\n<\/p>\n
Feeling lonely is one of the most common symptoms of going through a faith transition<\/a>. This has been confirmed over and over the more I talk with people. However, it turns out it\u2019s not just people in faith transition experiencing it. A study by health service company Cigna<\/a> found that 46 percent of U.S. adults report feeling lonely sometimes or always and 47 percent report feeling left out. Cigna calls those \u201cepidemic levels.\u201d<\/p>\n When I was a pastor, I had an experience with a woman once that has forever changed my life. There were two buildings at the church: my office was in one and our weekly pastor\u2019s meeting was in the other. One day, I was literally running to a meeting from one building to the other because I was late. On the way, I ran past a woman whose son had been struggling with depression. As I got to the door, I turned around and jogged back to her. \u201cHow\u2019s your son?\u201d I asked, a little out of breath.<\/p>\n We chatted for about 5 minutes and then I went ahead to my A week later I got an email from her. I don\u2019t still have it but I wish I would\u2019ve kept it because it was a sermon and to this day, it still preaches to me. I\u2019ll summarize.<\/p>\n \u201cI know you were busy last week but it meant the world to me that you stopped on your way somewhere else to ask about me. As I thought about it, it occurred to me that most of Jesus\u2019 ministry was \u2018on the way\u2019 to somewhere else. He was willing to be interrupted \u2013 and that\u2019s where his interactions happened. In the interruptions. Thanks for being interrupted \u2013 thanks for being like Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t tell that story to toot my own horn. In fact, I was To First<\/strong>, So Now, when we read about the life of Jesus, he seems to have a different take on interruptions. In fact, his story seems to be more about interruptions than anything else. Think about it. It\u2019s almost like the gospels are written as strings of interruptions tied together by \u201cand now Jesus decided to go here.\u201d Almost every single time Jesus heals someone, he is \u201con the way\u201d to somewhere else. He is rarely \u201con the way\u201d to heal someone. Some of the most important moments in Jesus\u2019 life are what we would call \u201cinterruptions.\u201d <\/p>\n I The story of our culture says that we have too much to do and not enough time to do it. In this story, people are \u201cinterruptions.\u201d They will make me 3 minutes late to my meeting, they will make me miss the first part of the newest episode of Queer Eye, etc ad nauseum<\/em>.<\/p>\n The But the story of the Gospel tells us a different story. In that story, people are more important than a list of to-dos. Our success is no longer what we accomplish but whether or not we value people for who they are instead of for how they contribute to my accomplishments. That is, the life of Jesus calls us to transform our daily lives in such a way that people are no longer \u201cinterruptions\u201d but \u201cinter-ruptions.\u201d <\/p>\n I am slowly learning that a Jesus-informed way of life must pry my hands away from the need to \u201cget things done\u201d toward connecting with people in such a way that my encounters with them \u201crupture\u201d me internally, they change my heart, my perspective, my life.<\/p>\n Perhaps
\nmeeting.<\/p>\n
\nmoved by the email but realized she caught me on a good day. I\u2019m a very
\npurposeful and efficient person. I hate interruptions. <\/p>\n
\ncall something an interruption is to assume two things about the situation:<\/p>\n
\nyou assume a goal. You are definitely headed somewhere. There is no
\ninterruption if you are not \u201con your way\u201d to do something or go somewhere. Second<\/strong>,
\nyou assume that your goal is more important than the interruption. There is no
\ninterruption if you are on your way but are diverted by something you think is
\nmore important.<\/p>\n
\nthen, an interruption is something less<\/em> important that \u201cgets in the way\u201d
\nof going somewhere or doing something more<\/em> important.<\/strong><\/p>\nBut Jesus seems to invite these interruptions.<\/h2>\n
\nthink what we call \u201cinterruptions,\u201d because we are obsessed in our culture with
\n\u201caccomplishing things,\u201d Jesus would consider \u201cinter-ruptions,\u201d (<\u2013see what I
\ndid there) that is, opportunities for two human beings to have a moment, to
\nconnect in a way that date-books, deadlines, and over-inflated senses of
\npurpose and importance simply will not allow. <\/p>\n
\npeople in front of me at the grocery store: interruption.
The people who crowd the department store: interruption.
The friend who calls as I\u2019m walking out the door: interruption.
The family member who drops by unannounced: interruption.
The stranger who strikes up a conversation at the airport: interruption.<\/p>\n
\none antidote to our loneliness is an openness to being interrupted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n