Friendship & Adversity - Midweek Message - Wednesday 15th April

Dear Friends,

I mentioned in the Easter Sunday message that I am currently reading Eric Metaxas biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian who was part of the resistance within Germany to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis before and during the Second world War. As a result, he ended up being executed 75 years ago on 10^th April 1945 by Hitler’s express orders. It is a humbling and inspiring story of Christian faith and courage in the face of much evil and adversity. Yet one of the things that has come out of the book and was confirmed for me by a recently published article on Bonhoeffer, was that he was not ‘a lone hero’ , a ‘self-made man leaping from strength to strength’ rather he was a ‘son… brother…friend…neighbour…citizen’ ; and was ‘formed in the small, mysterious, slow, even weak places of life—home, family, friends’;  ‘ the strength in his life was born out of the vulnerable and loving constraints of committed relationships.’* As well as forming and fashioning Bonhoeffer’s faith and life through his Word, God used relationships with those around him to shape and support him, to encourage and equip him for the work and witness to which he was called. 

Bonhoeffer himself recognised the importance of such relationships, not only in his own life but for all Christians. Given the powerful pressure  to submit and conform to  Nazism, he realised that if Christians were to remain faithful to Christ & oppose and undermine it, then the mutual support and encouragement of deep relationships, deep friendships in Christ was going to be necessary. He wrote a remarkable little book ‘Life together’ about the vital importance of such Christian community.

Our current context is very different from that facing Dietrich Bonhoeffer and yet, I wonder if, at a very general level, we are learning something similar in the wake of the impact of Covid-19 on all our lives. There have been so many heartening stories all over communities, up and down the country and across the world of people contacting and connecting with neighbours, friends, families, in some cases complete strangers as we realise we are in this together and need, at some level, to respond together.  In many cases, such connections have not been with people totally unknown, but perhaps simply those who, in the busy-ness of everyday life, were simply nodding acquaintances, known by sight but little more. The circumstances of the crisis have afforded a very natural opportunity to engage at a deeper more personal level as people look out for others and help in practical ways.

From speaking and listening to many within Inshes Church I know this has been happening and it has been a real joy and encouragement to hear of it. And, therefore, from a Christian point of view & in the context of our life as a church, all I wanted to do was to encourage us to make the very most of such opportunities.  Further, I hope that whenever this crisis is over and things return to ‘normal’, we won’t forget the people we have got to know better. I hope we will recognise, again especially in the context of the Christian life, that one of the prime ways God encourages and equips us, shapes us and supports us as Christians is through the giving and receiving of  friendship with fellow Christians. Equally,  one of the ways in which He commends Christ and his gospel to non-Christians is the friendship of Christians. In relation to that last point, I heard a pastor comment of those who have come recently into a church family that they are not as interested in people being friendly as they are in finding friends. Friendship is a precious thing in God’s sight and significant in His purposes.

You may remember from our series last year in Proverbs the value God places on the true friend.

17:17  A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

18:24  A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

27:6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

In the light of all that we have  been celebrating this Easter weekend, seeking to be such a friend to others in a time of need and indeed at all times, is surely a right and fitting response to all that God done for us and has given us in Christ. Jesus is the one who ‘laid down his life for his friends’ (John 15.13) He’s the one who came to be the friend of tax collectors and sinners (Matt 11.19); the one who, over the disapproving voices of the crowd, stopped to listen to and answer the desperate cry of blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10.46ff), and the one who sought to befriend not just the socially isolated, but the social outcast, Zacchaeus (Luke 19.1ff). As we sang fairly recently: What a friend we have in Jesus!

Yours with much to learn from Him about being a true friend,

 David

PS Remember, if you are able, praying on Wednesday at 7pm for 7 people for 7 minutes

*  from an article by Laura Fabrycky – The Witness of the weak centres – belonging, friendship, and prayer in the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Comment – you can find the whole article here