I am intrigued by the word “household”. Household is used in UK Government instruction on what we may and may not do due to coronavirus: “one form of exercise a day….alone or with members of your household.”

If you look into a Thesaurus, there are few alternatives for household – they range from house – the building, though of course that doesn’t really mean a house, it could be a flat or a palace (for the royal household); another alternative is family or family unit – meaning a related set of people, though dictionaries are keen to point out that this may be a single family or several families or even just groups of people who share meals and live in the same building.

Household seems to be a very important word. It is a way in which we are counted, recorded in the census. And in these strange times, it is the way we are isolated, by household. We can go out together as a household, but not as friends, not as family if we don’t usually live and share meals together.

So the house part is not significant, it is the hold part that matters. Holding together means carrying each other, caring for each other and specifically sharing meals with each other. This sense of holding relationship echoes through the Bible. At the beginning of Exodus Chapter 12, the instructions for the Passover are delivered to the household. Those instructions are about food, about marking the household visibly outside, and about leaving together to follow Moses and Aaron. And then suddenly, the household becomes a congregation (by verse 47). A congregation in search of a promised land.

In many households right now there is more home cooking and sharing of meals than for many a year. And there are families thrown into intimacy by our current separation, which may lead some to conflict and violence in the household, and others to a deeper love and understanding. Our God is in a holding relationship: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And He is in relationship with each and all of our households. In prayer we “hold” our loved ones to Him. We are led into congregation with Him and His hold is the part that matters.

SG 13/4/20