From Loneliness to Community: Lessons from the Road to Emmaus

You see, loneliness hits when dreams die, and Jesus feels absent. But you see, Jesus always walks beside us reframing pain through his word and presence at the table. In communion with Jesus, in relationship with him, he reframes our pain because pain is the byproduct of situations that make us feel lonely. It's often the factor that motivates us the most to isolate ourselves because, obviously, no one likes to be hurt by a friend or a loved one. [00:38:18] (41 seconds)  #JesusWithUs

there's got to be more than just gathering together to worshiping god. Like, I mean, absolutely, we get to do that for the rest of our lives in heaven for eternity, but also we are called as people of hope. Jesus didn't leave this world and say, hey, just gather together and worship me until I return. No. He said, go. Go into all the world to make disciples, to teach them the things that I've taught you. And so as people of hope, we should be the first people on the front lines providing solutions to some of the greatest needs within our community. [00:28:25] (35 seconds)  #GoMakeDisciples

In fact, so much so that things like it led to greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality rate and impact, sorry, of being socially disconnected, they said, is similar to being caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day and even greater with other health and physical inactivity issues. It affects us. Being lonely. I know as a pastor, as I deal with people, I get this conversation over and over again. I feel lonely. [00:29:32] (40 seconds)  #LonelinessHurtsHealth

Maybe even the hurt was intentional. But here in this moment, Jesus is showing us a beautiful example of forgiveness. Now I understand not every relationship gets repaired to the level that Jesus did with his disciples as they all abandoned him and as he met with many of them one on one and in groups and reconciled their relationship together. Maybe that doesn't happen, but at least you can take that step towards the potential restoration of that relationship. [00:47:14] (33 seconds)  #ForgivenessLikeJesus

We take those moments to put down the phone and to talk to someone for real, or maybe it's even just texting, FaceTime, whatever it is. I don't care. It's technology or good old fashioned face to face. Just connect with somebody. And let's start to reduce the loneliness in our lives and build community. Because as transformed people build community, community grows, and loneliness starts to fade away, and our communities get better. Amen? [00:50:11] (30 seconds)  #ChooseRealConnection

But when we take that step towards repairing the relationship, we have the potential to reconcile, to come out of isolation and experience community again. And maybe you're not isolating because of one particular relationship. Maybe it's because the world is scary and there's anxiety and all of those things. Very, very true. But I would encourage you to try. Maybe just call up that one friend. Maybe not the extreme extroverted friend. Maybe start with the other similar introverted one. [00:48:25] (32 seconds)  #CallAFriendToday

You see, too often, our misunderstanding of who Jesus is affects our own personal walk with him where we miss the mark. But now before we get too hard on them or ourselves, we need to recognize that the beauty of a relationship with Jesus, it is ongoing. It is about being continually transformed and understanding more about him each and every day. And I think as we grow closer to Jesus, as we understand him better, that affects us, which then affects how we communicate and are in relationship with others. [00:45:36] (36 seconds)  #GrowingCloserToJesus

That's concerning for me, not just as a father, but as a pastor and as a human here on this earth of that our young people are feeling and more lonely. What can we do about that? See, loneliness has a compounding effect, one researcher said. The lonelier people become, the more they withdraw from social situations, making it even harder to form new connections. It's like reverse networking. Instead of building valuable relationships, people actively avoid the very interactions that could help them. [00:30:31] (36 seconds)  #LonelinessCompounds