longing for God

Christmas Begins with Longing

When does Christmas begin? We have good friends whose son believes that Christmas can only begin if there is snow on the ground. Every night in December, he prays for snow. We know others who believe that Christmas can only begin once the tree is up and decorated. And I know of parents who would argue that Christmas cannot begin until both parents are up and have a cup of coffee in their hand. When does Christmas begin? I would like to argue that Christmas actually begins with a longing, a hunger for something so big that it sets you on a journey to find it. Sometimes that longing is love. Sometimes it is peace. Sometimes it is a hunger for meaning and significance. And sometimes it’s a craving for joy. These are the longings of Christmas, desires buried deep in our hearts that call us to discover what life

The Cry of Longing

This sermon is based on Psalm 84:1-4, 10-12. SERIES OVERVIEW: Wisdom teaches us that we are composed of three parts: intellect, emotion and will. But we are not so happy about that. We like to think that thinking is king and that acting is behaving in accordance with something we think. Worse, we feel that emotions are so. . . emotional. And while we like the good emotions (love, joy, hope, etc.), we don’t know what to do with the bad ones (anger, guilt, fear, etc.), except to say they are bad and we should not have them. But what if our emotions (both the good and the bad) are a window into our own souls? And what if our emotions are often the vehicle God chooses to use so that we can truly find him? And what if following Jesus well has a lot to do with us following