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| Icon of Christ and Abba Mena |
Thank you for joining us for Start:Stop. This reflection will last around ten minutes and you are welcome to come and go as your schedule dictates. Today we are reflecting on the theme of friendship. We begin with a short bible reading which can be found on page 85 of the Old Testament.
Bible Reading – Exodus 33.7-11
Bible Reading – Exodus 33.7-11
Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp; he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each of them, at the entrance of their tents and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise and bow down, all of them, at the entrance of their tents. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then he would return to the camp; but his young assistant, Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the tent.
Reflection
This text gives us a glimpse into the privileged intimacy that Moses enjoyed with God. The Lord spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting “as one speaks to a friend.” What a glorious phrase! Scholars have identified a number of Hebrew words which could be interpreted as ‘friend’ but could also mean ‘fellow’ ‘neighbour’ ‘peer’ or simply ‘another person’ – none of which carry quite the same meaning for us today. However, given the singularity and intimacy of Moses’s encounter with the Lord in this passage, most agree that friend is the best translation here.
The tent of meeting is “far off” from the rest of the camp – this distance symbolic of the separation between God and his people and the danger of God getting any closer to them, who, as we learn shortly before this passage, had broken the first commandment by building the Golden Calf. This isn’t a tent of priestly sacrifice or service but a tent of revelation; Moses was chosen to intercede on behalf of his people and this passage is set within a long dialogue where Moses speaks frankly with the Lord, convincing him not to destroy them and to restore his presence among them.
The life, death and resurrection of Jesus restored the relationship between God and humanity. The Incarnation – the most important event in the history of the world - gave us a new horizon within which we not only understand our relationship with God, but with each other and the whole of creation. Paul Bayes, the Bishop of Liverpool has said “In Jesus, God’s mercy is offered in the form of friendship.” It’s no longer just Moses inside the tent – we are all called to gather around The Table with Jesus, as his friends.
This was the central image in Paul Bayes’ sermon on becoming Bishop of Liverpool and his description of how we are called, as Christians, to live our lives; a life in which we find ourselves not just in our tent with our Creator, but alongside other friends of the Lord as disciples; in an open friendship; a friendship which we are called to share, creating new disciples.
Paul Bayes describes friendship as a mystery but prefers to talk of Christian friendship than ‘fellowship’ – a term he feels is a pale imitation. Certainly friendship is a powerful relationship which is not easily broken. It implies commitment. But what is the end result? What does friendship produce that fellowship does not? Like Paul Bayes, the protestant theologian Jurgen Moltmann has described friendship initially in terms of what it is not. It is not, he says “an official category, or a title of sovereignty, or a function that is exercised only for a certain period of time….Rather, friendship is a free human relationship, one that arises out of freedom and preserves freedom….Friendship is [Moltmann says] lived freedom.”
This language of freedom reminds us of the letters of St Paul. Sharing our love for one another in friendship could be said to be an example of the outward working of the grace of God. The more God is active within us, the freer we are – the more human we are.
If speaking about our relationship with God as our friend sounds a little bit too Disney for you, C.S.Lewis helpfully provides some more historical context. In ‘The Four Loves’, he reminds us that in classical times, friendship was considered to be the most virtuous of all forms of relationship – above erotic or familial love. Rebutting Freud, who saw friendship as a manifestation of sexual desire, Lewis said that friendship is as close to heaven as we can get in this world;
“Friendship [he said] is the least jealous of loves…In this Friendship exhibits a glorious ‘nearness by resemblance’ to Heaven itself, where the very multitude of the blessed increases the fruition which each has of God.”
Therefore for Lewis, whilst one-to-one friendship (like Moses in the tent with God) is valuable, group friendship “the multitude of the blessed” is even more rich. Friendship produces more friends. We are drawn back to Jesus at The Table.
However, friendship is not immune from human failings. We can choose to use friendships to exclude rather than include others – to be closed rather than open. But the friendship we receive from Christ is different. This is because, as the famous hymn reminds us, Jesus is not only our friend but our master. Jesus called the disciples – this motley crew of very different individuals - to sit around his table. Through his grace, He has chosen us to be his friend. If we accept his choice, then any friend of Jesus is a friend of ours. C.S. Lewis again:
This was the central image in Paul Bayes’ sermon on becoming Bishop of Liverpool and his description of how we are called, as Christians, to live our lives; a life in which we find ourselves not just in our tent with our Creator, but alongside other friends of the Lord as disciples; in an open friendship; a friendship which we are called to share, creating new disciples.
Paul Bayes describes friendship as a mystery but prefers to talk of Christian friendship than ‘fellowship’ – a term he feels is a pale imitation. Certainly friendship is a powerful relationship which is not easily broken. It implies commitment. But what is the end result? What does friendship produce that fellowship does not? Like Paul Bayes, the protestant theologian Jurgen Moltmann has described friendship initially in terms of what it is not. It is not, he says “an official category, or a title of sovereignty, or a function that is exercised only for a certain period of time….Rather, friendship is a free human relationship, one that arises out of freedom and preserves freedom….Friendship is [Moltmann says] lived freedom.”
This language of freedom reminds us of the letters of St Paul. Sharing our love for one another in friendship could be said to be an example of the outward working of the grace of God. The more God is active within us, the freer we are – the more human we are.
If speaking about our relationship with God as our friend sounds a little bit too Disney for you, C.S.Lewis helpfully provides some more historical context. In ‘The Four Loves’, he reminds us that in classical times, friendship was considered to be the most virtuous of all forms of relationship – above erotic or familial love. Rebutting Freud, who saw friendship as a manifestation of sexual desire, Lewis said that friendship is as close to heaven as we can get in this world;
“Friendship [he said] is the least jealous of loves…In this Friendship exhibits a glorious ‘nearness by resemblance’ to Heaven itself, where the very multitude of the blessed increases the fruition which each has of God.”
Therefore for Lewis, whilst one-to-one friendship (like Moses in the tent with God) is valuable, group friendship “the multitude of the blessed” is even more rich. Friendship produces more friends. We are drawn back to Jesus at The Table.
However, friendship is not immune from human failings. We can choose to use friendships to exclude rather than include others – to be closed rather than open. But the friendship we receive from Christ is different. This is because, as the famous hymn reminds us, Jesus is not only our friend but our master. Jesus called the disciples – this motley crew of very different individuals - to sit around his table. Through his grace, He has chosen us to be his friend. If we accept his choice, then any friend of Jesus is a friend of ours. C.S. Lewis again:
“Friendship is not a reward for our good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others. They are no greater than the beauties of a thousand other men; by Friendship God opens our eyes to them. They are, like all beauties, derived from Him, and then, in a good Friendship, increased by Him through the Friendship itself, so that it is His instrument for creating as well as for revealing. At this feast it is he who has spread the board and it is He who has chosen the guests. It is He, we may dare to hope, who sometimes does, and always should, preside. Let us not reckon without our Host.”
Meditation
In a few moments of silence before we pray together, perhaps we might reflect on those sentiments, in the words of that famous hymn. O give us grace to follow my master and my friend.
Prayers
The response to “O give us grace to follow” is “Our master and our friend.”
O give us grace to follow
Our master and our friend
Lord , we thank you for the mystery of friendship;
for your overflowing love for each of us.
By your grace and through your church, guide us to share this love with one another.
Grant us the courage to overcome our fear of disagreement and failure and be your disciples.
Let us stand with you, beside our friends, in times of sorry and of joy.
Let our friendship be a pledge of our faith in you.
for your overflowing love for each of us.
By your grace and through your church, guide us to share this love with one another.
Grant us the courage to overcome our fear of disagreement and failure and be your disciples.
Let us stand with you, beside our friends, in times of sorry and of joy.
Let our friendship be a pledge of our faith in you.
O give us grace to follow
Our master and our friend
Lord, we pray for peace and justice throughout the world,
especially for those who today are suffering as a result of violence, hunger, disease and natural disasters.
Help us to be with them, beside you, in their need.
Give us the grace to recognise you as our master – the perfect model of holiness.
Enable us to overcome our prejudices, to be open in our friendships; to flourish and thrive in the diversity of your glorious creation.
We pray especially at this time for those standing for election and those working with them,
let us treat each other graciously in our discussions. May the campaign be conducted with fairness and respect.
O give us grace to follow
Our master and our friend
Lord, we thank you for the gifts of our friends and families.
We remember especially those we love and see no longer.
We thank you for calling us all as your friends.
Help us to remember in all we do this day and every day that it is you who have called us.
You made the table and the tent. You give us our daily bread. You give us our hope and strength.
O give us grace to follow
Our master and our friend
Blessing
God who is higher than our highest thoughts
yet closer than our closest friend
be thanks and praise
glory and honour
now and forever.
And may the blessing of God Almighty,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
be with us and remain with us this day and always.
Amen
Thank you for joining us for Start Stop. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead. Our next reflection begins in a few minutes.
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