My reading for August 25th today in the Celtic Daily Pray by the Northumbria Community was all about friendship, so a few more thoughts on friendship from our Celtic family.
Psalm 15:1-3, Proverbs 17:17; 18:24, Matthew 11:19
Who are my friends? Are they Christians or not? Or some of each? If my friends are mostly Christians I am in danger of disappearing into a little Christian ghetto which will not be good for me. My contact with not-yet-Christians should not remain superficial - friendship, when it happens, comes from mutual liking beyond having just interests in common. It means being glad to spend time together; it means developing trust. Friendship requires honesty. Friends do not need you to be "up" all the time - instead they enable you to be more vulnerable.
2 comments:
BJ, this is valuable, hard stuff. With all the "missional" talk, sometimes friendship seems forced for the sake of evangelism, which I hate. Maybe we should talk more about the value of friendship when we talk about 1 - 1 relationships.
I agree with John. Sometimes I feel frustrated with the Christian community because of the insulation: why is the value of deep friendship with not-yet Christians a revelation? Our innate humanness has lead us to misinterpret the meaning of Christianity; we let ourselves believe our own lives are more valuable, and that we have all the answers. So much can be learned about Christ's love from our not-yet Christian friends.
To me, the key of friendship is giving and receiving. I hope we approach and build friendships with humility and gratitude.
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