Yearning

Isaiah 26:1-9 (NRSV) On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; he sets up victory like walls and bulwarks. Open the gates, so that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace - in peace because they trust in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for in the Lord GOD you have an everlasting rock. For he has brought low the inhabitants of the height; the lofty city he lays low. He lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy. The way of the righteous is level; O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous. In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and your renown  are the soul's desire. My soul yearns for you in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.  "Yearn" is one of those words we just don't use much anymore, but boy, is it a good one.  There's a lot of power in that word.   God as our soul's desire…yearning for God in the middle of the night.  That's something a lot stronger than worshiping God on a Sunday or even following God's laws the rest of the week.  To yearn for someone, or desire someone, really puts them first and center in your life, doesn't it? One of my professors, Dr. Wengert, related our relationship of faith in God to falling in love.  Lutherans get a lot of jest from other denominations about our reliance on "justification by faith alone."  Come on, some say, that sure gives you ample opportunity for cheap grace.   But if our life of faith is falling in love with God, then we yearn for God.  We don't seek to sin knowing we can fall back on forgiveness.  When you love someone, you don't seek to hurt them. You yearn for them.  You desire them. Yearn and desire are words that I think we associate more with romantic love than the kind of "agape" love of God and neighbor.  But it seems agape love is meant to have the same kind of power and passion that romantic love does.  Maybe the love we bear for God and our neighbor has something to learn from the blush of first romantic love. How would that passion change how we worship God on a Sunday and all through the week?  How can yearning and desiring God play out in our worship and in our lives? God of power and passion, thank you for the ardent love you bear us and help us to bear such passionate love for you and for your people as well.  Amen.