Finding Yourself Alone In America

Back in the 1980s, Louise Bernikow wrote a book by the title Alone in America. She describes a growing loneliness in our society to a variety of factors, including our heavy work schedule, our dependence on technology, and a focus on self. In our loneliness, the only friendships many people have are developed on television, Facebook, and other non-personal areas.

Bernikow wrote,

“Most people don’t speak of loneliness. They dial the weather report just to hear a voice. They call suicide prevention hotlines, feeling not suicidal but lonely. They come home and watch television night after night, catching up with their neighbors on evening soap operas, deluded into an intimacy with the characters and their problems, their pets, and their furniture that disappear with a click the minute the television is off.”

We are told this loneliness has spread like a cancer. One study said people seldom touch anyone anymore. We withdraw to our space and survive alone. The Christians of the early church touched the lives of each other. They loved each other in Christ and because of this, they were not lonely. They responded to the needs of one another and developed a real sense of family and community.

An old story is told about a church building that caught on fire. All the neighbors came out to watch. One church member saw the neighbor who lived across the street from the church and said to him, “I’ve never seen you at church before.” The neighbor replied, “I’ve never seen the church on fire before.” A church that responds to the deepest needs of people will be a church on fire, drawing crowds.

In the Book of Acts, the early church connected with people in three ways: they shared their resources with people in need; they shared their lives with people (Acts 2:46), and friendships were developed among real people, not those embedded in television; and they shared their faith (Acts 2:42). Sharing our faith in love binds us together as one big family. No loneliness here. Share your faith, your resources, your love, and your life with someone this week.