A journey to save the world can often leave a person feeling all alone. I have spent the last few days wrapping up final papers, writing a sermon and studying for final exams. While I know so many of my peers are doing the same, I often feel isolated from the "real world" and from my "student world." This has been bumming me out. But then I began to think of all the people on the streets who are alone. I have watched, even in homeless circles, the communities that are formed. If you do not belong to one of these communities, its our human nature to push someone out. Imagine being marginalized because you are homeless and then being marginalized within the homeless community. Does it get anymore lonely than that?
Henri Nouwen wrote this about solitude and aloneness:
A friend is more than a therapist or a confessor, even though a friend can sometimes heal us and offer us God's forgiveness. A friend is that other person with whom we can share our solitude, our silence, and our prayer. A friend is that other person with whom we can look at a tree and say, "Isn't that beautiful," or sit on the beach and silently watch the sun disappear under the horizon. With a friend we don't have to say or do something special. With a friend we can be still and know that God is there with both of us.
But there are people out there, homeless or not, that need a friend. This takes me back to my original thesis...smile at someone, talk to someone, help someone, get to know someone, etc. You might not need the company, but perhaps they do. Jesus wrote not only about feeding and helping the poor, but also visiting those in prison. I imagine it is because they feel the most alone, isolated in a true hell, they suffer a deeply wounding aloneness in the midst of a chaotic hell. I wonder how many prisoners cry at night, silent tears that will not give them away?
Meditate: God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. (Psalm 68:6)
Pray: God hear our prayers in our friendships and in our aloneness, pray for Chris who lives on the streets, who suffers with sexual identity, who is enslaved by paranoia, and as such has been cast out of community by all she comes in contact with; will you be with her to protect her and to continue to hear the prayers of those in prison, silently suffering for their crimes. You are a forgiving and redeeming creator, through you all things are possible.
Henri Nouwen wrote this about solitude and aloneness:
A friend is more than a therapist or a confessor, even though a friend can sometimes heal us and offer us God's forgiveness. A friend is that other person with whom we can share our solitude, our silence, and our prayer. A friend is that other person with whom we can look at a tree and say, "Isn't that beautiful," or sit on the beach and silently watch the sun disappear under the horizon. With a friend we don't have to say or do something special. With a friend we can be still and know that God is there with both of us.
But there are people out there, homeless or not, that need a friend. This takes me back to my original thesis...smile at someone, talk to someone, help someone, get to know someone, etc. You might not need the company, but perhaps they do. Jesus wrote not only about feeding and helping the poor, but also visiting those in prison. I imagine it is because they feel the most alone, isolated in a true hell, they suffer a deeply wounding aloneness in the midst of a chaotic hell. I wonder how many prisoners cry at night, silent tears that will not give them away?
Meditate: God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. (Psalm 68:6)
Pray: God hear our prayers in our friendships and in our aloneness, pray for Chris who lives on the streets, who suffers with sexual identity, who is enslaved by paranoia, and as such has been cast out of community by all she comes in contact with; will you be with her to protect her and to continue to hear the prayers of those in prison, silently suffering for their crimes. You are a forgiving and redeeming creator, through you all things are possible.
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