Unforgotten: Reflections on Loss, Loneliness and Love

By Keith Ravenscroft

This book is an attempt to bring comfort to anyone who may feel lonely, abandoned, or simply living on the margins of life. People who may be suffering from a feeling of having been forgotten by society and even by God. I have written it in the form of a series of reflections that engage with such feelings and try to offer a healing response. The book began life as a series I wrote, and still write, for residents of local care homes, where people have been locked down and felt locked away from those they love and who love them.

More broadly this book also deals with issues that anyone may be forced to confront in their daily lives and links them to key moments in the Bible where we need to get support from each other and to experience the loving wisdom and commitment of God to every one of us. Each reflection focuses on a single issue and is composed of a Biblical passage (usually), a personal reflection, and finally a brief prayer of encouragement.

I have avoided complex Biblical analysis and obscure theology. Each chapter is complete in itself, so this is a book that can be dipped into as well as read in sequence. My hope is that what I have written may in some small way be of help and sustenance to people who need to know deep down that, whatever life may throw at them, they are always Unforgotten by the God who created and loves them. Because, as Isaiah reassures us, God ‘has written your name on the palm of his hands, from all eternity.’

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Feb 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9781035804429

Keith Ravenscroft

After a degree in English Literature at Cambridge, Keith Ravenscroft had a career as a writer and creative director in international advertising agencies. He moved gradually from atheism to faith in mid-life and is now an Anglican Lay Minister which involves teaching, preaching and leading worship. Keith has lived in Canada and Italy in the past, and his passions are music, philosophy, theology and Christian spirituality as expressed in poetry and mystical writings. Keith is married to Avril, who is a graphic artist and an Anglican Priest. They have four children and three grandchildren.

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Copyright Information ©

Keith Ravenscroft 2024

All Biblical quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible.

The right of Keith Ravenscroft to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781035804399 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781035804405 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781035804429 (ePub e-book)

ISBN 9781035804412 (Audiobook)

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First Published 2024

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Introduction

This book of Reflections is meant for anyone who has ever felt, and maybe still feels today, lonely, excluded, even abandoned. Or for anyone who knows or identifies with someone in that situation. It’s a state of mind and heart that brings suffering to so many people. My intention is to support anyone who feels this way with some messages of comfort and hope.

After the loneliness of lockdown which has massively increased those feelings, this is a crucial time to stay in touch with ourselves, each other, and with God. Lockdown has demonstrated to us, powerfully and painfully, how we as humans rely on each other to maintain our sense of self, and if we are people of faith, above all to maintain our faith and closeness to God.

This series of brief reflections was originally designed to support those residents of two local care homes that before the pandemic I used to visit and regularly taken Communion to. As this was no longer a possibility I framed these thoughts as a way of, as our church described our mission then, ‘being together though apart’. I was relieved to find that these regular communications were welcome, but surprised and delighted that other people I knew seemed to relate to them just as personally.

Now that the worst of the pandemic seems to be over, at least at the time of writing, it is increasingly clear that it has left its mark on all of us. And that therefore some continuing form of support and encouragement might be welcome now and in the future. For that reason, I have adapted the reflections I’ve written over the past few years (and which I continue to write and deliver to care homes regularly) and combined them into this book.

I haven’t attempted any dense theologising or learned biblical interpretation. I feel that more people may react positively to one direct and simple thought that can encourage them and maybe even clarify for them that though we have lost a lot that is not recoverable through the pandemic, what we have not lost is of even greater value. We can still discover with new urgency that God is as close and as caring as ever. That we are still as much a part of one another and of Him as we could ever hope to be. And that even in our worst moments of stress and loneliness we are ‘Unforgotten’ by God. Because our names are written on the palm of his hand, and we remain ‘his people and the sheep of his pasture’, now and for all eternity.

These reflections do not follow a chronological sequence. Each one is complete in itself and therefore can be read in any order, depending on whether a particular issue resonates with you on a particular day. That is very much the way I wrote them, as issues and Bible texts came to the forefront of my mind. Many were written at the height of the pandemic, and I have left in references to those times. I hope that you will get from these reflections some of the same hope and comfort that came to me as I wrote them.

I’d like to thank the residents and staff of my local Beaumont and Belong Care Homes for their enthusiasm for this project, and their feedback. Most of all I thank my wife Avril for her insights and support, and my dear daughter Chloe who suggested this scheme to me in the first place. Without her prompting I would not have had the impetus to embark on it.

Keith Ravenscroft

June 2022

Reflections

1. A Message of Hope and Trust

In these troubled times we all need to remain safe and strong. And this is a time when our faith can help us the most. Here is God’s faithful promise to us from Isaiah—chapter 43. Let the healing words soak into you for a while:

’Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God,

The Holy One of Israel, your Saviour…

You are precious in my sight, and I love you…

Do not fear, for I am with you.’

Even at this time of threat and uncertainty, though it can be hard sometimes not to feel alone and isolated, we can still