Far from home
Last month Gail and I spent two weeks in Japan with our daughter, grandson and son-in law. Normally all we get is about half an hour once a week on Skype. Instead we had two weeks of real quality time doing all the normal things like shopping, eating food and going to the park. We also did Japanese stuff such as eating sushi and doing karaoke (there is some scary video footage showing yours truly indulging in dad dancing). The hardest thing for our grandson was saying goodbye. He had got using to being with the real nana and papa as opposed to two people on a computer screen. For both Gail and I it was a painfully fresh reminder that we have a family very far from home.
As I reflected on that fact I suddenly asked myself a very uncomfortable question. What if one day I was all alone? Just me and a family thousands of miles away. Right now I have a loving wife, wonderful brothers and sisters at church as well as family in Scotland. Yet at the age of 65 I am conscious that over the next few years all that could change. That thought in turn made me reflect on the subject of loneliness as a whole. Many older people see their family very rarely even if they live in this country. According to an “Age UK” report from December 2024 940,000 people over 65 feel lonely and 270,000 people in the same age bracket go a whole week without speaking to friends or family. The charity estimates that by 2034 that figure could rise to 1.2 million. At Thaxted Baptist Church we seek to ease that loneliness through our coffee morning and “Coffee and Company” bereavement group (see website for details).
Jesus understood this problem all too well. His ministry at times was a lonely one. He was isolated by the religious leaders of his day. He was often misunderstood even by his own followers and family. On the night before his death as he wept and prayed his closest friends snored off the effects of their supper. Yet on that same terrible night he made the most remarkable statement. He told his followers that he was about to be arrested and that they would all abandon him. Yet he went on to say that “I am never alone for my Father is always with me”. Later he would tell these same followers, just before he left them, “Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world”. Elsewhere in the Bible God says, “I will never leave you or forsake you”. Such words are a great comfort to Christians like me. It’s not that we don’t experience loneliness at times. We are still human after all, but underneath is the knowledge that God is with us in our loneliness. Indeed he wants to be with all of us in our loneliness. He whispers those words to us. “I will never leave you or forsake you”. We just need to listen.