Reflecting upon the question “what is the central challenge facing our era?” New York Times columnist David Brooks concluded, “My answer would be: social isolation.” Based on my experience serving as a pastor for over a quarter century, I think he’s correct. We’re a lonely lot. Many of us feel like people don’t really know us, and we long for deeper, safer, more life-giving relationships with others.
Our sermons at City Church this October, though part of a larger series this fall called “The Freedom of Knowing,” will give special attention to the problem of social isolation.
Loneliness was the first human problem God identified: “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18). This ancient problem is endemic to modern people. And being a Christian doesn’t “solve” the problem. Ironically, it can sometimes heighten it. Paul wrote his swan song epistle to his protege, Timothy, from the lonely confines of a prison cell, where he faced a death sentence. Here toward the end of his life the famous Apostle found himself almost entirely alone. In that solitary space I imagine he took comfort from the intimacy he enjoyed in his relationship with Christ. Paul had prayed for the Ephesians that they might “know this love that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19).
With Christ in our life, not only is the trauma of isolation substantially mitigated, but we come to know someone who identifies with us in our loneliness. Isaiah anticipated he would be “despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain” (Isaiah 53:3). He was frequently misunderstood. While many people followed him, plenty of them left him along the way. At the end of his life when he needed his friends the most, they all abandoned him, one even betraying him to those who would kill him. And on the cross, he experienced a kind of cosmic loneliness none of us will ever know.
Because social isolation is such a common problem today, please invite others to join you over the next month. Here’s a look at the sermons for October, 2020:
October 7 “Knowing Intimacy” Ephesians 3:14-21
October 21 “Knowing Loneliness” 2 Timothy 1:15, 4:9-22
October 14 “Knowing Contentment” Philippians 4:4-13
October 28 “Knowing Heartache” Romans 8:18-30