Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. — Luke 9:60

It was Thomas Wolfe who made the saying famous: "You can't go home again." He said these words that have been repeated and quoted thousands of times since. It has some affinity with another saying, "You cannot step into the same river twice." Life, like a river, is an ever-flowing and ever-changing reality.

One philosopher altered the familiar saying to "you cannot step into the same river once," meaning that even as you step into the river it is flowing and changing and so are you. Life is flux and change and process. Perhaps it is because life is constant change and flux and process that we try to go home again to get our bearings, especially if we have a strong sense of place as do …