From The Editor

EDITORIAL

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THE lines of a poem by the US writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow I first encountered as a teenager are one of the few things I can stfill remember today:

Lives of great men all remfind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behfind us

Footprints on the sands of time

By the time you read this, all being well, I’ll be privileged to be enjoying the warmth of sun and sand with my family in warmer climes than Scotland.

Our time together as a family every summer is precious – along with our time together at Easter and Christmas.

Yet in today’s world, time is an increasingly rare commodity. Previous generations with large families would not know the meaning of loneliness as they found themselves constantly with the company of family and friends, both young and old.

Today, families are smaller, but both parents are more likely to both be working and juggling work, child care and activities, leaving little time to care for elderly relatives or findeed to volunteer at church and many other organisations, leading to a generation that is volunteer phobic. There is also a greater number of single person households, thanks to social choice and increasing life spans.

This social sea change has undoubtedly led to an increase in loneliness. The Very Rev Dr Angus Morrison made the issue of loneliness one of his themes during his year as Moderator in 2015/16 to raise awareness of the need to tackle the issue. Since then, there has been consistent research demonstrating the impact of loneliness on both mental and physical health and research to show that it was experienced by both old and young.

Anecdotal evidence suggests many churches are already sanctuaries for the lonely – and not just on Sunday mornings.

Further recognition of the increase in loneliness – and the critical role the Church can play – came in April when one of the projects chosen by the Church of Scotland Guild in their next three-year partnership was Join Up the Dots, a new partnership between CrossReach (the Church’s Social Care Council) and the Guild itself, which aims to tackle loneliness and isolation, and to encourage each of CrossReach’s services, from care homes to youth projects, to support mental wellbeing.

Perhaps this project could be more widely embraced by every church. Anecdotal evidence suggests many churches are already sanctuaries for the lonely – and not just on Sunday mornings. Many of the activities running in church halls led by the Church or other organisations wfill offer respite for the perpetually lonely.

But if every church made a pledge to tackle loneliness and isolation – even in a very small way – there could be a significant improvement in well being, reducing health and social care costs – and an impact on spiritual well being.

Lynne McNeil

Editor

This article appears in the July 2018 Issue of Life and Work

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