Once a year we have Homecoming
At our church and we celebrate
With relatives, friends, and neighbors,
Whom we have not seen of late!
What joy just sitting together
Singing the songs of long ago,
Worshipping God and praising Him-
The one from whom all blessings flow!
O, the beauty of tables laden
With a feast from God’s bountiful store,
And what a delight partaking-
Filling our plates with more and more!
It’s a wonderful time of year
When we renew the ties that bind,
While worshipping God, and fellowshipping
With friends…what amazing peace we find!
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Homecoming Poems For Church
Here are the church homecoming poems and homecoming poems for church that you can share with other fellow church members.
The church poem below here can best be recited when all the members are participating to make the day lovely and wonderful
I have adapted the poem from the book of Psalms 91.
Inspirational Homecoming Poems For Church
The best church homecoming poems here below
OUR LORD IS WONDERFUL
It is another year that the Lord has given us
we are gathered to celebrate the goodness of the Lord in our lives
we want to thank Him and praise him always
when we began this journey,
nobody knew how far we shall go
but only the Lord who is our creator
He knew before that we shall grow and multiply to feel
this place, we can only say,thank you Lord for everything
the journey is still on
today is our home coming to our church
that started small and has grown big and still growing
its only by the grace of our Lord Jesus that we can celebrate today
and as we look forward to another year
we want to thank the Lord for the favor
WHAT A JOY TODAY
What a joy we have today
The Lord has been good to us,
He has guided us and made us to see this day,
He is the author and finisher of our faith,
He is the cornerstone of our church,
When we started this church,
We asked Him to guide us and our good Lord
Has been good to us and today we are looking back,
To the faithfulness of our Lord
He is an enduring Lord who never fails,
We can’t fathom much of what the is going to do ahead of us,
We have very much blessings from the Lord that is prepared for us,
We can only say ‘thank you Lord for your goodness to our church’
We are a blessed church,
As we gather here today to mark the many progressive years we have had,
We are congregated here to evaluate the love of God to us,
This is the first homecoming service we are having since inception,
Many of our members present here today have contributed highly to the milestone,
We are celebrating here today,
We always thank God for what the church is going through,
It is our prayer that we continue growing from one glory to another,
Wherever you will members present,
Remember the church in our prayers so that the Lord
Can continue opening many glorious opportunities
May God bless you all
Short Homecoming Poems For Church
The speaker in this ‘Homecoming‘ is someone who is returning home after a long time away. When they get home, they find that everything has changed. The present has taken over their image of the past. They feel listless with this revelation. The poet’s use of the third-person pronoun “we” suggests that he is describing a shared experience. He may have been thinking about his home, Gambia, and how it was under British rule during the years of the poet’s youth.
The poet wrote this poem around the time that the country gained its independence, and he was returning home from his medical studies abroad.
Summary
‘Homecoming’ by Lenrie Peters is a powerful poem that describes someone returning home after a long time away.
In the first few lines, the speaker notes that the present rules over the past. He uses a simile to compare it to the way that water might rise up out of a drainage system. It cuts off the paths that he once traveled. He explores how fast the past moves away, leaving memories behind.
The speaker uses a plant as another symbol. Suggesting that “our” roots are dried up and thick weeds are growing everywhere. The poem transitions into presenting a new image, that of an old house that doesn’t cast any shadow and is filled with lifeless people. The poem ends on a dark note, saying that there is nothing to welcome “us” home after our journey.
You can read the full poem here.
Structure and Form
‘Homecoming’ by Lenrie Peters is a five-stanza poem that is separated into sets of four lines and one set of five lines. These are known as quatrains and quintains. The poem does not follow a specific metrical pattern, but it does have a rhyme scheme—the first three stanzas rhyme in a pattern of ABAB CDCD, and so on. Stanza four is different. The pattern disappears, but readers do still see examples of rhyme. For example, “town” and “ground.” This change reflects the poem’s central meaning.
Literary Devices
Throughout this poem, the poet makes use of several literary devices. These include but are not limited to:
Enjambment: occurs when the poet cuts off a line before its natural stopping point. For example, the transition between lines two and three of the first stanza.
Alliteration: can be seen when the poet repeats the same consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words. For example, “sapless” and “seedlings” in stanza three.
Simile: occurs when the poet creates a comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as.” For example, “The present reigned supreme / Like the shallow floods over the gutters.”
Detailed Analysis
Stanza One
The present reigned supreme
(…)
The house with the shutters.
In the first lines of the poem, the speaker, who is returning home after a long time away, notes that the “present reigned supreme.” The past he remembers (the home he was familiar with) no longer exists. A new present has taken over. He compares this, through a simile, to the way that a shallow flood “over the gutters” can obscure and change the path “where we had been.”
He specifically mentions the “house with the shutters.” This suggests that the speaker is thinking about one place specifically. It’s “the” house he remembers, perhaps the one he grew up in or one that meant a lot to him.
Stanza Two
Too strange the sudden change
(…)
The memories that we kept.
The change is “strange’ to the speaker. It has taken him by surprise. He continues to use the third-person pronoun “we” in these lines, suggesting that he isn’t the only one who experienced this change. He is going through it with other people. Perhaps others who have been away as he has been. The speaker is feeling emotional about the past and how he “buried” the times in the past when he left, trying to put his home behind him in order to start somewhere new.
Now, the past is only “memories.” He can’t come home to the world he used to know; it only exists in his mind and in the minds of those who experienced it.
Stanza Three
Our sapless roots have fed
The wind-swept seedlings of another age.
(…)
The Virgins to the water’s edge.
In the next few lines, the speaker suggests that there is a new intergenerational rift he’s aware of. His “sapless roots,” which are all worn out, have fed the “seedlings of another age.” The new seedlings have taken all the life from the “roots” of his generation. He may be trying to express that his generation was firmly rooted in place while this new generation, barely started, is taking advantage of what the past generations established. The seedlings are “wind-swept,” a term that suggests that they lack the strength and the establishment that the past “roots” or his generation did.
He returns to the image of his home being allowed to fall into disarray. There are “luxuriant weeds” growing where “we led / The Virgins to the water’s edge.” This might be an allusion to the speaker’s youth and the time he spent with women. He has these pleasant memories, but now, those places are overgrown and changed negatively.
Stanza Four
There at the edge of the town
(…)
Lived in by new skeletons.
The fourth stanza mentions the “house without a shadow.” The house is a symbol of the way that the speaker’s home has had what made it “home” removed. The house is lived in “by new skeletons.” It lacks what made his home worth loving and appreciating. The image is a dark one, suggesting that there is no way to get back the warmth of the past. The fact that the house has no shadow is an exciting addition to the image. Like the wind-swept seedlings, it may suggest that the house has no impact on its surroundings.
Stanza Five
That is all that is left
(…)
And longed for returning.
The fifth stanza concludes the speaker’s description of his changed home. The previous stanzas and what they describe are all that’s there to “greet us” when we return home from pacing the world. It’s not a cheerful ending to the piece, suggesting that the speaker has to adjust to this new home as there is no way to change it back.
Poems About Home
Home is So Sad by Philip Larkin
A short and moving poem, ‘Home is So Sad,’ was composed while Larkin was at his mother’s home. In the first lines he expresses clearly and poignantly the themes of solitude, homesickness, and loneliness. The home is personified as though it is itself able to miss those who have left. It “withers so”. A series of images follow that work as snapshots of a home that does not have all of its residents. There are “the pictures and the cutlery” and finally, “That vase”.
At Home by Christina Rossetti
In this poem, Rossetti’s speaker describes the plight of a ghost who is kept separate from her home and friends by death. The speaker, who is deceased, depicts her own death and what it was like when she first realized what had happened to her. She went home as soon as she could and watched as her friends carried on with their lives without her. She’s stuck where she is unable to return to those she loves. The speaker can’t leave her home or become more than “yesterday” to those who lost her.
A Child’s Garden by Rudyard Kipling
In contrast to ‘At Home,’ ‘A Child’s Garden’ is much more optimistic. It is written from the perspective of a young boy, who is dreaming of escaping his life. He’s critically ill, with tuberculosis, and has to stay within the confines of his home. He spends most of his time in the garden laying outside but far away from the noise of cars and other lives. The confining space is suffocating but that doesn’t stop him from dreaming. He knows that one day he will rise up over the walls of his garden prison.
The Housewife by Charlotte Anna Perkins Gilman
In this poem Gilman taps into some of the themes for which she is best known. The text describes the day to day life of a housewife and the circular, unchanging elements of her morning, afternoon and evening. Gilman’s speaker goes through the different elements of her life, the things that bond her to her home and the things that make her want to leave. She is only allowed to occupy herself with what the family will eat, wear and how she is to lavish the most praise and love that she can.
Odysseus and Telemachus by Joseph Brodsky
‘Odysseus to Telemachus’ by Joseph Brodsky is told from the perspective of the epic hero, Odysseus while he is stranded on Circe’s island. He speaks directly to his son, Telemachus, in the lines of this piece. He tells him about his regrets, such as not being there to see his son grow up and missing the comforts of home. But, he realizes that it’s very unlikely that he’ll ever see his son or his homeland again.
The House Was Quiet and The World Was Calm by Wallace Stevens
In this piece Stevens creates a very poignant atmosphere. Wallace describes a reader who is leaning over a book on a calm summer night. This person is seeking something from the text, a kind of perfect truth they have not been able to find elsewhere. The quiet nature of the scene is very important to the poem, without it, the “truth” he is looking for is impossible to find.
Home by Edward Thomas
In this poem Thomas’s speaker describes home, the relief of arriving there and the connections he feels. The natural world around his home brings him peace and comfort. The relish with which the speaker describes his location allows the reader to understand how important this place is to him. It’s such a special place that the world outside it feels and looks different when he’s there.
Home Thoughts From Abroad by Robert Browning
The speaker of ‘Home Thoughts From Abroad’ is a traveller. He has been away from home, England, for a long time and is longing to return there. There are several images of nature in the first lines which are used to describe the emotional connection the speaker has to the place he’s longing for. Despite this longing for his home there’s no way for him to get there.
Home by Anne Brontë
Brontë creates a warm and sunny atmosphere at the beginning of ‘Home’ that symbolizes the warmth that one gains when they are wherever they consider home. This changes into the howling wind and cold weather that is just as welcome. When one is “home” everything is wrapped in that idea. Although she is relishing in the idea of home, she is not present there. She asks to be returned to “that little spot” she remembers.