solitude

I have to admit that I tend to dislike any practice that is not communal in orientation. I want to connect with others. I want to be with my wife. I want to have good relationships with others of our church, and those who don’t believe. I am in a sense a social being, and really we all are, since that is an essential part of our humanity. “It is not good for the man to be alone.” In the end in the Revelation there is a city.

And yet there’s another part of me which craves solitude. I really want some space, some aloneness. There is nothing better to me on a normal evening than to be in the living room with Deb, listening to classical music while reading a good book. And second best is when I’m alone doing that.

Jesus was around people nearly all the time. Crowds came. Even when they subsided, he was still busy in ministry to them. And as a Rabbi, he was the Master to followers who lived with him in keeping with that tradition, learning all they could from the totality of his life (see Lois Tverberg’s new book, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life).

And yet Jesus himself used to break away with his disciples from the crowds to get some rest and just be together I’m sure, and he would break away from his disciples as well, to meet with his Father in a solitary place.

We need solitude. In the busyness and humdrum of a normal day, I always want to be on the same wavelength of the others I’m working with, but at certain points I don’t mind at all simply being alone. In prayer. Seeking God, or speaking to him and hopefully listening, and reciting the Lord’s/our Father prayer, along with the Jesus Creed, and perhaps just working at being silent in my mind, actually a good idea I rarely practice, I’m afraid.

I admit though that I’m not really good at practicing solitude, as Christians have for centuries. I am thankful that our church encourages this practice, and especially our Pastor Sharon, who exemplifies it  quite well for us. So I hope to grow in it, so as to really walk with God in all of life. Together with others, that people may see Jesus in and through us.