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According to Medical News Today, • “A 2010 survey of more than 3,000 adults in the US found that more than a third of respondents aged 45 and older were categorized as lonely • Younger adults aged 45-49 reported higher rates of loneliness than adults aged 70 and older • Lonely adults were significantly…

Dr. Jacqueline Olds, a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, gives advice for overcoming feelings of loneliness. She says, “Reaching out to tell a friend who lives across the country that you miss her (and scheduling a time to catch up) or grabbing lunch with your sister can help…

Maike Luhmann, a psychologist at the University of Cologne in Germany says, “As long as we then do what we should do — reconnect with people — then loneliness is a good thing. It signals that we need to do something about our social connections. This is a sign from our psychological systems that there’s…

Writing for Healthline, Ann Pietrangelo says, “Loneliness isn’t the same as being alone. You can be alone, yet not lonely. You can feel lonely in a houseful of people. It’s a feeling that you’re disconnected from others, with no one to confide in. It’s a lack of meaningful relationships and it can happen…

A study funded by health care insurer Cigna found that fifty-eight percent of 20,000 American reported feeling lonely in 2018. The following year, the number had increased to sixty-one percent prompted chief medical officer Doug Nemecek to say that loneliness is at epidemic proportions, and the coronavirus…

A University of Chicago professor finds that those experiencing extreme loneliness have a “14% greater chance of premature death.” https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/272705 Some loneliness can be addressed by deepening relationships with friends and family, but sometimes it can only be address…

According to Medical News Today, “There are a number of health and lifestyle factors – obesity, smoking, air pollution – that are known to be risk factors for early mortality and receive considerable attention. New research has suggested that social connections should be added to this list, with a study…

Dr. Lisa Firestone, the Director of Research and Education at The Glendon Association (https://www.glendon.org/), says “Even before the pandemic struck, loneliness was widely considered an epidemic in this country where 61 percent of Americans over age 18 struggle with feeling lonely. Among this group,…

Denis Estimon remembers what loneliness felt like. As an immigrant from Haiti he felt isolated and alone when he first immigrated to the US. “It’s not a good feeling, like you’re by yourself.” Now that he has become a popular senior at his high school he is working to help others overcome their loneliness.…

A pair of men in China can teach us a thing or two about working together in the church. Jia Haixa is blind. Jia Wenqi is a double amputee. They found it very difficult to find traditional jobs. In 2001 they began working together planting trees along the riverbank in their hometown of Hebei. The two…

Clinebell & McKeever write, “. . . spiritual support can be crucial in enabling the renewal of purpose, direction, and a robust sense of mission. It can also help people find deeper meaning in the struggles in which they are engaging.” --Basic Types of Pastoral Care & Counseling, 97. 1 Thessalonians…

On January 15, 2010, one year after their crash landing in the Hudson River, the passengers and crew of US Airways Flight 1549 returned to New York for an anniversary celebration. This one dramatic event is all they have in common. After much reminiscing and reconnecting, Lucile Palmer of Brooklyn said,…

A recently published study headed by Norwegian researchers has found there is a correlation between religious practice and lower blood pressure. The researchers, headed by Dr. Harold Koenig, say the study is one of several that have discovered similar trends. Overall, about sixty percent of quantitative…

The new preacher loaded his car with his large family and visited an old deacon on the farm. After the introductions there was an awkward pause as the unexpected guests looked for chairs upon which to sit. The parlor had only two chairs. "Brother, I don't believe you have enough chairs," suggested the…

Several years ago, the winter season brought a number of extremely heavy snows to the Forsyth County area of North Carolina. Between Winston-Salem and Kernersville, along the interstate highway, were a great many tall, young pine trees, lining the highway. Following one of the six-inch snows that was…

Some of us probably don’t remember but five years ago next month (July 2002) nine miners were trapped in a coal mine in Pennsylvania. On a Wednesday evening the mine collapsed filling with water. The miners were not pulled from the mine until Sunday morning. The miners were 250 feet underground in a…

The best illustration of this is something I just wish that you could experience. You’d have to hop a jet to do it. Once you arrived in Xalapa, Mexico, you’d have to snake your way up into the mountains to the “land that time forgot.” Nestled in the lush mountain forest, you’d find a little village called…

Fellowship “ but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” John 1:7 God created us to be in fellowship with Him and it pleases Him when we are, but we cannot walk with Him if we live sinful lifestyles.…

Christianity Without the Church? The results of a new study conducted by The Barna Group reveal that a majority of adults now believe that there are a variety of biblically legitimate ways to experience God outside of the conventional church. At least 50 percent of adults who took part in the survey…

Max Lucado illustration And last of all, the habit of fellowship: “Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead let us encourage one another” (Heb. 10:25 tev, emphasis mine). I’m writing this chapter on a Saturday morning in Boston. I came here to speak at a conference.…

This blog post at http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/03/18/88-dinner-parties/ and reveals exactly what we should NOT imitate in our "Fellowshipping" or our "hospitality". It is imperative that white people know how to host a good dinner party as they will be expected to do it well into retirement.…

Recently a Boston newspaper carried the story of a Maine couple whose dogs attacked a flock of sheep at a nearby farm, killing nine sheep and injuring ten others. The sheep in this area are famous for their prize-winning wool, but the dogs didn’t care. They went for the throats and slaughtered the sheep…

When I see a bird that looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, has webbed feet like a duck, paddles in the water like a duck, and prefers the company of ducks, it is hard for me to resist the conclusion that it must be a duck! “Birds of a feather flock together” and where you feel at home is most likely…

“Behind the line in World War I, rest homes were operated which were designed to serve as places of fellowship for all soldiers – whether officers or enlisted men. Over the entrance of such houses were posted these words ‘Abandon all rank, ye who enter here.’ So must it be in the church”

Someone once called a preacher to say he wanted to become a church member. But, he went on to explain that he did not want to: Worship every week. Study the Bible. Visit the sick. Serve as a leader or teacher. The minister commended him for his desire to be a church member, but told him the church he…