This sermon series and study on friendship will be a bit more than a Hollywood portrayal of “The one where Ross and Rachel were on a break.” It will be a little different than “The one with the jellyfish.” These five weeks will look less like Woody and Buzz and not even like Mr. Rogers and Lady Elaine Fairchilde. We think there may be more to friendship than what we’ve been offered. Perhaps our quarantine has exposed a deeper longing to a deeper kind of connection.

The Gospel from the beginning of God creating mankind is about friendship. If God is love then God gets to set the parameters and mark the boundaries of love and that is where friendship takes an interesting turn than just, “we were in the same sorority” or “we both have toddlers.”

The way the Gospel talks of friendship is surrounded by this concept of ‘mutual Christoformity” which is another way of saying ‘bonded in becoming like Christ.’ Friendship, C.S. Lewis would say, begins when one person says to another, “What? You too? I thought I was the only one.” Mutual Christoformity would say, “Let’s walk this road of Emmaus together while sharing the load of each others cross.” Paul calls each of us to take up our cross daily and follow Christ but we do that together.

Over the next five week’s we’ll be looking at David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi, Paul and John Mark, Peter and Paul, Paul and Phoebe, Timothy and Paul, as well as Jesus and Mary.

If Covid-19 has taught me anything, it is that deep, affectionate, loyal friendships are at the heart of human need and at the heart of the Christiaan narrative! Grab a friend and worship with us Online over the month of May as we look at The Art of Faithful Friends!