The earliest net result of the sin of Adam and Eve was loneliness, and ever since that time mankind has been devising various ways of coping with loneliness.
Several years ago, as a new Rotarian, I attended a Fireside meeting; a meeting to orient new Rotarians, only to be shocked to hear the host address the meeting by saying: "Gentlemen: welcome to the lonely, professional men's club!" I hadn't really connected my new venture with loneliness, but as I meditated, it was certainly true.
Over Eaters Anonymous in attracting new members stress that it is for persons who express their loneliness through over eating.
Then there are the really lonely. Houses, noisy from silence shout at them. Others, guilty of misconduct, feel alienated from man as a race. It is all a legacy of our proto-parents--Adam and Eve.
God, merciful to our alone-ness, has gone to every length to heal aloneness. First, he provided the idea of home--a place for children to be born into where love is to be given freely as water flowing downhill, just because we exist.
He provided the nesting it takes to make a home when two decide to put an end to the aloneness and become one. Ideally that will take care of heart-loneliness for decades to come. Unfortunately, however, many do not bring the commitment to the union to keep the oneness. It then becomes aloneness again.
Then, for a rounding out of a person's needs for being a part of and not apart from, came the ecclesia--the called out. Those who form the oneness of the Lord's body. BL
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