The Conversion of Loneliness

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper considers ways in which churches and individual Christians can respond to the affliction of loneliness. The authors observe that loneliness is not a hopeless state. Rather, there are causes for it which can be addressed. For the individual Christian, there are theological and spiritual resources that can help to move a fact of aloneness from being an experience of loneliness toward an experience of solitude. For both the individual Christian and for others that Christians encounter, the theological concept of Emmanuel is offered as an assurance of God’s presence and understanding of the human condition and as an imperative to form community, a key tool in combatting loneliness. A highly practical, often time-consuming, attitude of love is noted as being essential for pastoral encounters with lonely people, but this can be focused and efficient rather than all-consuming on the part of the pastor.