"Mi Casa Su Casa"

The often-quoted statement for expressing a friendly acknowledgment for receiving someone is "mi casa, su casa," meaning my house is your house. Even though this is a Hispanic cultural practice, many cultures often use this exact phrase. Being more than a way to put someone at ease, this quote also indicates a relationship of shared values and a bond of sorts. Many Christians say this exact quote, not attributing any spiritual or religious meaning to it.

In the scriptures, God gave Moses the pattern for the tabernacle. The specific design of the tabernacle was to create a place where God could dwell among his people. I'm sure Moses's thought was that God was making a space where God would welcome the children of Israel into "his house." As this was the case, there were also stipulations to coming into God's house, just like we would not dare go to grandma's house and disregard how she keeps it. Because there are specific rules in our grandma's house, we automatically check our habits and behaviors to maintain the relationship as a sign of respect.

God is not our granny. However, he is one whom we as Christians must have a reverence for because of who he is. The Bible is the marker of all the things we must learn to know the protocols for engaging God as our Father. Like the ways we come to know of grandmothers that define their unique difference between them and our mothers, so God has a difference in being known to us as Father God.

Today, the church must represent God's righteousness in understanding the particular ways we reflect his image to the world. Speaking specifically concerning the house of God, today's reflection of God's house to the world has become blurred with the mixing of the world's ways of attracting people. In building the tabernacle, Moses received specific designs to accommodate God's presence and providing the people with the method or protocol for being accepted by God. Again when granny receives company, the older children are familiar with the expectations, no running in the house or no feet on the furniture, and so on. Somehow as the children of God, we've forgotten or just plain overlooked the need to remember the protocols of God's house. When we did so at granny's house, we could count on her to remind us, and as the church, we have the Bible and the Holy Spirit to remind us. Granny never allowed the rules in her house to be changed because she was receiving a new grandchild. She continued to instill the exact expectations to the next generation. God has not changed what he expects in his house. However, the church as his child has demonstrated a need to be reminded of the house rules. It's the responsibility of the older children to tell and help remind the younger children of the ways in God's house. God's house can only be our house when we respect his rules for his house, and then we too can say, "mi casa su casa."