Letter 10:
My Dear Friends of Sion Baptist Church:
Our friend Mr. Lawrence Clough would like to publically express his great thanks to all those people who sent him cards and messages of goodwill during this time. “God sets the lonely in families…”
(Psalm 68; 6a)
Captain Sir Tom Moore has become something of a hero recently, not just for his sponsored walk or his incredible fundraising efforts on behalf of the NHS but for his humourous, honest and humble spirit. This week the newly-knighted centenarian Captain endeared himself to us again by speaking poignantly about his late wife and the struggle she had with loneliness during a prolonged hospitalization. He reminded us that there are countless older people who sit in care homes for years and have never ever received a visit. Corona virus is not the only epidemic we face in our world. There is an epidemic of loneliness which affects people at all levels in society: single adults, the divorced, and the bereaved, those trapped in abusive relationships, teenagers and younger adults in universities. Tom Wolfe the American novelist who died recently wrote, "Loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, peculiar to myself and a few solitary men, is a central and inevitable fact of human existence." Many of us have known times of intense loneliness. I certainly have. Success, fame and money and even the company of many others, even these, are no antidote to loneliness. Someone, unknown to us, has captured its essence in poetry, perfectly:
“Loneliness is like a piano without keys, like a violin without strings. Like a sanctuary without a congregation or a choir where no one sings. Loneliness is like a blade of grass growing through a crack of cement. Loneliness is like a camp ground without a single tent. Loneliness is like a mocking bird that cannot sing a song. Loneliness is a feeling that one does not belong. Like a pansy in a corn field Hidden where no one can see.I know all there is to know about loneliness because it lives inside of me.”
The response to loneliness may be to take up a new hobby, make more time for friends or get a pet, all commendable of course. But loneliness typically is regarded as something bad which we must do all we can to overcome somehow. But God can help transform it into something good for us. Loneliness can cause us to seek God in a much deeper way. We are so busy we often leave little time for God. When we are alone God has the opportunity to speak to us and receive our undivided attention. Scripture tells us that Jesus often went away to lonely places to be with the Father and to seek his will for his life. The early church fathers were known also as desert fathers because they sought out the desert as a lonely place to find God. In fact, the Hebrew word for lonely can also be translated as solitude or desert. It is often there, in the lonely wilderness, that character is formed and strengthened and creativity is fostered. There is a time for everything under the sun – a time to be apart and a time to come together.
When this church finally gathers, physically, to worship and to do its business I am sure that much of that time will be taken up in reflecting on what God has been saying to you and to me during this time. The Baptist Church Meeting is all about seeking after the very mind of Christ. I can’t wait for our next meeting (a new experience!) to discover something of your dreams and visions for the church, from Him, the Spirit of God, who created the heavens and the earth out of formless chaos.
When we are alone and seek after God we will always be rewarded. He will give us the increased discernment we so desperately need today. This kind of guidance and wisdom does not come without setting apart time to be with God. If you feel lonely or sad today – and sometimes you will and sometimes you will have to - remember that God cares for you. He knows about loneliness. Jesus experienced the greatest loneliness of all when the Father forsook him on the cross. God knows all about the realities of isolation and He cares.
Irene won’t mind me saying that, in her quiet time, God gave her this verse and I this conclude with it, “Praise be to the LORD, to God our Saviour who daily bears our burdens.” (Ps 68: 19)
Stay safe eternally! Every Blessing, Mark & Susan 21/05/20