March 19, 2023

The Power of Friends

"Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go to your relatives house when disaster strikes you – better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away." Proverbs 27:10

When I lost my mother suddenly in January, I was thrown into a season of grief I was not prepared for, as we humans never are. Feeling alone and in a fog, as our Pastor David Eardley so perfectly put this stage of grief, I turned to my nearby friends and church community.

My mother, a well loved teacher in Troy, Michigan, and a friend and confidant to so many during her 84 years on Earth, gave me the gift of how to make friends, and keep them. And the Girl Scout song I learned from my mother, "make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other gold," continues to play in my head to this day. And because there is no greater teacher on the power of friendship than our Lord and Savior, I went to scripture for further knowledge and comfort.

I have been absorbed for several years in the "crowd funded" series The Chosen, watching the three seasons several times and listening to podcasts and YouTube commentaries on this worldwide ministry.

Jesus, of course, showed us the power of friendship with his 12 disciples and thousands of followers during his life on Earth. In further thinking about what the Bible teaches us about empathy and compassion, one of the earliest lessons we are taught in Sunday school is Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Luke 6:31. Another one that came to mind is "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing," Thessalonians 5:11.

I see these simple passages lived out at Grosse Pointe Methodist Church in the weekly prayer list, during Sunday services, and through our outreach ministries.

As my children and my family are not "nearby," I am so very grateful for my family of friends who have been there for me and my husband Mark, and for my new church community that offered caring and generous support when we needed it most, and still do. But most of all I am thankful for Jesus – the absolute best friend any of us could have. And I am also beyond thankful that our friend on Earth is also our Lord and Savior forever and ever!

Amy Sanford