8448 – Oh, how well I remember that number. As a boy in our rural county those were the only four numbers I needed to remember to call home. It was an era of “party lines” and rotary dials and for over fifty years those last four digits helped keep me connected to home. I have lived many places with different numbers to call home, but only one remained the same.
Now that old landline number has been disconnected. When I call it I get a recording. Cell phones have rendered that number no longer necessary. Still I will miss it. It was the number I dialed when I was a lonely art student and wanted to hear my grandmother’s voice. It was the number I dialed down the hall of my dorm room when I was in college and I needed to tell my dad about the classes I was taking. It was the number I called to talk about my work, to share something about my children, or to just simply say hello. 8448 was the number I needed to call home.
Of course home cannot be reduced to four simple digits. Home is also an idea, a place of mind, which centers us. It is not always a place of longing to return back to, but a notion that wherever we go and how ever far we stray and wander, there is a place to call home. In an age of deep change and transition, we need that kind of anchoring, that place of centering and re-centering.
There are many Psalms that echo a homesickness of the soul:
I am like a lonely bird on the housetop. (102:7)
I will lift up my eyes to the hills… (121:1)
By the rivers of Babylon – there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion. (137:1)
There is within us all, I believe, an internal and eternal longing for home. Home is much more than a piece of real estate or a zip code. It is a habitation of the soul, a sacred space and place. Do you remember when Jesus reminded his disciples, “… do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25) We are more than our addresses, more than our geographies, more than our phone numbers.
To be truly home has an enduring permanence. Augustine writes: “Our hearts are restless, until they rest in Thee.” We will spend the rest of our lives searching for and making homes. May we not confuse them with simple bricks and mortar. These will one day come to nothing. When we gather with those whom we love and know that it is sacred place, we find a home. When we share in laughter over a memory or a story and give thanks to God, we find a home. When we hold on for dear life to the grieving shoulders of a friend, and seek strength to just get through the night, we find a home. Our home with God may take us to the far corners of the globe or simply down a familiar shaded street.
Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor writes, We can serve the God who feeds and clothes and shelters by doing some of that ourselves, but always with the knowledge that it is God who provides – no – who is our true and only home, in whose household there is plenty – for the birds of the air, for the lilies of the field, and for every one of us.
A beautiful reminder of God’s love and the comfort of His presence with us. Thank you, Greg
Good memories of a simpler time! A thoughtful message!
You do have a way with words Sir! You always seem to give what is needed…
So good to “hear” your much-missed voice. Thank you for sharing.
What a wonderful message.To quote Dorthy,”There’s no place like home!” Thanks. I miss you so much here at FBC Augusta.
Greg you thoughts sent me back to my childhood and youth. Those days are fondly remembered almost to the point of sadness because they and my Mom and Dad are gone; then I remembered seeing this somewhere:
“Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened”. Thank you for sharing.
3885 Kensington Rd. Avondale Estates,Georgia Teacher’s College,Statesboro,National Hills,Woodbine West ,Augusta ,Georgia, 1800 Clairmont Lake,Decatur,Georgia all have great memories! The Bible promises us the best is yet to come! Thank you Lord for everything!
I can remember so well 140M was our number. I remember talking to Frank when he lived in Augusta and I lived in PA. We had three other party lines. There were to ladies whom lived a few doors away from my home and they would always listen in.
You may not know Greg but Frank found a new home about 2 1/2 wks ago. He is with the Lord now and no pain and suffering. We miss him terribly though.
6837 – That connected me to my Mama and Daddy. When Larry and I were young newlyweds, we shared a party line with my parents and my grandmother. I remember having to ask my sweet little “Mama” to hang up when she was eavesdropping! What precious times those were. Now I have all my contacts saved and probably could not call many of them without the help of my cell phone. But why would I call when I can text! Progress? I think not. There’s still nothing like a face-to-face conversation.
The last digits of our family’s number was 1323. So easy to remember. Just dialing it, I knew there would always be safety and comfort on the other end. Enjoyed your post. Took me back many years.
Thanks Greg. Deep thoughts, and good. Eugene Peterson tapped the connection between home and incarnation when he translated John 1:14 as “the Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”
As a catholic nun, got my spiritual ceu’s from your homilies on sunday mornings tv from first baptist in augusta. Blessings
MAyfair 4-4377 will always be the number I associate with home. Growing up in a big city we had more than 4 digits to dial but the result was always the same – reaching out connected me to the people who made home a place of rest, of safety, of belonging.
As always, thank you for your words of wisdom and faith. Our party line number was 553-w. We also had folks listening in and the operators knew everything going on in town. Still the good ole days. You are a blessing to us. Love