God is nothing if He is not a relational being. He exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit! From eternity He has existed in and as the celebration of loving friendship. We were created in that likeness and image. We are nothing if we are not living in relationship both with Him and with each other. Adam and Eve were enjoying perfect relationships with God, one another and the world around them, before they rejected God’s authority. The easy intimacy was lost between God and man, but in His amazing grace came seeking, “Where are you?”
It is the seeking heart of divine love that lies behind the gospel plan to restore people to relationship with himself, and to each other. Throughout the history of the scriptures, God calls those who belong to him friends. The Lord spoke to Mose “as a man speaks with his friend” (Exodus 33:11) and describes Abraham as “my friend” (Isaiah 41:8).
The disciples of Jesus were anything but perfect men, however, Jesus called them his “friends” (Luke 12:4). The Pharisees were enraged that Jesus would be a “friend of … sinners” (Matthew 11:19).
The very goal of God is to be our friend! We are friends of God not because of any innate worthiness in us, but because of Christ’s death for us on the cross.
God’s plan of salvation is designed not only to restore our vertical relationship with God, but also to create horizontal relationships of loving friendship between human beings in his family. He call us to himself not as individuals, but as members of a new community. Deep relationships, can and should, develop as we grow together in the church into the likeness of Christ, and serve together in mission.
I have been reminded that friendship is not an optional extra, but is essential to our God-given humanity. Living unfriendly and friendless lives is both a rejection of God’s purpose for us as his image, and a dehumanizing tragedy. Just as God is love, so he commands us to prioritize love in our lives by loving him and our neighbors.
In his essay on friendship C. S. Lewis points out that while lovers are often seen face to face, delighting in one another, the characteristic pose of friends is side by side or shoulder to shoulder. Friendship begins, he suggests, when people discover a common interest or passion. It is found when we discover those traveling the same road as us, and decide to walk together.
This week I humbly and sadly honor a friend with whom I shared a common interest and passion. A dream really, or better put a “prayer.” The prayer that Jesus prayed immediately before his death on the cross!
John 17:20 ¶ “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; John 17:21that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.John 17:22And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
This prayer changed my life. It also brought into a relationship that truly inspired my life. Our friendship grew out of a sense of urgency of this prayer of unity. A unity that would open the eyes of the world to the knowledge of the saving grace of Jesus. We shared the same passion for the “lost.” A passion that we both came to understand would require the unity of the Body of Christ that has of yet not been seen.
Friendship is not an option to the Christian faith, it is essential! It is the very heart of God revealed in our lives as we walk in the “way of Christ.”
I loved Bishop Tony Palmer! I will always cherish our friendship and continue to pursue the “Miracle of Unity.” Perhaps others will become friends within the call to “unity.”
