Just as Jesus made a disparate group of disciples into friends, He continues to gather men, women, and children of all races and ages into friends, into family.
While Jesus shares a final meal before the cross, he turns to his disciples and says, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15)
At St. Brendan’s Church, we want to live as friends of Jesus and of one another. We seek to cultivate a multi-generational community of friends who share our lives together. Children are invited to serve and participate alongside adults in worship. We hope to encourage a place where each person has the opportunity to share his or her gifts with the community. Peter reminds us to , “Keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” 1 Peter 4:8–10.
We learn step by step how to be a church, a community that gathers around Christ and in service to one another. We remember the disciples who walk with Jesus, eat with Jesus, listen to Jesus and follow him throughout his ministry. In his final hours, Jesus calls them friends. In his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus lifts up his people Jew and Gentile into a new communion: a family, a circle of friends.
The Celtic Christians used the term “soul friends” to speak of a friendship that becomes vital in our spiritual formation. In the community of faith, we are being raised up as friends and we are learning how to love God and one another and how to share that love with the world.
Image “Girlfriends” by Matthew G (used by permission via Creative Commons).
Image “Friends in a Bench” by Olga Caprotti (used by permission via Creative Commons).