Live the Trinity

Friend(s)

Richard M. Wright

(Part 2 in what will be a trilogy on the Trinity)

My best friend is leaving this month.

Chris will move from being Director of the Honors Program at Tulane University to Dean of the Honors Program at Penn State University. We have known each other since we were undergraduates at Cornell University. We served together on the leadership team for Cornell (InterVarsity) Christian Fellowship. He was my first Hebrew student – and now has a doctorate from Oxford University in Jewish and Cognate Literature. And how amazingly God worked that first he should end in New Orleans – Louisiana?!? – and then later my family should be called down here as well.

My best (male) friend is leaving this month.

Recently I read an article by Eddie Hammett entitled “Being Alone in a Crowded World”. He writes:

New research indicates ‘that most people’s circle of confidants is on average about one person smaller now. The percentage of people who say they have no one to confide in has reached about 25%.’ Sociologists call this circle your ‘discussion network’ — people you reach out to for help, advice, or just as a sounding board. In the new research, they say the network is important because it shapes ‘the kinds of people we become.’ …. ‘Duke University and University of Arizona sociologists found the average number of people who are considered close confidants dropped by nearly one-third, from 2.94 in 1985 to 2.08 in 2004. They call this drop dramatic’ – (CBSnews.com “Is Your Circle of Friends Shrinking?”6/24/06).

In other words the average person has 2 close friends – down from 3 close friends 20 years ago.

Of course we need friends who know us just as we are. With whom we can share anything. (Even married people need friends other than their spouse.)

In John 15 Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer – but I have called you friends.” (I am unaware of any other place in the New Testament where Jesus is described as “friend”.)

I believe that the desire for friendship is a deep need of all human beings. Someone who is not above us or below us. Someone who knows us and still accepts us. Someone who enjoys being with us. Someone who listens to us. Cares about us. Helps us. Walks with us through the joys and the difficulties of life.

We need human friends. But sometimes we move somewhere and need to meet new friends. Or old friends move away. Jesus offers himself to us as friend in a way that no one else can.

Oh God who chose us and knows us always is close beside us. Let us walk with you as our best and perfect friend. Amen.