The Joy of Friendship

 The link for this week's live-streamed service is here.

Congratulations to Bill and Nancy Duke on their 64th wedding anniversary, as announced on CHEK TV.

Next Thursday, July 31, we will hold Friendship Coffee in hall at the church. Bring your best joke, bring a picture of your newest grandchild, bring a friend. Friend -- such a beautiful word.

    "Where there is friendship, there is our natural soil." Voltaire

    "Friends are the family we choose for ourselves." Unknown

    "A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." Anonymous

    "A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves              you." Ebert Hubbard.

    "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of             adversity. Proverbs 17:17

      "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their     labour: if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But     pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up."                Ecclesiastes  4; 9-10

    

I have hundreds of "friends" quotes but I'll stop with just these few. I'm thinking of friends today because we made music with a friend this week. I'm very lucky that my husband is a singer, so he can share that part of my life with joy. We're even more blessed to have a special friend who shares this passion. When we make music together, my heart overflows with happiness. The Sunday sermon this week referenced worship in Heaven, telling us it would be loud and excited and fervent and passionate. When I make music with my friends, we get a tiny foretaste of that heavenly scene.

    But notice the last part of that quote from Ecclesiastes -- pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. For the Old Testament writer, being friendless was a conceivable state. For we "followers of the way" there is always a Friend. "What a friend we have in Jesus"

Dr. Cecil Kirk, late of our congregation had some thoughts on this wonderful old hymn.

Happy is the person who has a friend with whom one can share their hopes and fears, their joys and sorrows, their innermost thoughts...Jesus is such a friend. During His life, He was known as the 'friend of sinners.' That is good news for us since we are all sinners and we feel ourselves drawn to Him by His love and compassion, His understanding and His grace. . . .Sometimes the comfort of friends is not available for us for one reason or another. . . Jesus is always available. We can approach Him at any time, wherever we may be, and know that we can speak to Him. Thus the repetition of the encouragement to "take it to the Lord in prayer.'. . We can take anything to Him. Nothing is too big nor is anything too trivial.  We can pray with confidence in the knowledge that Jesus knows all about us [and loves us anyway!] and He will remain our constant friend.

I can't resist one more quote. 

"Friends are one of the most important ingredients in the recipe of life." Unknown. 

May your week be blessed with time with friends, and conversations with our One Never-failing Friend.