“What Does Your Soul Long For?”
Preached Sunday, June 22, 2025
What does your soul long for?
Asking yourself this question is part of adopting a breath prayer, as it was taught to me. A breath prayer is a way of praying through breathing. There are many ways to go about doing a breath prayer and the way I was first taught was something like this:
Shut your eyes or still your mind. Go ahead and do so, if you feel comfortable.
Breathe in, breathe out.
In. Out.
In. Out.
Picture yourself in a safe and sacred place. For me it would be Camp Asbury or at the lakeshore, perhaps for many of you it is right where you are, the inside of this beautiful sanctuary, or maybe curled up in a favorite chair in your home - wherever it is, bring that place into mind and the safety, comfort, and sacredness it brings with it.
Breathe in, breathe out.
In. Out.
In. Out.
Hear God saying your name. Hear the voice of God, ringing in your ears, your heart, mind, and soul - calling you by name.
Breathe in, breathe out.
In. Out.
In. Out.
Now hear God’s voice saying to you, asking you by name, “What do you want? What does your soul long for?”
“Allison, what do you want? What does your soul long for?”
Breathe in, breathe out.
In. Out.
In. Out.
Let the answer well up within you, perhaps from a place that feels tender, vulnerable, a place beneath all the noise of this world - what, beneath it all, in the depths of your soul, what do you want?
Breathe in, breathe out.
In. Out.
In. Out.
Now, think of your favorite or go to name for God, say that name as you breathe in…and as you breathe out, pray for the deep longing of your soul.
Lord, give me peace.
God, help me feel your love.
Jesus, make me whole.
Whatever your prayer is, pray it in rhythm with your breath…breathing in and breathing out… Saying the name of God as you breathe in, your prayer as you exhale.
Breathe in, breathe out.
In. Out.
In. Out.
Let’s gather our attention back to the present, pulling it back out from deep within us and focusing on the present and our surroundings. This method that we shared is one of the ways to form a breath prayer. Once you have a breath prayer you can always carry it with you. You can do it in the middle of a work day, in a crowded space, at the breakfast table over coffee or tea. You can do it walking or hiking, at night right before you fall asleep - any time and everytime you find yourself paying attention to your breath, you can turn that breathing into prayer. You can pray the same prayer as long as it feels right or true - until one day, you may find that prayer was answered or you may find your soul is now longing for something else that needs to be named before God.
So what is it that your soul longs for? I asked this question on social media this week and the replies came pouring in. Now, first of all, I think some people mistook their stomach for their souls as doughnuts and nachos were among the answers. Still others shared hopes for our church - how we as a church community can foster connection, how we as a church can be a safe and inclusive space for youth, how we as a church can expand our reach beyond our building… These things certainly affect the soul. I will say, I once called eating the best doughnut of my life a religious experience and the church community can be the means through which we and God work together to give our souls what they need…
…But as for the soul, specifically, here’s what the more serious answers were: What does your soul long for?
Rest
Self-acceptance
A world without drama, war, and hate
Kindness
Connection
Love
Spiritual fulfillment
Purpose
Inclusion
Direction
Empathy
Wholeness
Authenticity
Community
A stronger connection to God
Justice
Tranquility
Just for people to be nice to one another
Healing to wash over the earth
For every child to have a safe, stable, love filled home
Equilibrium
For all to recognize their belovedness
A life without pain
Peace
I actually got almost 40 replies and at least a fourth of them or more were peace. I think that is so telling of the world we live in and how far we are from the world God wants for us.
So those here worshiping with us today, what does your soul long for? Did you hear the desire of your soul on that list? Or is yours something else, calling out from within you? When I read what people wanted, what they longed for, beneath everything else: I heard God. It all boils down to the God who is Love. The God who accepts us. The God who brings us into relationship and community. The God who gives us rest. The God who is the Prince of Peace. The God who calms the storms of the sea and our hearts. Every answer that was given boils down to that our souls long for God and all that God is.
The Psalmist, mostly likely King David as it’s from his point of view, the Psalmist says as much in the opening lines of our Psalm from this morning:
“As the deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”
I can’t say or read that line from Scripture without thinking of the hymn: “As the deer longs for the water so my soul longs after you. You alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you.”
“You alone are my heart’s desire.” You alone. We had a long list of things that our heart’s and soul’s desire - and they all come down to God. The God of peace, community, safety, wholeness…The God of Love.
And I want to point out that to say that God is the desire of our souls is far from a trite platitude. It’s not a happy face Christian-ese saying that attempts to brush the reality of our pain and the pain of this world under the rug. The next lines in the Psalm are “When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “where is your God?”
Other lines in the psalm include “Why are you cast down, O my soul and why are you disquieted within me?” and “I say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me?”
The Psalmist is wrestling with tears, sadness, enemies, fear, violence, feeling forsaken - adversaries from within and without.
Maybe we can relate to that. In our world today there is tragedy, evil, violence, injustice, war…It’s easy to look around and wonder where God is. Perhaps we’ve been asked by those in our lives who wonder how or why we believe in God, asked the same question King David was asked, “Where is your God?”
And then inside of us, there is depression and anxiety. Doubt and fear. Reacting to the world around us. Depression and anxiety are at extremely high levels in our society - both studies and anecdotal evidence shows that anxiety is setting in at younger and younger ages in our children. Elementary school aged children are having panic attacks. And it makes sense when they practice active shooter drills, being told their lives depend on a locked door and not making any noise. When they see a virus rip through families and communities. When they hear our hateful and divided rhetoric in our country and world. We see the anxiety in our children and in ourselves and we may ask, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”
To say that God is the only desire of our souls is not to dismiss this - it is a life vest in a sea of storms, rest in a busy world, a steady light as the darkness tries to overcome. Even as the Psalmist says he is subsisting, surviving off of tears and looking for God, he is reminding himself of God’s goodness and God’s promise.
“Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”
“By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me.”
“O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.
Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”
To say that God is the desire of our souls, among all the strife within and without, is to give us an anchor, a stronghold. It is an invitation to breathe, to center ourselves, and let our breath be a prayer.
To remember that in our baptismal vows in which God claimed us as God’s children, we vowed to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves. That through the gift of the Holy Spirit, our efforts for good and against evil are not futile. With God’s help, we are a force of Good in this world.
And it is also a call to care for ourselves, including seeking mental health care for our anxiety and depression and whatever else ails our hearts, mind, and souls - just as we seek care for our bodies. To love God and neighbor as self includes loving self. God is all our souls long for…and we can have Jesus and a therapist. Amen to that? Amen. Part of finding the wholeness in God that we long for involves holistic care of our lives.
To say that the desire of our souls is God is also an invitation to remember God’s glory and all that God has already done for us - all the ways that God has met and is actively meeting the desires of our souls - as King David remembers how he poured himself out to God with glad shouts and thanksgivings and dancing as the arc was brought into the temple.
To stop and breathe, to acknowledge the longings of our souls before God, is a protection against helplessness. It keeps us from being stuck in a downward spiral of cynicism and hopelessness - one that so many in our world fall into.
So today and every day, let us breathe and let us pray.
Even if our prayers are tears. Even if our prayers are saying to God ‘Why have you forsaken me?”
Or even if your prayers are only your breath because you just can’t bring yourself to talk to God - those are all still prayers heard by God.
God is there in our breath, God is there, meeting the desires of our soul with God’s holy presence, God is there. So let us breathe and say, “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you. You alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you.”
Breathe in. Breathe out.
In. Out.
In. Out.
Amen.
So those here worshiping with us today, what does your soul long for? Did you hear the desire of your soul on that list? Or is yours something else, calling out from within you? When I read what people wanted, what they longed for, beneath everything else: I heard God. It all boils down to the God who is Love. The God who accepts us. The God who brings us into relationship and community. The God who gives us rest. The God who is the Prince of Peace. The God who calms the storms of the sea and our hearts. Every answer that was given boils down to that our souls long for God and all that God is.
The Psalmist, mostly likely King David as it’s from his point of view, the Psalmist says as much in the opening lines of our Psalm from this morning:
“As the deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”
I can’t say or read that line from Scripture without thinking of the hymn: “As the deer longs for the water so my soul longs after you. You alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you.”
“You alone are my heart’s desire.” You alone. We had a long list of things that our heart’s and soul’s desire - and they all come down to God. The God of peace, community, safety, wholeness…The God of Love.
And I want to point out that to say that God is the desire of our souls is far from a trite platitude. It’s not a happy face Christian-ese saying that attempts to brush the reality of our pain and the pain of this world under the rug. The next lines in the Psalm are “When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “where is your God?”
Other lines in the psalm include “Why are you cast down, O my soul and why are you disquieted within me?” and “I say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me?”
The Psalmist is wrestling with tears, sadness, enemies, fear, violence, feeling forsaken - adversaries from within and without.
Maybe we can relate to that. In our world today there is tragedy, evil, violence, injustice, war…It’s easy to look around and wonder where God is. Perhaps we’ve been asked by those in our lives who wonder how or why we believe in God, asked the same question King David was asked, “Where is your God?”
And then inside of us, there is depression and anxiety. Doubt and fear. Reacting to the world around us. Depression and anxiety are at extremely high levels in our society - both studies and anecdotal evidence shows that anxiety is setting in at younger and younger ages in our children. Elementary school aged children are having panic attacks. And it makes sense when they practice active shooter drills, being told their lives depend on a locked door and not making any noise. When they see a virus rip through families and communities. When they hear our hateful and divided rhetoric in our country and world. We see the anxiety in our children and in ourselves and we may ask, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”
To say that God is the only desire of our souls is not to dismiss this - it is a life vest in a sea of storms, rest in a busy world, a steady light as the darkness tries to overcome. Even as the Psalmist says he is subsisting, surviving off of tears and looking for God, he is reminding himself of God’s goodness and God’s promise.
“Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”
“By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me.”
“O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.
Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”
To say that God is the desire of our souls, among all the strife within and without, is to give us an anchor, a stronghold. It is an invitation to breathe, to center ourselves, and let our breath be a prayer.
To remember that in our baptismal vows in which God claimed us as God’s children, we vowed to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves. That through the gift of the Holy Spirit, our efforts for good and against evil are not futile. With God’s help, we are a force of Good in this world.
And it is also a call to care for ourselves, including seeking mental health care for our anxiety and depression and whatever else ails our hearts, mind, and souls - just as we seek care for our bodies. To love God and neighbor as self includes loving self. God is all our souls long for…and we can have Jesus and a therapist. Amen to that? Amen. Part of finding the wholeness in God that we long for involves holistic care of our lives.
To say that the desire of our souls is God is also an invitation to remember God’s glory and all that God has already done for us - all the ways that God has met and is actively meeting the desires of our souls - as King David remembers how he poured himself out to God with glad shouts and thanksgivings and dancing as the arc was brought into the temple.
To stop and breathe, to acknowledge the longings of our souls before God, is a protection against helplessness. It keeps us from being stuck in a downward spiral of cynicism and hopelessness - one that so many in our world fall into.
So today and every day, let us breathe and let us pray.
Even if our prayers are tears. Even if our prayers are saying to God ‘Why have you forsaken me?”
Or even if your prayers are only your breath because you just can’t bring yourself to talk to God - those are all still prayers heard by God.
God is there in our breath, God is there, meeting the desires of our soul with God’s holy presence, God is there. So let us breathe and say, “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you. You alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you.”
Breathe in. Breathe out.
In. Out.
In. Out.
Amen.
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