Posted by Pastor Steven on October 12, 2001 at 10:30:31:
In Reply to: Re: any thoughts on the nature of friendship? posted by G on October 11, 2001 at 23:31:47:
: : what can you share about friendship? i would really like to hear your opinions on this right now, since I think my notion of that is rather deflated. the only thing i know about it is that it requires work. any more thoughts, relections? can anyone share about a friend they have who really touches them? anyone have a best friend, or old friend, who they would like to talk about? what was the most special thing you ever did with a friend? by the way, i'm mainly interested in hearing about friends not relatives or lovers. thanks, bill
: Excuse me....I'm in Kings X mode....The Fine Art of Friendship....Meaning of Love....I remember a time when I couldn't drink wine and they taught me wrong & right & black & white...From death to the grave...some things never change.....la la la la
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I'm in Kings X mode too. I get to see my old friend Doug tonight. It's hard to believe he's 50 now and I'm 46; we've been friends 24 years. Yikes! But many years, long distances, long separations, crises of faith, moral dilemmas, and even rejection by the church hasn't damaged our friendship.
What is friendship? At the very least real friendship is amazingly durable.
I talked to Suze M. last night for about an hour on the phone, and it was the best thing that happened all day. I really love her and I can't fully explain why (or maybe I just don't want to dull the magic by trying). But I feel like John Lee so beautifully expressed (with tears): "When I heard her singing, something inside of me was healed."
Friendship heals. God uses friendship to recreate and restore something in us that would languish and die otherwise. At times it must be healed first, but afterwards it bears an incredible and mysterious power to heal everything else it touches.
Bill wrote a post a few days ago that talked about me. I read his kind words with a sort of cautious disbelief. Someone inside me believed the things I read about myself, but someone else is ever actively showing me dirty pictures of myself. I loath what this one discovers to me. I hesitate to acknowledge the treasure in me from God, feeling that spiritual power and beauty should not be allowed to co-exist in the skeletal prison of such a stained soul as I. But it was the stains that Bill would not acknowlege.
Friendship validates and embraces all that is good and beautiful and true in a friend. Friendship is the ultimate stain-remover. Friendship appraises the dirty, cracked artifact and values it a priceless treasure. Friendship sees through to the image of God in the creature, and like God, says that "it is good."
This ability is the most God-like that we possess, touching the power in creation, in prophecy, in healing, in resurrection, in redemption.