“My primary question, over time, became a question

about love. Where was I to find love? Where was I to give love? If Scripture and the Christian tradition were

right that I shouldn’t try to find a husband, surely the

apparent corollary couldn’t be right—that I was therefore cut off from any deep, meaningful

form of intimacy and communion. Could it?”

I would be such a friend to someone.

”The Invention of Love,

by Tom Stoppard

“

Eros (romantic love)

Eros (romantic love)

Agape (selfless love)

Philia (friendship love)

“There is, in fact, a place for love, and it’s called friendship.”

crowded

l o n e l i n e s s

Could we be the first generation

that knows nothing about the meaning of true

friendship

?

No Greater Love

image: mafleen~ The Gospel of John 15:12-13 ~

This is my commandment, that you love

The Gospel of John 15:12-13

one another as I have loved you. Greaterlove has no one than this, that someonelays down his life for his friends.

Leader: This is the Word of our Lord.Unison: Thanks be to God!

This is my commandment, that you love

The Gospel of John 15:12-13

one another as I have loved you. Greaterlove has no one than this, that someonelays down his life for his friends.

“See to what limits love should reach among friends, namely to a

willingness to die for each other…. Though

challenged, though injured, though tossed into the flames, though

nailed to a cross, a friend loves always.”

~Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167) On Spiritual Friendship

“Ruth and Naomi” by Herbert K. Bourne

“Do not urge me to leave you or to return from

following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people,

and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and

there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but

death parts me from you.”

“Ruth and Naomi” by Herbert K. Bourne

~ Ruth 1:16-17

David & Jonathan

David & Jonathan1 Samuel 18:1, 2-4

“As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul…. Then Jonathan made a covenant

with David, because he loved him as his own soul. And

Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and

gave it to David, and his armour, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.”

David & Jonathan1 Samuel 20:41-42

“And they kissed one another and wept with one another, David weeping the most.

Then Jonathan said to David, ‘Go in peace, because we

have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying,

‘The LORD shall be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring,

forever.’”

“I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan;

very pleasant have you been to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of

women.”

~ Gustave Doré, 1832-1883~ King David’s Lamentation

in 2 Samuel 1:26

“There is a friend who sticks closer than a

brother.”~ Proverbs 18:24

“…your friend who is as your own soul….” ~ Deuteronomy 13:6

Jesus’ Friends

?If Jesus was the perfect human being, and if Jesus desired friends

and loved them deeply, then why do you think that deep, sacrificial

friendships are optional?

“And he answered them, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking

about at those who sat around him, he said,

‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever

does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and

mother.’”

~ Jesus of Nazareth in The Gospel of Mark, 3:33-35

“Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and

brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”

~ Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospel of Mark 3:33-35

•FORGIVES One Another

THE NEW FAMILY OF JESUS

•SHOWS HOSPITALITY to One Another•ENCOURAGES One Another•LOOKS OUT for One Another•PRAYS for One Another•SERVES One Another•WELCOMES One Another•LOVES One Another

•DIES One Another

Following Jesus transforms our lives so that we would gladly lay down our lives for our friends precisely because we love them.

Follow Jesus into deep, loving friendships.

“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person

one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us

in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

~ The Apostle Paul in Romans 5:7

“By this we know love, that he laid

down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for

our brothers.”~ The Apostle John in

1 John 1:3-4

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a

pure heart.”~ The Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1:22

“Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need of anyone to write you for you yourselves have been taught by God to

love one another. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more.”

~ The Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

Ask yourself…

Could I be such a friend to someone?

Theen Moy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/theenmoy/14138348137

contemplative imagining: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomas-merton/8686694887/

flickr images courtesy of:

other images:http://gilsonsantos.com/2013/07/12/rute-e-noemi-ary-scheffer/

Christopher Brown: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7853490@N07/3531948937/

Will Foster: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mazakar/2777932633/

Jason Mrachina: https://www.flickr.com/photos/w4nd3rl0st/5350465341/ Used by permission: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

http://christianimagesource.com/david_and_jonathan_g223-david_and_jonathan__image_7_p1281.html

http://christianimagesource.com/david_israel_g306-david_israel__image_5_p1973.html