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[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/doku.php/jn_de_2009_06_22|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]]
[[topics_collection_i|| Topics Collection i ]]
======Friendship I.======
Monday, June 22, 2009. Friendship is one of the best things
we can experience in our life. A real friend can be some person
who is supporting us in both times of success and times of trouble.
A real friend is a person with a deep relation to us. Friendship
is some kind of miracle. Somehow we
realize that we touch each other deep in our souls. We understand
each other. We are able to reach each other with our words, with
our gestures, with our behaviour, with our fears and with our
dreams.
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Friendship grows. Friendship happens. You never know before whether
the person will become a friend. You cannot plan it, you cannot control
it. Friendship is something which comes to you. You might long for a
friend, you might try to find one - and yet it never happens. You might
give up, loose yourself in despair, and suddenly realize that a friend
is there, someone who understands you and someone you understand.
Friendship is something little and something great, it is extremely
important, and yet you are never able to fully own it.
I would say today that I have several good friends. That does not
mean that I meet all of them on a daily basis. Some live far away today,
I see them occasionally, sometimes only once a year, some even less.
Others are much closer, with daily interaction. When you ask me what
constitutes the friendship, I have to admit that I do not know. It
is not completely clear to me what makes a friend to a friend. I am
not even clear whether friendship is something which needs some kind
of mutual agreement. I see some people as friends and I hope that they
consider me their friend as well. But I have never raised this question
explicitly with them!
I want to take this week as a time to think about friendship. I want to
explore further what friendship means, share some experiences and
some challenges. Friendship does not need to be easy all the time! If
friendship does not hold in times of trouble, even in times when we do
not completely see where our friend is, it does not have the right to
be called friendship. Friendship is something which is beyond superficiality.
Friendship cannot be without going deeper. We will try to understand
what friendship is and what it means for us as humans. We will relate it
to the different levels and dimensions of our life.
There are several exciting things to say about friendship which will
go far beyond the usual fellowship between people with similar interests.
There can be friendship in love, for example. And there is a friendship
which God wants to offer us for our life, for our death and everything
beyond. Jesus called his disciples "friends" (John 15,15), no longer
servants or disciples. Friendship is one of the key concepts in the
New Testament for the relation between God and men and between the
people of faith. Friendship is a guiding principle of community for
Christians. Yet, it has not come to full realization in our churches. It
has not transformed our relations. We are longing for friends, but we
do not know how to be friends. There is much to gain, much to explore,
treasures to raise. Join me for an exciting adventure!
[R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]
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