St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

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Fears of Our Lives:  Being Alone

Jeremiah 1:4-10

January 28, 2007         (Click the date to see the bulletin)

1. We’re well into a series of sermons on the Fears of our Lives. Fears of our lives. If I were to guess which of these fears is the most destructive, the fear of being alone might be it. Fear that we might be left alone can drive us to make decisions which in hindsight we realize were not wise. Has that happened to you? Have you ever felt alone? I certainly have. Feeling alone is linked to temperament and personality. There are some personality types for whom feeling alone is part of life. When I first learned my own personality type, I discovered that only 12% of the whole population is like me, which explained why I have often felt alone. So it’s very likely that only a few of us have experienced the fear of being alone. Many of you may have never felt alone – especially the extroverts in the congregation. However, even if you cannot remember having felt alone, that does not mean there aren’t some lonely people around you, perhaps right under your nose -- in your own family or school or workplace.

2. In our larger family of faith, this man we call the Prophet Jeremiah often felt alone and lonely. Much of his anguish we find scrawled across the pages of the Book of Lamentations. The source of his loneliness was centered in the destruction of Jerusalem. The narrator begins the lament:

she has no one to comfort her." (Lamentations 1:1, 2)

Through long and agonizing verses, 64 of them, Jeremiah (or someone who wrote in his name) puts that feeling of loneliness into words . . . until the 65^th verse when the picture abruptly changes:

"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

(Lamentations 3:21-25)

3. You see, Jeremiah felt lonely, but he knew he was not alone! Jeremiah knew God had called him; Jeremiah knew God had a job for him to do. God had called him to speak to the people who would one day be heartbroken. But what we read in those first verses tells us that he did not feel up to the task. He cried out, "I can’t do THAT!" Have you ever responded that way? How many times has God asked you to do something, and you protested with those very words, because you thought you’d be out there all by yourself, alone? More than once, I’d bet! I sure have! Those words, or something close to them, seem to be my first response to everything God asks of me! And even beyond feeling inadequate, I’m certain there have been times when you and I have felt as hopeless and lonely and alone as the citizens of Jerusalem felt. We have "wept bitterly in the night, with tears on our cheeks, with no one to comfort us." We have felt incapable of acting, like Jeremiah, and heartbroken, like Jerusalem.

4. Our most recent heartbreaking situation was reading in The Shield this week that Mike and Kris have decided to join another church. Now, in all fairness to Mike and Kris, they told a few of us last summer that they were going to visit other churches. After our General Assembly met last June, they didn’t feel wanted in the whole Presbyterian Church (USA). This congregation called St. Andrew’s was okay, but they couldn’t see their future for themselves in a denomination which right now speaks hurtful words to homosexual people. Those of us in whom they confided tried every way we knew to convince them they DO have a future here. But they left anyway. They’ve gone to the Unitarian Church, a much larger congregation, part of a denomination which does not espouse particular beliefs. For Mike and Kris, this change has brought them new life and new hope. But their leaving is heartbreaking to us. As one choir member said last week, "What are we going to DO?" Fortunately, God sent us Chris Morehead, who sings tenor really well, and his wife Stacy, who says we wouldn’t want her in the choir. The gift of Chris and Stacy tells me that the words of hope which Jeremiah spoke to Jerusalem are words of hope for us, too!

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,

God was with Jeremiah, so Jeremiah could speak these words of new life and new hope to Jerusalem. God is with Kris and Mike, bringing them new life and new hope. I know God is with us, too. We can see signs of hope and new life in our future, as well! Where? Well, I see it in the conversations we are beginning to have with Southminster and St. Giles. Instead of being alone, struggling all by ourselves, we have an opportunity to join with two other Presbyterian congregations and focus on ministry. We don’t know when it might happen, we’re not even 100% certain it will happen, but all the signs are promising. I don’t think it’ll be a merger, where we all blend together. It’ll be more like a partnership – a relationship which involves close cooperation between these congregations, who each have specified rights and responsibilities. New hope, new life, together.

5. The Malawi people have an expression – "When we are alone, we are prey (p-r-e-y, as in weak and vulnerable to attack) – when we are alone, we are prey, but when we are together, we are strong." Whether it’s the choir, or this whole congregation, or even the entire church, we need not be afraid of the future. We are not alone! When we work together, pulling each other up when we’re down, God is in the midst of us. Actually, even if we’re all alone, thinking we have no friend in this world, our one True Friend, Life itself, comes to us, ready to pick us up, dust us off, and start us going again! Thanks be to God!

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