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Sermon Series:
Following Jesus
Earthly Cross
His Name Is
Apostles Creed
Dealing with Feelings
Jonah
Get Real
Promised Land Living

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2005

Grace Church of Burlington October 16, 2005   “I'll lean on you and you lean on me and we'll be okay.” Dave Matthews Band             Loneliness has to be the saddest, most desolate word in the English language. Yet we are a society of lonely people. 70% more people live alone today then they did twenty years ago. Loneliness is a common experience to a multitude of people. It reaches into all occupations, all walks of life. It can be someone in the military, a divorcee in a new apartment, a new couple in town, a student at school, a widow returning from the cemetery, a couple with two jobs and no home life, a grandmother in the nursing home or a missionary on the field. It can hit any of us. The fact is that loneliness can affect anyone. It doesn’t necessarily mean we are single, we can be married and still be lonely. The truth is that there are millions of lonely, married people. They may share a table, a sofa, and even a bed but they still feel lonely.             The words of that old 70’s song by the group, Three Dog Night, go something like this, “One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do...Two can be as bad as one...It's the loneliest number since the number one.” And they’re right. You can be married and be just as lonely as you were when you were single. One woman wrote to columnist Ann Landers and said: “Dear Ann: My husband doesn’t talk to me. He just sits there night after night, reading the newspaper or looking at T.V. When I ask him a question, he grunts "huh, or Uh’huh." Sometimes he doesn’t even grunt uh’huh. All he really needs is a housekeeper and somebody to sleep with him when he feels like it. He can buy both. There are times when I wonder why he got married.”             Loneliness is a miserable thing. One lonely person caught the depth of its misery when they wrote:    Loneliness is like a piano without keys,       Like a violin without strings.    Like a sanctuary without a congregation       Or a choir where no one sings.    Loneliness is like a blade of grass       Growing through a crack of cement.    Loneliness is like a camp ground       Without a single tent.    Loneliness is like a mocking bird That cannot sing a song. Loneliness is a feeling That one does not belong. Like a pansy in a corn field Hidden where no one can see. I know all there is to know about loneliness Because it lives inside of me.             Our world is filled with lonely people. At Grace Church we are determined to be part of the cure for loneliness. That’s part of the reason we have Friend Day! We want to let everyone know that our church is committed to friendship. We also want to give our church family an opportunity to celebrate friendship. God did not design us to live alone or be alone. In fact, Solomon the wise teacher in Ecclesiastes 3:9 reminds us that “two are better than one.”  God designed us for relationships, friendships and community. Without relationships our lives are unfulfilled.             But even human relationships cannot meet our greatest need. Each of us has what someone has dubbed a God-shaped hole in our soul. And only God can fill it. The friend that we all need and the friend that can meet our greatest needs is Jesus Christ. He died on the Cross so that He could be our friend. And if you do not know Him as your Savior and Friend, the kindest thing that we could ever do for you is introduce you to Him. Do you know Jesus Christ? Is He your Lord and Savior? If not, stop me or one of our leaders at Grace Church today. Let us show you based on God’s love letter, the Bible, how you can know for sure that Jesus Christ is your friend and will be for all eternity!!