According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity there are now 45,000 Christian denominations, globally. This is quite a staggering number. Division over orthodoxy and/or orthopraxy drives much of the motivation behind this. We love finding ‘our people’ and setting up camp with those whom we are comfortable and affirm our own beliefs and standing.
We therefore all engage with God, Jesus and Holy Spirit in vastly different ways according to the tradition in which we were shaped, the teaching we received, the subsequent journey of faith we then undertook, and the place and community in which we now find ourselves. Some of us let our experiences with God shape us and our understanding of Him, while others believe experience can’t be trusted and therefore hold firm to a reverent fear of the Lord.
It's often said that the longest journey we can undertake is that of the head to heart – cognitive, intellectual understanding, moving towards a deep, experiential understanding of God’s love and affection. The heart (which in Biblical terms would be the inner landscape of our beings, where we love and feel, our consciousness, wisdom and emotions) is central and we must care for our hearts as life springs forth from there (Proverbs 4:23). As we consider leaning our hearts towards God with curiosity we discover a life of worship, service, surrender and growth, which is all good and proper.
And yet there is a further invitation that God wrote on our hearts, one that speaks to a whispered longing within us that we rarely acknowledge…….
We are invited into friendship with God.
How does that land with you today? Friendship with God? Would you say that you actually live in that reality?
We’ve come a long way through history. The Church has gone through seasons of oppression and power, from being a wild ragamuffin group in the margins, to being in bed with the State, holding the seat of influence, and back again. I wonder if some of us have lost our way a wee bit as pendulum continues to swing. We have found solace and a sense of validation in our institutions or in our Christian culture, and we feel the need to shape others, so they conform to our way. Our, often false, reverence and ‘fear of the Lord’ keeping Him and His heart firmly at arm’s length.
Ironically, the Bible offers a slightly different narrative. Abraham is called a ‘friend of God’. The Prophet Isaiah mentions him as friend (41:8), as does James in the New Testament (2:23); Moses is said to have met with God ‘face to face, as one meets with a friend’ (Exodus 33:11); and if you have read the Wisdom of Solomon (from the Apocrypha) you will notice ‘In every generation [wisdom] passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets’ (7:27). The invitation to closeness can’t be ignored.
In light of this, how then are we to consider Jesus in this? He is the ‘exact imprint of God’s very being’ (Hebrews 1:3), what does His heart reveal about God?
There is a stunning process through Scripture as we move closer to Jesus. We’re first called clay, shaped and moulded by the Potter’s hand; we’re then called sheep, being led by the master’s voice; we’re invited into discipleship, to become followers, servants and students of Jesus; and then in John 15, Jesus calls the Disciples His friends. They are not just loyal subjects in the Kingdom, not simply workers, servants or students. Jesus says that He has shared with them what he knows and experiences of the Father, and they are considered His friends, invited into a new level of intimacy and union.
What does this mean for us?
Well, Jesus came to show us the way. Through life the Disciples He gave us an example of His heart and how to live, not an exception. What would be point of that? The invite to know God and Jesus in this way is extended to us too, as believers down the ages.
Diana Butler Bass says, ‘Friendship is contingent on love - real love: compassion, empathy, reaching out, going beyond what we imagine is possible. That is the command: love. And if we reach out in love, friendship is the result, even friendship with God. Friendship is mutual, a hand extended and another reaching back…. Friendship is an eternal circle, the ceaseless reaching toward one another that strengthens us and gives us joy.’
The Church talks a lot about relationship with God, with certain streams including a fierce focus on ‘right relationship’ with God. With all the facets of relationship, some focus on the collective nature of the body, some hold a more individualistic focus. Personally, the more miles I walk with God, the more I know I don’t know; the deeper I delve into the mysteries of God, the more the realise just how expansive the human heart is; the more I get busy for God, the greater the need in me to notice the whispering desire for divine friendship within my heart. This is not achieved by doubling down our efforts, more duty and obligation, try harder, pray harder, attend more church activities. It is achieved by careful cultivation of ‘mutual hands, extending and reaching back’, as we reach out in love.
I wonder if the invitation is as obvious as simply loving God…… and allowing Him to love you back.
Do you know God in this way? As One who pursues your heart?
In the age we’re living through with, dare I say it, the unstable future of institutional Christianity and the ever-changing landscapes we face in society, the friends of God need to be just that… friends!!! To receive the invitation to be welcomed in alongside those who might ‘know the master’s business’, who might know God in such a way that deep intimate friendship is the defining essence of the relationship. This is our truest and most foundational purpose in this life, to walk as a friend of God. Proverbs 17 says that ‘a friend loves at all times’, this includes the bad times, the turbulent times and the mountain top times. Through every season that the Church has known, the ones who have resilience to navigate the stormy waters and undulating landscapes, do so because of their deep union and friendship with an everlasting, faithful God.
Jon Timms Director: Scotland & North of England