Homily, Take It Home With You
Ash Wednesday
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
Plant City, FL
The Rev. Derek M Larson, TSSF
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Take it home with you.” I was so excited when I heard those words spoken by Mr. Manzi, my 6th grade music teacher in our beginners band class. “Take it home with you.”
For the first week or two of the semester we had been exploring different instruments and trying them out in class. We’d pick them up and hold them and make sounds. We would inspect the valves and the horn and the mouthpiece. But then at the end of the 50 minutes we’d pack them up and put them in the storage closet.
But this day, was the day we got to take our instruments home.
It was a trumpet for me. And I carried it proudly in its case by the handle. I held it close on the school bus to protect it. And as soon as I got home, I took that trumpet out and I played it. And then I oiled the valves. And then I polished the brass. And then I played it some more.
At school the trumpet was a sort of neat oddity. Something interesting to play with. But at home, it took on more meaning. It came with responsibility. I began to feel an ownership with it. And the more time I spent with it practicing, the more I developed a relationship and understanding with it. The more skilled I became. In fact, my time with the trumpet at home was directly correlated with the increased quality of my playing at school. And Mr. Manzi knew that. That’s why practice was always required homework. And that’s why he continued to encourage us each day, “take it home with you.”
Jesus seems to be saying something similar in our gospel passage for today. It’s part of the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus calls into question the kind of public, showy faith that is offered just to impress others. He says that when you give to those in need, you should do it quietly and subtly. And he says that when you fast, you should do it without calling attention to yourself. And he says when you pray…(this is the phrase I’m pointing to today)… “go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father in secret.”
In other words, Jesus says take it home with you. Don’t let your faith live only in public. Take it home with you.
Now, it’s important to notice what Jesus is not doing here. He is not condemning public faith. After all, this entire sermon is being preached publicly. Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has already told his disciples, “Let your light shine before others.” What Jesus is critiquing is not faith that is seen, but faith that is performed—faith aimed at the eyes of others rather than rooted in the presence of God. The problem isn’t visibility; the problem is direction. Who is this faith really for?
And so Jesus’ solution for performed faith is to “go into your room and shut the door”. Not because God can only be found in private, but because privacy has a way of opening up the heart. When faith leaves the stage and enters the home—when there is no audience to impress, no reputation to maintain, no distractions to follow—it has the chance to become personal. To move from the surface into the heart. To stop being something we do and begin to be something we live. And paradoxically, it is that deeply personal faith—formed quietly, honestly, at home—that can then be lived authentically and generously in public.
The truth is public faith is important. We need faith that is outward facing. We need faith that gathers in community for prayer, worship, and service. And yet if our faith is only public it lacks the deep authenticity that makes it most important.
Faith must be taken home. It must be taken into our room where the door closes so that we can develop a real relationship and understanding with it. Where we can hold it in our hands and inspect it and cherish it and practice it in ways that increase our ability to live it out more genuinely and powerfully in the world.
If our faith is only public, only something that we practice once a week at church, or when it happens to come up in conversation with others, then it is a shallow faith and our heart has not truly had an opportunity to be really shaped by it and it will only go so far in supporting and caring for the community around us.
But if our faith is personal, then it begins to shape our heart and lives in ways that impact not only ourselves but all those we meet as we bear the fruit of God’s work in us.
When I practiced my trumpet at home. I was better for it. But so was the band at school. The music we made together was shaped by what each of us had done alone, in living rooms and bedrooms and quiet moments when no one else was listening.
When you practice your faith at home, behind closed doors and all alone, you are better for it. But so is this community of faith, and all those you meet. What takes root behind closed doors is what bears fruit in community. Faith that is taken home—handled, practiced, struggled with, returned to again and again—becomes faith that can be trusted when it is lived out in the world.
Faith is both public and personal.
As we enter this holy season of Lent, I invite you to take your faith home with you. Today, on Ash Wednesday, we are marked with ashes here in public. But the majority of the work those ashes point to does not happen here. It happens in your room, behind the shut door, with God your Father.
Lent is an opportunity to make faith personal.
So take it home with you. Take it into the quiet of your days. Spend intentional time in prayer each morning. Open up the pages of Scripture. Practice spiritual disciplines. Give quietly to those in need. Take you faith home with you.
And when you take it home then gently bring it back here to bless the community and the world with God’s fruit growing in you. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
- How do I currently practice my faith privately, and what specific actions can I take to deepen that practice during this Lenten season?
- In what ways do I find myself performing my faith for others rather than nurturing a personal relationship with God?
- How can I create a dedicated space or time in my daily routine to engage more deeply with Scripture and prayer?
- What are some spiritual disciplines I can incorporate into my life to enhance my personal faith journey?
- How can I share the fruits of my personal faith with my community in a way that blesses others and reflects my genuine relationship with God?
Thoughts on Faith 