This is the first of a three-week sermon series on homecoming. The reading for today is Psalm 126, which remembers a time of great joy after decades of exile and looks forward to another time of joy with the memorable line, “May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!” We find ourselves in a similar situation with the return of COVID. But this psalm encourages us to remember those times of God’s faithfulness and to practice gratitude for the ways God is present with us. The Israelites continue to sow seeds in spite of the drought, and that, too, is a lesson for us.