Dear friends, have you ever wished you were friends with a famous person?  Perhaps a great leader, a popular author or a musician?  It's an honor to have a friend, and if that person happens to be famous, it's doubly so.  And yet we're all friends with the most famous person in all of history, our Lord Jesus.  Though He's God, and though we've not met Him face-to-face, we are still His friends.  That gives us personal contact, and makes Him approachable, loyal, and fun to be with.

          But what is a friend?  We may know who a friend is more so than we know what a friend is.  One definition says a friend is one "attached to another by affection or esteem."  Another definition: "One who multiplies joys, divides grief, and whose honesty is inviolable."  Or another: "A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out."

          We use the word to cover many meanings.  A friend may be someone we've just met, or someone we've known a lifetime.  Though I address you today as "Dear friends," some are more dear to me than others.  My wife is more dear to me than anyone.  My childhood friend Harley is dear to me, but he'll never take the place of my sons.  A friend is one who knows all about you and still loves you anyway.  The Aussies use a great term - "mate" - because a good friend is one you're connected to, almost made of the same material, a "soul mate."

          Lasting friendships are often made in college, at work or in the military.  My old friend Roy, an airplane mechanic in W.W.II, once said, "Share the same tent for 3 1/2 years in the jungles and you'd better be friends!"  Roy used to attend reunions of the Jolly Roger division of Army Air Corps, but now he and most of the Jolly Rogers rest in cemeteries.  But Roy's wife Millie still attends the reunions.  Friendships can be shared, and often survive life itself.

          A few weeks ago in my sermon, I suggested for you a goal that in 2006 you get a good friend if you don't have one.  Have you done that?  Do you have a good friend?  Are you a good friend?  No one should feel useless if you're a good friend.  Friends are precious.  Friendship is a gift you give.  It's extending yourself, your trust and your love to another person.

          Poet John Donne wrote, "No man is an island."  We know what he meant, but we also know our sinfulness can make every one of us an island.  Sin separates us.  It takes time to build a friendship, but it can be destroyed in a few thoughtless words or gestures.  Sin separates us from people and especially separates us from God.  The foolish and silly things we do to each other can make us lonely, miserable people.  Being a friend means we need to forgive others, as well as ask their forgiveness.  Being separated from God means we need His holy forgiveness, because our sins disconnect us from Him.

          But in Jesus Christ, God re-connects us.  Through His forgiveness we can have bridges that go between us and safe harbors where we can go.  Those bridges need to be tended, not washed out by senseless pride and stubbornness.  A friendship can be a safe harbor in the midst of the storms of life.  Bridges and harbors - good terms to describe friendship.

          Our friends are usually ordinary people with ordinary abilities, people we love and who love us.  We all need to be loved.  A hug or a handshake or a special smile goes a long way in building the bridges we need.  Our best gifts to each other are love and time - true treasures!

          But how do you know who your friends are?  One way is to make a mistake, and see who comes to help.  If you want to know who your real friends are, spill a cup of coffee in a crowd.  Or embarrass yourself and see who stays at your side.  You'll find out fast!  Friends come to your aid, putting all else aside in your time of need, because they care for you.

          A friend tells you the truth and stands by you through the good and bad times.  Harley has always been that way for me.  We've known each other since we were 8 years old.  We were in 4-H together.  In High school we ran around together.  I was his model in Barber School.  He was there when my eldest son was born.  Today we talk on the phone often.  He's a Lutheran pastor, too, and he's promised to come out and preach here, perhaps even this summer.

          We all have a greater friend, a special friend, a holy friend, One who has chosen us to be His friends.  It may seem strange to call the Son of God our friend, but ours is a personal God.  He wants to be with us.  He wants to share our lives.  He's personally interested in each of us.  He's King of kings and Lord of lords, but He's also our Best Friend.  That's what Jesus meant when He said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business.  Instead, I have called you friends..." (John 15:13-15)

          Two things stand out in this text:  (1) He chooses us to be His friends, and (2) His friends love each other.  Sometimes friendships just happen - we meet someone and everything clicks.  At other times we deliberately must choose them.  Christians often think we've chosen Jesus, but it's not true - He chose us first!  He created us through our parents, and He wants us.  But now we can also choose Him, but we need help with that!  The Third Person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, helps us choose Jesus.  Through Word and Sacrament the Spirit urges us to believe in Him and know that He shed His blood for us.  He helps us choose Jesus and convinces us Jesus is our Holy Friend.

          Jesus also says that His friends love each other.  "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down His life for His friends."  Love is the basis for all friendship, and Jesus truly does love us.  He gave His life on Calvary so we can serve Him and each other.  Sad to say, we don't always do a very good job of loving each other in the Church.  We need to remedy this.  We can't say we love God and then be cruel or spiteful to our Christian brothers and sisters.  Christ's friends care for each other.  It's as simple as that!

          Someone has said every adult should have three friends:  a Paul, a Barnabas, and a Timothy.  A "Paul" represents an older person, a wiser one who can be like a mentor, helping shape us and giving us direction.  A "Barnabas" represents someone similar to us in age and expectations, someone we can relate to as equals.  A "Timothy" is someone younger, someone we can guide as they grow in the Lord.  I've heard women refer to these three as a "Hannah", a "Lydia" and a "Mary."  The meaning is the same - we need friends who help us and friends we can help.

          Two good friends, Joe and Sam, were walking in the woods when they stumbled upon a hungry grizzly bear who started chasing them.  The two ran until Joe stopped and bent over.  "This is no time for prayer," Sam said.  "Don't you know that grizzly will catch us?"  Joe replied, "I'm tying my shoes so I can run faster."  "Do you really think you outrun a grizzly?" Sam yelled, but Joe replied, "I don't have to outrun the grizzly, I only have to outrun you."  Well, that grizzly caught them both and knocked them down.  Looking up, they saw the bear standing over them with his paws together and head bowed.  "We're saved!" whispered Joe, "He's a Christian bear."  "What's he doing?" Joe asked, and they heard the bear say, "Come Lord, Jesus, be our guest..."  Well, Joe and Sam died that day and went to heaven.  It was great!  Eternal bliss, streets of gold.  So Joe says, "Man, this place is super."  Sam says, "Yeah, if I'd have known it was this great, I wouldn't have eaten all that oat bran and could've gotten here ten years sooner.

          We need good friends, and during the coming months, our friendships at Epiphany may be tested.  We need to build again due to our growth in numbers.  And our growth in numbers means we won't know each other as intimately.  When a church builds, it asks for our money and time, and any time you tug on the members' pocketbooks, a church gets tested.  But just remember, a church is made of people, not bricks and boards.  Epiphany is a living body, not five acres with buildings.  Land and buildings help, and God will provide us those.  But the Church is people, and we pray they continue to be friendly!

          Jackie Robinson was the first black man to play major league baseball.  In one of his first home games, he committed an error, and the fans booed him.  They ridiculed, shouted and stopped the game.  That is, until shortstop PeeWee Reese, a southerner, came over, stood beside Robinson and put his arm around him.  The fans grew quiet, and the game resumed.  Robinson later said that gesture saved his career.

          New friends are a blessing, and so are old ones.  Now's the time to recommit to the Lord and each other - and also to Epiphany.  We've been greatly blessed.  God has always provided our needs.  Now we'll see Him do it again.

          I'm excited about our future.  I want to see what God has in store for us.  And now's the time to see it through with a good friend.

          "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear."  Well, not that kind of bear, but you know what I mean.  May God help us all be good friends and to have good friends, especially our Best Friend, Jesus.  Amen!

Copyright © 2006 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.