Last night we were able to get together with some good friends, today we will say good bye to some good friends, tomorrow we will get to worship with some good friends, and then there are some good friends we have not seen in years, will not see in years, and some we will not see in this life time.
At our church there is a phrase: "true friends in Christ." It is a way to express the biblical idea of spiritual siblings. Jesus is the bond which can extend our family. When we are adopted as God's children (Ephesians 1:3-6), we have one Father, and Jesus is our brother, and we are a family. In this we can have friendships of another kind. We can be "true friends in Christ."
What does this mean for me personally?
There are those who say a pastor should not have close friendships within their congregation, and while there is great worldly wisdom in this, and it does simplify things greatly - I can't personally imagine it. How can I not form deep, mutually supportive friendships with the siblings I spend the most time with? Was there a friendship between Jesus and the disciples - it feels that way. And as troublesome as this might be, Jesus had an inner circle of those who he spent more time with, trusted on a deeper level, laughed with harder and cried with more easily.
I so value the true friends in Christ in my life. Those I spend time with weekly, and those who I must wait until death to reunite with. The bonds within families are often messy, but they are also so very rich. This is true with my biological family, and even more so with my spiritual one.
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