Is a greater pandemic than COVID-19 coming? It has been suggested that whilst working from home has caused a huge increase in productivity, it is leading to what is called ‘cocooning’, ie isolation and shallow relationships.
In a word: Loneliness.
On a grand scale.
Let’s be honest.
Think about life B.C. (before Covid).
Social distancing was yet to be invented and we didn’t have the language or the need to differentiate between ‘in-person’ and ‘on-line’.
It might feel like a lifetime ago, but you remember don’t you? It was possible to be in a noisy room full of actual (not virtual) people and still feel desperately lonely.
Red-raw chronically screaming on the inside lonely.
More than ever before I suggest this is a time we all need friendship.
Enduring friendships require face to face time once every fifteen (15) days. So if you’re reading this and you have access to social networks like connect groups, then how about re-framing these spaces as opportunities to give and receive relationally.
To offer the gift of friendship.
In the context of true community this is what the Bible calls ‘fellowship’ and it’s still hands down the best antidote to isolation.
This is who we are as a people belonging to God, and it’s an essential activity of being the Church.
And in the context of evangelism and reaching out to others around us, it’s been well said that facts don’t change minds as much as friendships.
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care
Theodore Roosevelt
I think Job (in the Bible) would agree with this statement.
If indeed Covid accelerates loneliness, then for God’s sake may this pandemic most of all be an accelerant of the love of God in and around our families, our communities, and our work-places.
The methods may be different, and the tools of technology feel strange, but today whether you feel lonely or alternatively feel convicted to reach out to someone who needs a friend, by the grace of God just do it!
Stretch out your hand 🙂
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Ephesians 1:3
