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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.

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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