"Someone to Love" cartoon by nakedpastor David Hayward
After I left the ministry in 2010 (read up on my story
Questions Are The Answer
), I experienced loneliness like I never had before.
Now, I have single friends, and their level of loneliness is even greater. I acknowledge this. I have Lisa in my life, so my loneliness is a lot different than the loneliness my single friends experience.
But I do remember one day complaining to myself about my lack of friends, when all of a sudden I opened the eyes of my mind and realized I have a lot of people in my life I can love. Some of them have even become friends.
I've always insisted the church's greatest asset is community. You walk in to many churches and a whole network of relationships are handed to you on a platter. But when you leave, that platter is thrust out of your hands. That's why so many ex-church goers are looking for
new forms of community.
We had to find and make new friends, along with the few older friends we still have. Lisa and I realized that we had work to do. It took effort. Courage. Risk-taking. Experimentation. It took getting out of our comfort zones and looking around us to see what we already had and what could potentially be ours.
), I experienced loneliness like I never had before.
Now, I have single friends, and their level of loneliness is even greater. I acknowledge this. I have Lisa in my life, so my loneliness is a lot different than the loneliness my single friends experience.
But I do remember one day complaining to myself about my lack of friends, when all of a sudden I opened the eyes of my mind and realized I have a lot of people in my life I can love. Some of them have even become friends.
I've always insisted the church's greatest asset is community. You walk in to many churches and a whole network of relationships are handed to you on a platter. But when you leave, that platter is thrust out of your hands. That's why so many ex-church goers are looking for new forms of community.
We had to find and make new friends, along with the few older friends we still have. Lisa and I realized that we had work to do. It took effort. Courage. Risk-taking. Experimentation. It took getting out of our comfort zones and looking around us to see what we already had and what could potentially be ours.