Loneliness is more pervasive in our society, and in our churches, than we’d like to admit. Cities bustle with activity and coffeeshops are packed, but people work and drink in loneliness. What’s the remedy? How can we work through our loneliness, especially as singles, when everywhere we look we perceive relational connectedness among marrieds, families, and communities?
Jayne Clark offers a very helpful response to the issues that surround loneliness in her booklet Single and Lonely: Finding Intimacy You Desire. She empathizes with loneliness but also exposes the futility of relational strategies, pointing us to the intimacy of union with Christ. She writes:
The real solution to loneliness lies not in marriage, but in our union with Christ, which leads to our union with one another.
If you struggle with loneliness, I encourage you to read this booklet prayerfully and discuss it with some friends, a Fight Club or a City Group. You can read the entire booklet for free online at CCEF. Also, consider sharing some of your struggle in the comments, and how you’ve found strength or joy or encouragement in it.
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What do you make of suffering and death? How are we meant to approach it? With fear, indifference? It was poet and artist William Blake that said: “Death is just a door.†Singer/song writer M. Ward sings: