Lonely - Ray's Rant...

Drawing from http://el-a-stupid-boy.blogspot.com/

I've been thinking about a couple a things, kinda to do with community...

Like, you know how we see quite a few people come in, particularly about our age, sit by themselves, listen to the worship (which is usually awesome), take in the message (ditto), and then quietly slip out as soon as the final song starts never to be seen again...

There's something wrong with that picture... and it's bugged me for ages... and i think I've finally nailed it...

People aren't supposed to sit alone.

People aren't supposed to be alone.

Sure, alone time is good, but it's not meant to be a permanent fixture...

How do i know this? Simple - God didn't want to be alone.

He created us in his image so that he had someone to hang with. In simple terms, he wanted friendship, fellowship, and that "togetherness" that comes with being with other people.

Do you remember the song "Piano Man" by Billy Joel? There's this one line which has always resonated with me:

Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness;
But it's better than drinking alone.

Interesting ay? Most kids at school fall into bad crowds because they're accepted there. And it's better to be bad together, than good alone.

So, snap back to our picture of the person sitting alone in OUR church, listening to OUR awesome music, being impacted by OUR awesome preachers, teachers, and just crazy awesome random people. The awesome church that we have, could be THEIRS too.

Y'know I think our church is pretty awesome. I think that our church could really find a place for the broken, the alone, and the lonely (in fact, Jesus in the gospels made it pretty clear that was part of his mission...). So, I'm praying for a time where there'll be no one sitting by themselves. You know who is going to sit by those people? ME.

And now, hopefully, you.

Peace out.