If friendship is going to be part of the ecology of the church, then we'd better learn how to create a safe environment where these friendships can flourish. This is going to be part 1 of a series of posts that reflect on what's needed for us to create an environment of friendship.
I think it all begins with unconditional acceptance. Jesus created a safe place around him because there was rarely a person he did not delight in and accept. The worst of the worst not only felt comfortable with him...but they actually sought him out! I think the only people he kept his distance from were the the people who kept projecting an image of righteousness; an aura that they had it all together. I believe that Jesus knew that a safe environment would not be possible if such people were part of the group.
In the same way, an ecology of friendship is built on an environment of unconditional acceptance. I hope our groups(s) will become places where the newest of people will feel that they are delighted in and accepted as they are. This will be the first step towards trusting each other as friends.
Perhaps, delight is the place to start in accepting one another? To take joy in one another is the essence of delight. Delight is not something you can conjure up or pretend to have. You can tell if someone genuinely delights in you. You can literally see it in their eyes.
And so, delight, then, begins in our own hearts. We need to be asking God to put a genuine love in our hearts for people. This is not an easy task. There are many people that I would like to say, "Grow up!" Or, "Hey, the universe doesn't revolve around you!" Or, "Please get the the corn cob out of your ass...ASAP!" I know. I know. Doesn't sound like I'm delighting in too many people right now. But hey, for the most part, I do keep those comments to myself. But that's the point of this paragraph. I need to ask God for a genuine love for people every @#$%! day!
Gosh, I hope that there's a group somewhere out there that will accept me the way I am right here...right now.
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2 comments:
I think that's very important.. because it's no fun to go to a place of worship if there's no one you enjoy being with when you go there. It just creates negative associations with that place, and that's not good at all! I know that I need to be more open with other people. I think it's something a lot of people need to work on.
Thanks for the honesty Kina.
Last night, I asked someone in the group to share what their impressions are of Ottawa now that they've been settled in from Winnipeg for 3 months now. They said that Ottawans are so cold and don't seem to want to know much of each other. Ouch!
I wonder if the way the gospel engages people from Ottawa should be as a demonstration of true friendship more than a proclamation of truths?
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