Faces on Faith: A cure for loneliness = relationship
An essay appeared a couple of weeks ago about how our society is broken and we’re “tearing each other apart.” This time the title was “Loneliness is Tearing America Apart” and the author quoted the results of a large health care provider’s research on relationships in our country and how many people are feeling left out or lonely or broken in some way. It reminded me of an essay quite a few years ago entitled “The Broken Society.” That described us as “isolated from one another and fragmented.”
These titles always touch my heart and soul with great concern, as I also wonder how much these pieces lead people already struggling to even deeper places of hopelessness in their lives. Those people who already feel isolated and broken. True, there are always comments in the essays about how to heal, how to reach out to others and how to strengthen relationships; and I hope the “lonely” people are actually able to digest that and discover a way ahead. Someone told me recently that their lives were so filled with family concerns and struggles with therapists, attorneys and insurance companies that this particular essay only served to push them into a more anxious, worrisome and broken place. Given the many moves they’ve had to make from city to city, the issue of loneliness was even more poignant.
For people of any faith/belief system, fragmentation and isolation are issues of great concern. If we’re not spiritually and emotionally vigilant, the secular issues of our time and/or the personal challenges can drive us to some very sad and lonely places – places where we see little hope. We know we’re all broken – we hear that a lot – perhaps too much. Human brokenness permeates both Hebrew Scripture and the Christian New Testament. But we also know, as people of faith, that there is a God who met ancient people in their brokenness and still meets us in our pain. For Christians, Christ has met us in the most broken place of all – the most shattered place of all – the cross.
In that knowledge that God is with humanity in the lonely places, we possess the power to open the door toward hope and healing, open a window of light – even just a crack – for ourselves and for others as we reach out in compassionate action.
Are we a broken society? I’m not so sure of that at all as I observe countless acts of love, kindness and compassion around the island. Most recently, the good work of Rotary who with children from The Sanibel School packed hundreds of care packages for the people still suffering from Hurricane Michael. Do we have places that need mending? Of course. Do we have a path forward from the crosses of our lives, away from isolation and fragmentation? Absolutely. The Prophet Isaiah tells us, “I am about to do a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it?”
During this season of Advent, a time of preparation and awareness, why not do a “new thing” for someone. Let compassion spring forth in you and choose to act in a way that creates a loving relationship with someone who needs hope in a lonely life. Let’s mend and not tear apart.
The Rev. Dr. Ellen M. Sloan is the rector at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church.