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Monday, May 22, 2006
Friendship Theology
Psalm 98; John 15:9-17
We baptized twin baby brothers. It was sheer unadulterated joy! Then, during the sermon, other babies present cried, still other babies coughed, and a couple of ambulances screamed past our open doors. The pastor lost his concentration and his place. By God's grace he pulled it together and finished strong. Hallelujah! But you really don't want to hear the recording of all that.
No GODcast this week!
________________
During the year 1992 the letters FOB took on a whole new meaning.
Having nothing to do with the price of an automobile, they now stood for Friends Of Bill. Supporters of Bill Clinton's campaign for the presidency. Personal friends of the candidate, they gladly contributed their money, whatever influence they could bring to bear, and their advocacy for his proposed policies. Through thick and thin, Bill knew he could count on his Friends!
In time, of course, being an FOB became awkward and fraught with liability. Rumors, innuendos, scandals, the grueling process of impeachment all took their toll. Even so, most of the FOBs stood strong and true to the very end. That's what Friends are for.
It's a tremendous privilege to be the Friend of a Very Important Person. An awesome responsibility, too. Most of us turn out to be their Servants instead.
That was the case with Jesus' disciples. For three years they served under his Master Teacher leadership. They dutifully listening when he spoke. They carefully watched what he did and how he did it. Then they tried their best to score A's on all his lab assignments. Apprentices. Trainees. Servants one and all.
Imagine their overwhelming joy, then, when he told them, "I'm not calling you servants anymore. No, now you are my friends."
FOJs!
Jesus was promoting them to a position of honor and absolute trust. They'd always known implicitly that they could count on him for security, knowledge, and direction. But now he would be counting on them -- for loyalty, dependable support, and readiness to step up when he needed help.
Every single follower of Jesus Christ shares that same position of privileged responsibility. Friends Of Jesus. Wow and o boy!
If you're like me, you tend to pick and choose your friends. People who agree with us. Who think we're smart, funny, nice. Who like our company. Our kind of people.
But in our hearts we know there's more to friendship than that.
For instance...
If you're an FOJ, and I'm an FOJ, then whether we know it or like it we're friends of each other too.
A pastor I know had an epiphany one Sunday during Holy Communion. As elders passed the trays of bread and juice among the congregation, and the organ played familiar hymn tunes, he sat at the Table in silence. This one time he began scanning the faces of his congregation, slowing down enough to really focus on each person.
Among them he saw one person on whose support he could always depend, and he silently prayed, "God loves you!" Continuing on, he noticed a couple he'd wept with in a counseling session not long ago, and repeated his silent prayer. One after another, he silently blessed his church family with God's unconditional love.
Then he stopped at a person who'd more than once let him know the error of his pastoral ways. He swallowed hard -- hurt feelings and pride went down, down, down. Then, staring long and hard, he said it again. "God loves you!"
At last, all the people present were served the bread and the cup. And all were silently blessed by their pastor for being FOJs. And, at last, that minister understood: Every last one of them was his friend, too.
posted by Jack Buckley at
10:32 AM
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