WE GIVE THANKS FOR GOOD FRIENDS TODAY.
Good friends are like stars. You do not always see them, but you know they are always there. Especially in the darkness of the night and the dark hours we need them.
WE GIVE THANKS FOR GOOD FRIENDS TODAY.
Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave and impossible to forget. So, keep your good friends near and dear.
WE GIVE THANKS FOR GOOD FRIENDS TODAY.
Good friends are those who care without hesitation, who remember without limitation and who love even without communication.
WE GIVE THANKS FOR GOOD FRIENDS TODAY.
Good friends ask tough questions but stay with us while we struggle with the answers.
Good friends have had plenty of practice
in forgiving us, but still love us, hope for us, and pray with us.
All: God of wisdom, God of justice, God of mercy, we give thanks for good friends and hope that you will be our faithful friend in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Gospel Luke 8.26-39
Sermon: That is what friends are for.
If the man of the Gospel, the poor man possessed with demanding and demeaning demons, if that man called legion because of the many demons that had been taken hold of his mind, body and soul,- if he had known the beautiful hymn we just sang “ What a friend we have in Jesus.” I am sure he would have been singing from the top of his freed lungs and lifted his voice once Jesus told the demons to let go and leave him.
What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry.
everything to God in prayer!
Jesus truly was a good friend, yes, the best friend to the poor possessed man.
First, Jesus saw him and did not turn his eyes away in disgust, fear or shame. Secondly, Jesus talked to him even if the poor man was half naked and acted crazy scary. And lastly, Jesus talked against all the weird voices, the evil forces, the uncontrollable demons. And he told them to leave him alone.
Jesus saw him spoke and stayed. Like a loyal friend.
Especially when we are down and out, if we are sick or depressed, if we are weird, crazy and down on our knees, we need someone to see us, speak to us and stay. We need someone to pray and plead to.
I often think about that when I meet the angry walker. A lonely homeless man walking the streets of Yorba Linda. I think most people in this part of Yorba Linda knows him: the angry homeless man, walking fast, determined and agitated. From his homeless hiding place somewhere at the back entrance of Carbon Canyon Park and to Stater Bros. He is scary and most of us look the other way – and do no dare to speak to him. I have never seen anybody talk to him, stay with him or smile at him. Besides the friendly women at the counter in Stater Bros, who And, that is one of the things that her needs besides medication and attention and a home – he needs a friend that sees him and stays.
I often think about that when I encounter homeless, hungry, lonely or depressed people – where is the friend, who is the friend in an unfriendly world of business and conformity?
So, thank God for your friends. They are a blessing – and remember that you must be their friend too.
Keep smiling, keep shining.
Knowing you can always count on me, oh, for sure.
Cause I tell you that is what friends are for
For good times and for bad times
I will be on your side forever more, oh.
That is what friends are for.
The Gospel today is a story about a demon possessed man who meets Jesus. We might say that we do not believe in demons, devils and exorcism, but we do know about mental illness, schizophrenia, manic disorders and people struggling with mental challenges. So, whatever possessed people might frighten us, make us ignore them, make us silent or shameful.
And how are we friends with people who suffer from mental illnesses that are not so obvious and treatable as a broken foot or breast cancer?
Today we celebrate friendship. Among us. And with Jesus. To be seen, validated, heard, understood, embraced, comforted and still loved.
Friends – good faithful friends, are a blessing. They can laugh with you and share cries. They can lift you up and sit with you. They can silence the voices telling you that you are worthless. They can remind you what friends are for.
Friends have faith in you. Just as Jesus had faith in the poor possess man.
Friends have faith in you despite failure, frailty and fault. Jesus had that in the man despite his sinful nakedness, with gibberish talk and his strange demeanor.
Friends have faith in you. Just like Jesus have faith in us.
That kind of friends and trust set us free. Send the demons running, the insecurities succumb and the sadness melt.
Declare how much God has done for you, it says on the Bulletin.
We declare today how much we appreciate our friends.
We declare today how much we appreciate and believe that Jesus is our friend. That we may bring anything to him in prayer, that we can count on him, that he will be there for us.
The concept of friendship that we know from our best friends, our girlfriends, boyfriends, long time family friends, friends of all the different kinds they come – are human friendships. We can have really really good faithful friends, but we can also be really disappointed in some of our friends that shows not to be as faithful as we thought.
The friendship of Jesus is more than that. He tells the truth not only to us but to the evil forces that might possess us. He prays for us and stays with us. That is what Jesus as a friend is for. For good times and bad times.
One of the deepest and most emotional religious encounters I have had was with a young teenage girl, who really needed a friend. She had her friends, she had a loving father and mother, she had loving sisters, but she needs a friend like Jesus to tell truth, embrace her in forgiveness and pray for and with her.
This young girl had been a confirmand of mine in Denmark, and her parents contacted me in their deepest distress and despair as she was now a young 16-year-old girl battling with self-esteem, self-harm and a severe eating disorder. She was paper paper thin when they brought her to me – asking if I could talk to her. I was scared of doing anything wrong, as I am not a physician or a psychologist. But I was her pastor, and she needed me to pray for her and ask Jesus to be her friend.
So, we stepped into the old village church one late afternoon as the sun was setting. Just her and I in church. At the altar. And I asked her to come to the altar, kneel and silently inwardly bring to God what was troubling her. I was not to listen. It was a prayer. After a while, I prayed for and with her and told her sins were forgiven and whatever voices that taunted her were silenced.
It was a very moving moment. She got up and out… and seemed relieved, heard, seen and forgiven of whatever sin she carried.
She was better. She did conquer her pain. She did believe her friend Jesus telling her to bring everything to him in prayer, every trail and turbulation, every pain and wrong…. And leave it behind.
Be grateful to your friends. And thank God for a friend like Jesus. What a friend we have in Jesus.
Amen.