In Part 1 I wrote about our built-in need for community and how loneliness is a universal pain because it robs us of the fellowship and community we were made to have. Part 2 will deal with the sin and how it ruins community and fellowship.

Back to Genesis and after the sin of Adam and Eve we witness a tragedy that still goes on today. Sin ruins fellowship.

Life before sin is one of happiness and contentment:

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Genesis 2:25 (ESV)

Compare that to what happened immediately after the sin:

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife b hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Genesis 3:7-8

The picture painted for us of life before sin is one of fellowship, innocence and contentment. Adam and Eve are completely open, no deceptions, no pretension, no needy striving to look perfect – they are quite literally naked, everything is open and that’s okay because they’ve never felt shame. When they sin however that vital link that they had with God that gave them their sense of security, contentment and value was severed and they felt shame and hid.

Fellowship is broken. Humanity is alone again, and this is not good. Adam and Eve have lost their peace because they have lost that vital link to God that they had before sin,. They feel wrong. For the first time in their lives they feel shame and they are not at peace with themselves. Now, the couple who had been so totally content that they could walk around naked and feel not a hint of embarrassment, fashion underpants out of leaves to cover up, hiding from themselves and from each other.

Upon hearing God in the garden they hide from Him too, as if one can hide from God. The Father who fashioned them, gave them life and everything they needed for peace, joy and security is not run to with open arms and happiness, but is run from out of shame. Fellowship is tragically broken, and not only are they not at peace with themselves, they are not at peace with the One they were made to enjoy fellowship with.

We see also that man and wife are no longer at peace with each other:

The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Genesis 3:12-13

When Adam first saw Eve he recited poetry expressing that the longing he had for fellowship and companionship was met perfectly, he rejoiced. Now it’s all finger pointing and blaming. Adam blames his wife and there’s even a hint that this is God’s fault in his speech – “the woman whom you gave to be with me” (my emphasis).

Sin shattered the beautiful picture of God and His people living together in harmony, totally happy, comfortable, secure. In order to restore this picture sin must be done away with so that we can be united again with God and with each other. God dwelling with His people. So God set about to do away with sin and restore fellowship

In the midst of this disaster there is the glimmer of hope that the early church called the protoevangellium:

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.

This is God speaking to the serpent (who represents Satan in this story) and he announces that one day a descendant of Eve will defeat him. He will be hurt in the process but He will defeat Satan. Throughout the rest of the Old Testament we are looking for and being pointed towards this Hero and we find Him, Jesus Christ, in the New Testament. Jesus is the Hero who came to fix things, to defeat sin and death and restore our fellowship with God and each other, taking the pain and damage onto Himself so that we would no longer be separated from God. He was hurt, but He prevailed. In the next installment we’ll look at the church that Jesus founded and the roll this has to play.

Hopefully I’ve gotten across that if God is going to fix things then the restoration of fellowship and community plays an important part in that. The Gospel is not just that we can be forgiven, that we can be let off the hook, it is also the wonderful news that we orphans can be adopted. Because of what Jesus has done for us through his death on the cross we can be children of God. God is fashioning a new humanity, a new family and we can be part of that, with that vital link between us and God restored so that we can now have peace again; peace with God and with one another in Christ.

Loneliness denies us an essential part of who we are and what God has designed for us. When the Bible introduces the part of the creation story in which man comes about it says the following:

Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

God’s plan from the beginning is that “man” would be a “them”, not a “him” – plural, not singular. There’s also the curious turn of phrase, “let us make man in our image, after our likeness”. Christians also believe that God is Triune, that God, although being One, is also a Trinity. In other words, God Himself is a relationship and a community and we are made in His image. Also in the creation story, the first point in the Bible where God says that something is not good is when he sees Adam on his own (Genesis 2:18).

There is a reason why isolation is used as a punishment, be it for an unruly child having a time-out, a partner given the silent treatment, a community member being shunned or boycotted or an inmate in solitary confinement – loneliness hurts! It hurts us because at heart we do not like to be all alone. Being made in the image of the Trinitarian God for fellowship with Him and with each other means that isolation robs us of something that is an essential part of who we are and what we are all made for.

As small as the world has gotten with modern technology, loneliness is still a big problem, and I would say it is even more of a problem in modern western culture than it used to be. We can now pick and choose the make-up of our communities.. A man or woman’s best friend can now live many miles away for them, kept in touch by text and voice, all the while they need not even know the name of their next-door neighbour. But emails, phone calls and Facebook messages are great for keeping up the false appearance of happiness and normality when things might be falling apart. They are no substitute for face-to-face relationships, up close and personal in our daily lives. Virtual communities can give the illusion of fellowship, making us think that we are not alone, while never providing the genuine companionship of an “IRL” (In Real Life) friendship.

“IRL” friendships can be messy, there are downs as well as ups. So, in the modern world with its taste for convenience and comfort have we taken the easy way out? Do we forsake the chance of making new friends while opting instead to listen to an old song on our MP3 players, shutting out the world? Do we forsake the chance to get to know our next-door neighbour, knowing that we can instead just post on our friend’s wall on Facebook? I know I am guilty of these things from time to time.

It took a blocked toilet and a broken laptop for me to be reminded (more than once) that it is not good for man to be alone.

Being the “independent loner” that I am, when my toilet blocked recently keeping the embarrassing blockage a secret from everyone else and handling the problem myself became top priority. I bought a plunger and several different types of drain clearing solutions but when that didn’t work I had to admit defeat and… ask for help from a friend. It probably took less than even one minute of actual poking about with a sewer-rod to fix the problem in the end. Real-life friendships are messy and sometimes embarrassing but there really is no substitute.

I was preaching on Palm Sunday and while finishing off my sermon on Saturday night my faithful laptop finally croaked. Thankfully I use Google Docs to write up my sermons so none of the existing material was lost. However, with no way of getting online I was once again forced to ask for help, reminding me just how much I need the fellowship and support of others. No matter how independent I like to think I am, it is not good for man John to be alone.

It’s almost been one year since I started my work in Greystones. It looks like I’ll be sticking around here for another couple of years. There’s work to be done! I thought I’d write you a short email [this was originally sent as an email to my supporters - John] to let you know what’s happening and because Monty (Rev. David Montgomery, my boss at Greystones Presbyterian Church) suggested that he write an email for me to send out to help me raise some much needed funds for next year.

At the moment I am preparing for TeenStreet, the international youth conference in Germany. Sarah, myself and eight teenagers fly out to Germany on the 31st of July. We’ll be there along with teens and leaders from many other countries for one week of worship, teaching, fun and fellowship. I need a lot of prayer for this! The Living Stones youth ministry hasn’t even been going a year yet so this is kind of a big deal for us. Please pray that the trip will go well and there will be no complications with travel. Please pray that the leaders and the teens will both be enriched an grow in their faith through this experience.

The other big thing at the moment is fundraising for next year. I’ll be staying on at GPC in the role of Ministry Apprentice. Parts of this will be exactly the same as my current position but it will involve more pastoral and leadership roles. In order to stay on and continue to help GPC I need to raise funds for next year. Financially speaking I’ve had a pretty tight year this year and there were times when I had simply run out of money. God has provided for me all year, giving me kind friends to support financially, in prayer and in making sure I had something to eat. To scrape by next year I’ll need at least €3,000. Please do consider supporting me whether through prayer or financially. Monty will have more details in the letter which follows.

I want to thank everyone who has supported me this year, it has been tough at times but your encouragement and support and God’s provision has seen me through so far. So thanks to God and thank you my friends.

I’ll let Monty take over with his letter now.

Love,
John.

Monty’s Letter
Friends of John O’Donnell

I have suggested to John, that I write to a number of his friends to keep them in touch with what is happening, inform them about the impact John is having in our fellowship here and give them the opportunity, if they wish, to make a small donation towards his next couple of years in ministry.

John has been with us for almost a year and in that time has formed a small but very successful youth group Living Stones which is having a great impact on the lives of a number of our young people, especially the boys. In a few days he is taking a group to Germany to be part of Teen Street. In addition he has got our website up and running, co-ordinated our audio-visuals, designed our publicity for the year, which has been of a super quality, produced our magazine, started a library/bookstall, led Bible studies, contributed to a Christianity Explored group, and preached to a very high standard on a number of occasions. You can listen to some of his sermons on www.greystonespc.org.

We are delighted to have had him working with us at such an early and formative time in our ministry here in Greystones. As we all consider options for the future we wanted both to maintain the partnership in ministry which had begun this year and also to develop it slightly, giving John some experience in other areas of ministry and therefore prepare him for any further training he may wish to do in the future. With that in mind we are offering him an apprenticeship under the Ministry Training Scheme which will run for at least one, or possibly two years. He will continue to be part of an expanding team here at Greystones and hopefully develop his own gifts and be stretched in new ways.

At Greystones we will continue to provide him with accommodation and a level of ‘volunteer expenses’, but as we are a small church, and as John does not have a large ‘home church’ to which he can turn for support, he is having largely to raise the supplemental funding for this himself. Already he has run two races of 5k and 5 miles to raise sponsorship for this. Being a shy sort he doesn’t find it easy to ask folks for help- but as his boss who has benefitted greatly from his contribution over the past year, I have no such qualms!

If you would like to help him in any way you can send a cheque made payable to Greystones Presbyterian to the address below [Monty's address omitted from blog version of this letter - John] and we will be sure to let John know of your support. This can be tax-deductable if you supply us with the relevant information. Alternatively you can give John your support directly, although the former is certainly more tax-efficient.

Above all, and regardless of whether you can support him or not at this time, do pray for him and us as we seek to be faithful to God and work for him in this community at this time

Thank you for your ongoing prayers and interest

David Montgomery.

Peter and Christine (and James), originally uploaded by Apprentice Blog.

This is Peter and Christine (and me in the middle), Peter was the Board of Mission in Ireland worker at Cahir Presbyterian Church, my old church. Peter is retiring for health reasons and him and Christine are moving back home. They are dear friends of mine as well as leaders and mentors and I will miss them, Cahir will miss them. I had the honour of preaching the sermon at a special farewell service for them on Sunday. The church was full of people and when you’re used to having less than ten people try to fill a church with song on a Sunday having the place packed with people singing worship to God can be quite moving. There was a bit of a croak in my voice as I began to preach. The smiling man in the background is James, who faithfully picked me up on Sundays to give me a lift to church.

This week I also had the great experience of attending the Irish Preachers Conference, which was held in Dun Laoghaire. The conference was attended by preachers from all over Ireland (and a surprising amount of Australians!) and was a mix of seminar and workshops. I had a great time and was really challenged, encouraged and helped in my ministry by the conference.

I am doing very well, I am happy and I enjoy my work even if it can be a bit stressful at times. I constantly find myself in over my head but God is the one working here in Greystones. God does His own work, not me, and it is good to see Him at work. I feel blessed to have this opportunity and to have God work through me.

Financially I’m not doing great, technically I’m in the red. I am getting by though, kind people are inviting me over for food and I am very greatful, especially since the alternative is often a bowl of cornflakes. Theoretically I should have enough money to get by every month but things always seem to crop up, like sickness (medicine is expensive),  my shoes wearing out (I saved money by buying super-glue to stick them back together again instead of buying a new pair), or Christmas. I’ve mentioned to a well known “serial-delegater” in the congregation that if she needs any holes dug or ditches cleared, etc. then to let me know, I could use the pocket money. Maybe something will come of that.

My personal life is going great! That’s all the detail you’re getting right now, Internet, but yeah it’s really really great!

I’m going to try to get back to some form of regular blogging here, journalling of some sort is helpful.

Don’t expect anything before 2009 though! Happy Christmas!

It’s a community project with the community being Christians in Ireland. The aim is to create a free audio Bible that anyone can download and hear the Word of God read aloud in the voices and accents of the everyday Christians in Ireland. Christians in Ireland speaking the Word of God to Ireland (and the world).

How about starting off with the Psalms? 150 different voices from all over Ireland, united to praise and worship God and speak His word to whoever would hear it.

So what do you think? Any advice? Volunteers? Donations of recording/studio time?

The banner came from CPO, which is where we’ve gotten all our banners so far. Peter and I are both happy with how the banner looks but we wish that the sizes were a bit more standardised. The placement of the eyelets on the banners seems to be more of an art than a science which means the banners, while listed as the same size on the website, don’t always fit the hooks we put in for our first banner.

We do still think it looks nice though, and it’s the only bit of colour on an otherwise bare stone wall on a big stone building.

I like butterflies.

So I’ve been left with two choices: get a job in some missionary or church organisation, or volunteer as a missionary and rely on donations. Now I’m afraid the job avenue didn’t look too good when I peered down it. I haven’t got enough experience to get a job yet so that leaves me with volunteering to get this much needed experience. Again I ran up against a wall. Working for free is expensive! Somebody eventually has to pay for my upkeep for the year. This is usually paid for by a base of very kind supporters. While I have some very kind, loving and encouraging supporters at my church the number of people in my church is still in single digits. Yes, single digits. In a large church it would be easier to find enough people to pay a small sum of money so that it would all add up to be able to fund my missionary work for a year, but in a church where the congregation has at time been only two people this isn’t possible. It was all getting a bit depressing until my elder and mentor Peter handed me a note before church. The note contained the name and phone number of a contact in charge of PCI Youth and Children’s Ministry’s SWIM programme. SWIM seems perfect. I would go to a church and work full time with them for a year and my accommodation and ministry expenses would be provided by the church as well as £50/€80 a week spending money. At last a way to gain experience.

On Monday I posted off my application form to the Board of Youth and Children’s Ministry, I received confirmation of their receipt.

On Wednesday one of those things happened that simultaneously excites me and makes me very happy and also makes me very worried and unsure of how to progress. A friend of mine mentioned the possibility of me working as the SWIM worker at his church. Out of all the churches in this country if you were to ask me to pick which one I would like to work with it would be this church. I wouldn’t even have to think about it..

So why am I worried and unsure of how to progress? The great thing about the SWIM programme was how my expenses would be provided for by the church, in fact this wasn’t just a “great thing” – a point in SWIM’s favour – it was what made SWIM even possible for me. If I get the position at my friend’s church I would have to raise the funds myself, about €8,000.

I’ll be honest, I have no idea how I’m going to raise that money.

I might not find out whether or not I’ve been assigned to this dream position at my friends church for a few months. So by the time I find out whether or not I’ll have to raise any funds I could have as little as one month to raise them. Remember my base of potential supporters is in the single digits.

So maybe you can understand how I feel. Please pray. Also consider this a roundabout way of saying “dear stranger from the internet, would you like to support me?”.

Related posts: Outreach, Outreach Update.