Hello friends,
We are in the last week of our worship series on friendship, and it has been fun renewing friendships and making new friends.
But, when Jesus called us “friends,” he may have been thinking of friendship a little bit differently than we typically think of it. We tend to think of friends as a private relationship between two people or a group of people. We are possessive of our friends. We claim them saying things like “Sally is my friend.” Friendship is personal.
The people in Jesus’ day had a different understanding of friendship. At that time, being a friend was a role you learned. When Jesus called people together, they learned how to be friends, maybe the way we might learn how to be a musician or a chef. They learned friendship by following Christ and practicing things compassion and caring, sharing and mercy, empathy, and forgiveness. When a musician becomes skilled, they share their music with the world. When a chef becomes good at preparing food, they cook for a broader audience. In Jesus’ day, when you became skilled at being a friend, you lived as a friend in the world in all your encounters. You were a friend to God and people and the entire world.
Jesus wasn’t looking for a clique of followers. He was forming disciples who could live as friends to the world for God.
Kind of interesting, don’t you think? What if each of us, as followers of Christ, lived as a friend in the world—not just to particular people, but to everyone? What if we all listed “friend” on our resume as our profession? What if a church was a place where friends gathered to practice and improve their skills at being friends so that they could be better friends in the world?
It all just has me thinking. I will soon need new business cards. What if my new business cards simply read “Friend”? Could I live up to that?
BTW: what’s on your business card?
According to Jesus, what should be on all our business cards?
Blessings and see you Sunday,
Pastor Cindy
Pastor Cindy Hickman
West Des Moines United Methodist Church
720 Grand Avenue
West Des Moines, Iowa 50265
515-279-0826
Like us on Facebook or visit us at wdmumc.org.
Worship! (Where people become friends!) We worship in person at 8:30 on Sunday mornings. That service is live-streamed and available all week long.
And at 9:30 we post an online worship service. Worship in the way that is right for you! This Sunday we will be sharing in Holy Communion.
WDMUMC News!
Hello Edgewater! We will resume worship services with the residents at Edgewater this Sunday. We have missed you!
All Church Picnic! Mark your calendars! May 12th at 5:30 at a shelter at Raccoon River Park. Bring a lawn chair and we will provide the food!
Memorial Service for Jackie Johnson This service will be held in our sanctuary on May 7th at 1:30. Please keep Bob and his family in prayer.
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