“Home, Sweet, Home!”
Preliminary Music “Home” by Chris Tomlin
Parts of our Homes
Display significant items the women bring from their homes.
Welcome Home!
Invocation
A Home Cooked Meal
(Sunday Roast and Fixings)
Our Home Snapshots
(Highlights of Women’s Ministry Yearly Program and Finances)
Key Components of our Home
Leadership Recognition
“Your Heart, His Home”
Devotional
Closing Song
“Home is Home, However Lowly”
#1016/385 The Salvation Army Songbook
Benediction
Decorations
Display mason jars filled with wildflowers, along with small home wooden cutouts and candles.
Table favor could be a cookie in the shape of a house. Hang pendant banners from ceiling with the words “Home Sweet Home.” Create a living room atmosphere utilizing a few chairs, table and lamp. Add throw pillows with words, “Home Sweet Home.”
Center Focal Table—Parts of our Home
Use a lace tablecloth and other layers to display the items the women brought from their homes. Provide a small card for the description and significance of the item along with their name. Either before or after the program, invite the women to view the display. This could also be an element of the program.
Welcome Table
On the welcome table post a sign with the words from John 14:2 NIV: “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” Using an address book, invite the women to write their favorite scripture in the comment section. Following the program, create a list of these verses and mail it to the women.
Gift Favors
Anything that represents home would be suitable: candles, tea towels, key chain.
Devotional
“Your Heart, His Home”
Our lives revolve around our homes. There we raise our children, make memories, celebrate life and create spaces that we enjoy. A home should be a place where you feel safe, a place of renewal and retreat where you can take down all the barriers and just be who you were created to be in Christ.
Have you ever been on a long journey and just couldn’t wait to walk through the front door of your home and say, “Finally, I’m home!” Or maybe you have been some distance from your family, and you hear them saying, “When are you coming home?” We know the phrase from The Wizard of Oz, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.” Truly, there is no place like home.
We learn love from our home. When I think about earthly love and how much I truly love those God has placed in my life, I know nothing can compare to the One who is love. “So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son” (John 1:14, NLT). The scripture from John 1:14 uses the word “home” to describe God coming in human form and being with us. He was and is immersed in everything that was and everything that is. He came to be a part of our lives. Exciting right? Or maybe that causes a moment of panic.
Through faith we invite the Savior into our home, our heart. You can probably remember a time in your life when someone asked you, “Would you like to invite Jesus into your heart?” For some young children, it is a puzzle. How can Jesus live in my heart? He is a big guy, the creator of the heavens and earth. Today we can giggle at such a thought, but truly the God of the Universe desires to permanently dwell within us as we surrender control to Him. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus came because sin had to be confronted and defeated.
Incredible! Jesus experienced our world, our home, so that He might be able to express His unfailing love and His faithfulness in a way we could understand. The word “unfailing” is defined as “never changing or getting weaker in times of trouble.” His love never changes—it is not dependent on what you do or do not do, or the stumbling blocks you may hit in your faith journey. His love is unfailing, unlike many of the disastrous love stories we read in magazines. Oh, no! There is no compromise in His love relationship with us. He is faithful.
Jesus came to write the ultimate love story in your life. He is Himself love and gave His life for you. There is no sweeter love story. Have you seen His glory? Have you accepted His gift of true love? Have you allowed Jesus to be at home in your heart?
Prayer
Sweet Jesus, there is no other name we love more. May we know the unfailing love that covers us as daughters of the King. May your Word be written on the tablet of our hearts today so that we can experience the fullness of Your glory and grace! May our hearts reflect of the One we serve. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
