Isolation is the complete separation from others and it is a killer; it will kill you. There is no more destructive influence on physical and mental health than the isolation of you from me and us from them. Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo, writing for Psychology Today said, “Isolation is the central agent in the etiology of depression, paranoia, schizophrenia, rape, suicide, mass murder, and a wide variety of disease states.”

      Today our watchword is privacy and our commitments are short-term. Our world is fast adopting the unwritten regulation so often observed in elevators, “Absolutely no eye contact, talking, smiling, or relating without written permission from the management.” The Lone Ranger, once a fantasy hero, is now our model, mask and all. This isolationism attitude has infiltrated the church; people attend church faithfully, but as soon as the benediction is given, they are out of the building like bats out of heaven.

      English poet John Donne wrote the following: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea. Europe is the less… any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

      As we enter the new year, let’s make it our business to get involved in the body of Christ by getting off your assets, and contributing your talents and abilities to the growth of the church.

Be Blessed,

Bishop Jemmott