“You are my friends”

Sermon 13th May 2012 - Christian Aid Sunday

John 15: 9-17

"You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures” (John 15:16)

 

Some people come into our lives and quickly go
Some people move our souls to dance
They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom
Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon
They stay in our lives for awhile, leaving footprints on our hearts,
And we are never, ever the same

When I was a little girl I had lots of friends; as I got older one of those friends became my best friend, and for a while we were inseparable; whoever arrived first at school would wait in the cloakroom for the other; at least once a month we’d sleep over at each other’s houses.

We moved up to senior school, and we were put in different classes; but break time and end of school we’d still catch up.

Then horror!

Moira’s dad’s job moved – and suddenly we were separated.
At the time we were 13 and it felt like the end of the world.

We kept in touch by letter for a while - but time moved on and we drifted apart. We each made new friends, and another girl, who’d been at school as long as I had became my new best friend; once again as time went on we became inseparable.

Through school and beyond our friendship lasted; we were at each others’ weddings; she witnessed the birth of my first 2 sons; and I her first daughter – then horror of horrors....

I had to move away – up to Aberdeen

We kept in touch via phone and visits; and her 2^nd and my 3^rd children were born days apart – though separated by around 200 miles.

Then as time passed, and as our families grew, we too began to drift, whenever we did meet up it was as if we’d never been apart

Over the years the distance and the different lives we led caused us to be in touch less and less often – nowadays it’s just via the annual Christmas card and news catch up
But still we love each other; still we are connected.

The friendships we have through life are a gift and a blessing – and like that poem I read at the start, the different friendship and relationships last for varying lengths of time – but each will touch us, change us, mould us – for good or bad.

There are other relationships too: like our work colleagues – whether you are the boss or you are an employee we have other connections. People we work with or for; people who are maybe clients, or customers or contacts. They are in the wider circle. People you know. People maybe you even know quite well – but not necessarily friends.

Teachers; pupils; doctors, nurses; all sorts of connections.

Jesus did something totally radical

He was the teacher – the rabbi – the learned and wise one
Yet he chose to call his disciples his friends
He didn’t want to lord it over them as a master and servants
He didn’t want them to be subservient – he wanted them to value everyone equally – slave and free; men and women; old and young
And he knew there was only one way that this could be achieved: through love
Now, last week, I spoke at length about what love – real love – is like
And as we continue through the next part of the same discourse Jesus continues with the same theme – love

Love is everything

Love – without condition
Love – without counting the cost
Love – even to death

In the authorised version there is a certain poetry that is lost in more modern translations –

John 15:13 is one such verse which really needs the older language – “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”

Jesus, relationship with his followers, his disciples, his apostles, his friends was such that he put that into practise. Dying not for a select few; nor for the few hundred who remained faithful in the early days, but dying for all who follow him

All who call on him

All who seek him, know him, love him and do their best to follow his ways are his – chosen, set apart and fruitful

And to be sure that they will understand he spells it out for them: “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue in my love”

The unity between the Father and the Son is one of perfect relationship. As Jesus relates to his disciples as friends, so are we to relate to one another.

This has deep implications for the way we live out our faith: showing a means of relationship where we come alongside the other person rather than try to overpower them.

Christian Aid puts this into action every day; not just one week per year, but in everything they try to do with the poorest and most marginalised in the world.
Christian Aid believes that poverty is, at its heart, an issue of power. Power abused, and people taken advantage of; and Christian Aid works to turn this on its head; they try to avoid models of ‘donor and beneficiary’, instead, they seek to empower poor communities rather than imposing western solutions.
This year, the people of Gbap have been empowered to take their future into their own hands, to speak out for change and look towards a better future.
And in hearing their story, we can be changed too.

Some people come into our lives and quickly go
Some people move our souls to dance
They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom
Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon
They stay in our lives for awhile, leaving footprints on our hearts,
And we are never, ever the same