What a stormy week it has been, both in terms of the weather and in terms of the financial markets.  Insofar as the markets are concerned, it has been a wild ride of ups and downs, mercifully ending up (for now).  I suspect there will be more of the same in the days ahead.  I have only one thing to say to that, and I will state it in strictly financial terms.  Worry is an advanced payment on a debt you may never owe.  Don’t worry.  Don’t be rash.  Keep the faith.  All will be well.

Insofar as the weather is concerned, the remnants of hurricane Ike blew through here with a vengeance and left the Schnell household without electricity for two and half days.  Being on a well, Nancy and I took showers at various locations around Aurora.  We carted water home in containers to use in flushing the toilets.  We relocated food from our freezer at home to one here at church.  We also charged a 12 volt battery here that we used to keep our refrigerator running.  We carried lanterns around the house after dark, and we indefinitely postponed typical tasks such as vacuuming the carpet and washing the clothes.

In short, it was a real drag.  But it was not nearly so big a drag as some dear friends suffered in Houston.  Not only was part of their roof blown away allowing water damage to the interior of their home, their barber business has been shut down for lack of electricity leaving them with no income.  Since the same fate has befallen the local grocery, there is no food to be had beyond some dehydrated military meals that have been distributed throughout the neighborhood.

If that is not bad enough, their beach house on Galveston Island may have been completely swept away as have been so many others (there is no way of knowing for now since the roads in are blocked by both debris and decree).  I have visited that house on its stilts many times as a guest of my friends.  After trawling for shrimp and fishing for flounder we would clean our catch on the house’s deck, cook it in its kitchen and eat it while the sun went down over Galveston Bay.  It was (past tense) a nice place.

I don’t think we really appreciate things like electric lights until they refuse to come on when we flip the switch.  I don’t think we really appreciate our homes until they are gone.  I don’t think we really appreciate how bad homelessness is until we get a little taste of it ourselves.  Maybe that is why God, when he sought to bless his Chosen People in the best possible way, did it by giving them "A Home of Their Own," which is the title of our message for this morning.

In our text God is making some promises through the prophet Nathan to a young king of Israel named David.  "Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock, to be ruler over my people Israel.  I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you.  Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men of the earth’" (Verses7-8).

I think a little historical context is in order here.  The Hebrews had once been a slave race in Egypt much like displaced Africans were once a slave race in America.  The Hebrews groaned under the burden of their bondage, and their groans reached God’s ears.  In compassion God raised up a leader named Moses who led his people out of the land of bondage and on to the land of promise—the land God had promised to give them and their descendants after them.

But the land was already possessed by a mighty people called the Philistines, and they were not keen to give any of it up to the Homeless Hebrews.  Once again, God raised up a leader named King David to save his Chosen People from their enemies.  But before David became the King by which all other Hebrew Kings came to be judged, he was a victorious general.  And before he became a victorious general, he was a shepherd boy. Indeed, he was the same shepherd boy who slew the giant Philistine named Goliath with a slingshot.

That victory was just the beginning of a string of victories that culminated in the Hebrews taking complete possession of the Promised Land—the land promised to them by Almighty God.  For the very first time, the Chosen People had "A Home of Their Own."  Through Nathan the prophet, God continues: "And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed.  Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since I appointed leaders over my people Israel" (Verses 9-10).

When the Hebrews were without a home of their own, they were defenseless against their enemies who continually used and abused them.  They lived in tents, which do not provide much protection from spears and swords and arrows.  Even their temple was a tent called a Tabernacle.  After they were given a home of their own, they were able to take refuge behind defensive walls and under protective roofs.  No longer were they so vulnerable to attacks from their enemies.

But something was not quite right as far as King David was concerned, as the opening words of our text reveal.  After David was settled in his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent" (Verse 1).  While David had a house to live in, the ark of the covenant of the Lord (which signified the Lord’s presence) was still in a tent.  Therefore David wanted to build a proper temple to the Lord, made of cedar and stone like his palace.

But the Lord had other plans according to the prophet Nathan.  "This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in" (Verse 4). David’s son, Solomon, would be the one to build a house for God to dwell in.  Why, because like any loving parent our Father in heaven puts his children first.  His children desperately needed a home and a homeland of their own.  So it was a matter of first things first.  First God would raise up a leader like David who could provide his people with a home of their own, and then he would raise up a leader like Solomon who could provide a house of worship to the Almighty.

I think God has kept that order of priorities in our own day.  Will God be pleased with basilicas and cathedrals and landmark churches like this one if they neglect the needs of his children who are without a home of their own?  Where do his children sleep without a home of their own?  Where is their school district while living in cars that move from place to place?  Where is their mail sent?  How can anyone expect to get by in this world without a place to call home, whether their own or their parents or somebody who has taken them in?

If my wife and I suffered without electricity for 2 ½ days, if our friends suffered the loss of their beach home on Galveston Island, if the Hebrews suffered without a home of their own, how can God’s homeless children not suffer living in shelters and in the sub-prime crisis we find ourselves in today.  Who bails them out?  The government is bailing out the money market funds and the mortgage companies and other financial institutions to the tune of 700 billion dollars (according to the front page of this morning’s Plain Dealer).  Added to some other recent bailouts, and the total reaches a trillion dollars.  Compare that with any government plans to bail out those without a home of their own.

But praise be to God that there is a nongovernmental plan to give the homeless a home of their own, and it is called Habitat for Humanity.  The Church in Aurora is a Covenant Church with Portage County Habitat for Humanity.  That means that we consider ourselves officially allied in a ministry to provide decent and affordable housing to those in need.  It also means that once each year we make Habitat the focus of our worship, as we are today.  To that end we welcome Habitat home owners Christine Hereford and Bonnie Bowker who will staff a table in Fellowship Hall during Coffee Hour with literature about the many ways we may partner with Habitat for Humanity.

One way we may help build houses with Habitat is by carrying sheet after sheet of drywall.  I used to be able to do that, but not anymore.  That is why we welcomed 40 out-of-state youth to our worship service this past summer, who came to do for Habitat of Portage County what oldsters like me can no longer do.  But there are things we can all do.  Some of them are listed in the yellow insert of our bulletin.  "Volunteers serve meals at the work site, do clerical work, work on committees, serve on the Board of Directors, work in the warehouse, work at the Restore and work on construction."

Three of our members that I know of have worked on the Board for Habitat of Portage County: Ed Limbach, Dick Rowley and Denny Mervis.  Our Women’s Guild and other groups have provided meals at Habitat sites.  I have done a few things myself.  Just this past week I toured the wonderful warehouse in Ravenna that stores donated building supplies and furnishings which make Habitat houses so affordable.  I also met with the Executive Director, Mary Shaffer, who shared with me about Restore—a Habitat Retail Store where you and I can save 50-90% off retail for the kinds of things we typically shop for at the mega hardware stores while financially supporting Habitat at the same time.

But does Habitat for Humanity really make a difference?  Ask the 53 Habitat homeowners in Portage County alone.  I live in an Aurora development called Woodthrush Pond.  There are no wood thrushes, and there are no ponds.  But there are 40 houses in my development.  Habitat of Portage County has already built the equivalent of a much larger development in our county, and it has never been as productive as it is today.  I encourage you to go to their website to find out who is helping and what they are able to do (www.habitatofportage.com).

There you will find, among other things, a description of Habitat as an ecumenical Christian ministry.  When families receive the key to a home of their own in a service celebrating the completion of another Habitat home, they are also presented with a copy of the Holy Bible.  Why?  To remind them and us of God’s concern for his children in need—specifically the need for a home of their own—and to serve as a reminder that God needs us just as much as he needed King David to provide that home.