others, because we have been welcomed. We carry others’ burdens, because someone once carried ours. We bless others, because we have been blessed
Wherever God’s love leads us, may we journey together, knowing that God’s love is leading us towards our forever home.
