"Hell is other people." This is the often misunderstood and misquoted phrase from a Jean-Paul Sartre play, which he later explained meant the opposite of the way many people used it. What a lot of us have learned in the past ten months is that hell is the absence of other people. Of course many of us enjoy solitude and silence, but even the introverts among us have realized during the pandemic that the company of others matters, even if we are usually okay with "me, myself and I."
We have been retired for several years now and generally quite comfortable with not socializing all that much. Yet we enjoy time with our friends, and family is very important to us. The pandemic has meant that we don't get to be physically present with our two younger grandchildren. We have delighted in visits with the other two, but we are trying to accept a lengthier absence again, now that the older two are back in school.
For many heaven on earth is other people, including those who are part of our adopted families of faith. i'm aware from clergy friends who are involved in pastoral ministry that lots of their folk are suffering from isolation, and some are losing their grip with reality. The challenge of staying in touch with those who are mentally unstable is itself stressful, and we are realizing who important weekly worship and other congregational contacts can be for mental health.
I've never met anyone who is more creative and comfortable with her own company than my wife, Ruth. Just the same, she yearns to be in the physical proximity of our adult children and grandchildren, to hug and cozy up to the little ones -- well. all of them!
Ruth also works a weekly shift in the lunch-time meal ministry which has taken place every day since last March from Bridge St. United Church, our former church home.She says that it is gratifying to be involved in feeding people who are struggling during the pandemic. She is also aware of the loneliness of many of the guests. Even though pandemic protocols mean that the meal is something of a distanced assembly line rather than a sit-down meal individuals want to chat and tell their stories. She is uplifted every week by the gratitude guests express for what is food for body and soul.
Today is Bell Let's Talk Day, which invites us to be aware of mental health issues. I notice that this year the images Bell is using offer a variety of ways we can be supportive of one another when the ways we've taken for granted aren't possible.
They bring to mind one of the Gary Crawford illustrations from the New Creed booklet which the United Church created probably 25 years ago. I used this booklet with Confirmation classes in days past, and would ask the participants, mostly teens, to choose a phrase from the creed with its accompanying image. I was somewhat surprised that this was a favourite, with the young people speaking about grandparents.
We can support one another today, and every day, for that matter, with phone calls and messages and perhaps the distanced visit (I know, we're in a lock-down.) For those of you who are struggling "in the bleak mid-winter, may the abiding, embracing peace of Christ be with you. We are not alone, thanks be to God.
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