Pastor John Van Sloten

Last night I was part of a group that was discussing chapter four from my book.  As we dialogued around the main point – that what we yearn for is indicative of something God made us for… and that what we yearn for something that God is – something struck me.  We were talking about the upcoming Vancouver Olympics and I’d asked the group to try and articulate the good, just right, things we were feeling as Canadians hosting the games.  Some of their responses included, “Because we’re such a multi-cultural country we’re in a unique (great) position to welcome the world. In a very real sense we know their needs, where they come from.”  and, “Because we’re stereotypically “nice” and not as driven to win as some other countries, and (at least in our opinion) feel like we have a purer take on sport, on the joy of the game, playing it for the sheer fun and excellence of it all, maybe Canada will be a great place for visiting athletes to excel and win.  Perhaps we’ll be more genuinely happy for them because of who we are as hosts.”  Anyway, what struck me about their comments was that they spoke of a different kind of yearning from that I usually consider.In past sermons on the Olympics I’ve focussed on our deep desire for glory, victory, excellence and finishing well… all a  ’striving for something’.  But this time I’m going to talk about our core desire to be good hosts, to be the kind of people who help others flourish, who give them both space and place to be who they are – world class athletes.  This time the yearnings are not aimed as something we externally strive to possess, but focus on someone we hope to more fully be.   We’re made to fully be who God made us to be, even as yearn to possess more and more of who God is.  We yearn in two directions.