the joy of friendship

The joy of friendship 051015

This is a day of joy and excitement!  We hear it in our texts today: from psalm…sing a new song, be happy, rejoice out loud, make music, even the rivers clap their hands…and from Jesus: my joy is in you so your joy may be complete, love one another…..

And this is a day of joy and excitement for other reasons, the weather, a wedding here yesterday, and Mothers’ Day!

All may not be mothers, all may not have good mothers, but all can both give and receive love….the love of God at the centre of all our texts today, the love that is at the centre of all our relationships.

And it’s relationships that struck me in the words of Jesus we heard….I no longer call you servants, but friends.

And it was love that changed that relationship.  Love changes all relationships.

Who are your servants?   Many mothers might feel like servants; perhaps today they get a break and someone serves them! But it’s still an unequal relationship….and for sure temporary. 

And seriously who are your servants?   (your turn)…………

What would it take to see them as your friends? what would change that relationship?

Love changes relationships

You see, friendship is a relationship among equals—this may seem obvious today, but in Jesus’ day – and in the gospel writers end of first century world, it would be radical for Jesus, seen as divine by John’s gospel, to call mere human followers, ‘friends’.  There is too great a power imbalance between them. From Sojourners: human beings, lowly, mortal time-bound and fallible as we are, can be friends with God almighty.

So, think about our servants…..on PBS Newshour on Friday, manicurists…then there’s garbage collectors and lowly clerical workers, baggage handlers at airports (my personal experience this week),  sweatshop workers allowing you certain clothing labels, the cleaner at your office…..the list goes on, and might even include the people in your own family whom you treat as servants…..

Love changes those relationships, sometimes personally, one on one, sometimes in attitude and cultural understanding, but it changes things.   Being a Jesus follower means change happens.

So, what qualities do we see in friends?   (your turn)……….

Mutual, interdependent, caring, loyal etc....

So for Jesus to call us friends has profound implications. 

This week I read a quote from Teresa of Avila:

If Jesus dwells in a person as friend, that one can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens and never abandons us. He is a true friend.

But its not just the mushy “what a friend we have in Jesus” kind of relationship….an equally profound “what kind of friend does Jesus have in us”?

Love changes us and our perceptions….then it changes relationships.

Relationships beginning, like yesterday’s wedding couple

Relationships long  lasting

Relationships in trouble

Love changes them.

Here’s how it works:  we, you and me, we are loved by God, whatever Name you give the divine.  I believe Cosmic Energy IS in fact Love.  God is love.

And loved, we learn to love, giving and receiving.  And in that back and forth of Love we grow more and more like the one we call friend, the one who calls us friend.

And so joy comes, for what is more joy-making than knowing you are loved and loving?! So we can sing a new song, be happy, rejoice out loud, make music, even hear the rivers clap their hands…because, from Jesus we hear: my joy is in you so your joy may be complete!

May your soul sing a new song, your heart know the deep love, and your life resonate with the joy of love.

Amen.