No separation anxiety here
Separation anxiety: a form of anxiety experienced by a young child and caused by separation from a significant nurturant figure and typically a parent or from familiar surroundings¹
The dictionary definition above specifically references “a young child” but I am certain adults can also suffer from separation anxiety. I think homesickness might be a form of separation anxiety and homesickness can strike a person at any age. But, I can hear my homiletics professor saying “So what? Why bring it up?” I bring it up because it is all too possible for us to feel separated from God. It is a perfectly human, perfectly natural thing to feel at some points . . . but is it justified?
The sermon today comes from a well known passage in Romans, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39 NRSV) You will notice there is nothing in these two verses that say we will never have a feeling of separation but rather that we never will be separated. One of the things I hope I got across today is the reality of how we are never, NEVER separated from the love of God . . . no matter what we might feel.
Let me know if you think I got it right.
Blessings,
¹Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “separation anxiety,” accessed July 26, 2020, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/separation%20anxiety.
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