Friends

The Fairytale Forest, a painting by Edvard Munch, hanging in the Museum of Fine Arts, Oslo

Texts: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 and John 1:29-42

As we settle into this season of Epiphany, we are re-introduced to Jesus as he begins his ministry, and we will be seeing as the weeks go by some of the key moments in his life as his identity is revealed more and more fully and the question of how to follow him becomes more and more urgent.

The way that the Gospel of John tells the story is through witness and testimony. It is John the Baptizer who is the first witness to testify about Jesus. It is John who recognizes Jesus, thanks to some whispering to him from God, and it is John who brings Jesus to the attention of others. And not just any others, but his own disciples, his own followers - it is to them that he introduces Jesus, who in turn invites them into fellowship with him. Yes, they become Jesus’s disciples, and before it is all over, later is this book, Jesus will declare to them that they are most of all his friends because they have learned what he is all about through following him.

So today Jesus has come on the scene and through John’s testimony a couple of his guys (including Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother) become curious and literally follow him down the street. Jesus turns to them and ask the question he is asking all of us who come near him - what are you looking for?

Last week my friend Ethan gave us his own testimony and witness about following Jesus as a young adult in the church. He told the story of being invited into community and then he told us what it is that young adults are looking for: Friendship. And belonging. They are looking for people who will be interested in them.

That’s how I came back to church, too, 30 years ago as a young adult myself, and perhaps some of you did as well. I came back to church to find a place to belong, and then I began to explore what it might mean to be a disciple of Jesus. 

Now discipleship might feel like a scary word to some of us because we are polite and somewhat reserved Episcopalians who do not toss about certain terms that might make us nervous that our friends will run away screaming. (Testimony and witness are other such words.) Maybe we like to think of disciples as other people, those guys in the Bible. But we are called to be disciples, and to make disciples through our own witness and testimony (spoken or simply lived out). 

The meaning of discipleship is active engagement with Jesus. It means being in relationship with him. That's all. But that's a lot.

And you have to find out for yourself how that’s going to work in your own life. Jesus asks us to understand what we are looking for and then invites us to hang out with him, to learn from him, to follow him - that’s active engagement. And we are invited into that not just as individuals but as a community. But we are invited into fellowship with Jesus and one another only as a first step.

As we live into that fellowship, we are called to be witnesses ourselves. Now that doesn’t mean we have to set up shop on a street corner shouting about Jesus to the people hurrying by with their heads down in embarrassment for us, but it does mean that we don’t shy away from living a life that others can see that shows we are in fellowship with Jesus, that shows we are his friends.

So what does it mean to be a friend of Jesus? I mentioned that later in the Gospel of John Jesus is specific about that with his disciples. They have been following him around, learning from him, listening to his teaching and experimenting with their own ministries (not always successfully but that’s ok), and he tells them that he no longer calls them servants but calls them friends, because a servant does not know what the master is about but a friend does. In other words, Jesus’s friends understand his mission of healing and reconciliation, of fellowship and community, of compassion and mercy and they share in it.

So how might we be friends of Jesus in this place at this time in our life together? How might we be witnesses, and what testimony might we give? How might we share and participate in his mission?

I really like Ethan’s testimony and witness last week about being friends with those who come among us in whatever way they come, because at heart that’s what folks need - friends. Read any newspaper’s “wellness” section and you’ll see that in order to be healthy, you should have friends and spend time with friends. Further, the Washington Post just published an article last week citing data affirming that the happiest and most meaningful things one can do is to participate in religious and spiritual activities - and that the happiest most meaningful lowest stress place on earth is not in fact Disney World but is someone’s place of worship. So being friends at church with everyone, not waiting to see if they fit or we fit or we are all alike, seems like the best thing we can do. Perhaps it was not an anomaly when I met one of our 3-year old preschool kids in the hallway last week on his way to the playground and he said to me, hey, I know you - what are you doing in my church?

My church. As far as he is concerned, this whole place, his classroom, the playground, the hallway, this nave, is indeed his church, and this is where his friends are.

Friends, our time together is drawing short. And you are preparing to welcome a new friend to this place, a new pastor, a new rector, a new priest and teacher, a new companion - but most of all, a new friend. I know that you will be nervous about that, and so will the new rector, but if everyone just takes it for granted that everyone belongs here, that everyone is friends here, that everyone is to be loved and supported here in fellowship with one another, including the rector who also needs to be loved and supported and needs you to be interested in them - if everyone remembers what St. Paul says to the congregation at Corinth, “God is faithful and by God you are called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,” — if everyone remembers that, then truly, everything is going to be all right.