January 2019 New Horizons

Homesick and Holy

by Judith M. Dinsmore

At one time, “homesickness” was chiefly a medical term, the English translation of a disease called nostalgia, from the Latin nostos , “homecoming,” and algia , “pain.” Coined in 1688 to describe a strange physical ailment that had been almost instantly cured upon the patient’s return home, nostalgia was last written as the cause of death on a death certificate in 1918. Homesickness has plummeted in serious use since then, banished to kindergarten classrooms or maybe freshman dorms. Our travel-loving, globalist culture does not seem to have time for it; we are encouraged to be at home in every corner of the world. Maintaining a vital connection to just one seems to be either narrow-minded or wimpy—or both. Never a bragging right, homesickness today has become downright shameful. As a Christian, the shame can be compounded: shouldn’t believers, of all people, be the least homesick for an earthly home since they live in hope of a heavenly one? Paul instructs us to set our minds “on ... Read more

Longing for Heaven, Longing for God

by Jonathan Gibson

C. S. Lewis wrote, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” Augustine wrote, “O God, you made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” These two quotations capture the affectional pulsebeat of the Christian life: a longing for another world , a longing for God. The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob exemplified this affectional pulsebeat as they lived in tents in the Promised Land: By faith [Abraham] went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob , heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (Heb. 11:9–10, emphasis added) Israel’s annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem also exemplified this desire for another world. The temple in Jerusalem was a physical symbol of heaven, God’s abode, on earth. The pilgrimages ... Read more

A Christian Response to Disaster

by Scott E. Pearce

If it’s late summer in North America, the images and videos are hard to miss. As yet another hurricane shows up on the radar, it dominates cable and internet news. Slideshows with hundreds upon hundreds of photographs, interviews, and before-and-after satellite images all weave together a composite story of disaster, ruin, survival, and bravery. Perhaps we have only experienced these disasters through the news cycle and have grown accustomed to the rhythm of forecast, evacuation, landfall, and disaster. Maybe our hearts have grown numb to the real heartache and pain that are inseparably linked to these personal stories that we receive from the impersonal news. Or perhaps fleeing your home in advance of a natural disaster is already a part of life in your corner of the world. Perhaps you have boarded up windows while a hurricane swelled and swirled in the Atlantic, or taken shelter when tornado sirens warn of the cyclone threading toward your street. Perhaps you have woken to a red, smoky sunrise and ... Read more