Coming to Friendship — Being “Held and Free”

Ordinary Time in the Summer

Adapted from meditation by Brent Unrau.

One of Brent’s core beliefs is that things are more connected than one realizes. Last Sunday, he invited us to think about how we approach friendship, how we treat our friends, and the kinds of friends we have: and he suggested that all these can offer a window on how we connect to God or even to how we connect with the stories of the Bible. Do you think those things connect?

Brent encouraged us to think about all the things we value about friendship. Friendships are a kind of companioning, a “getting to know”. It’s a deep listening. A friend helps you hold big questions that you are exploring. A friend really believes in you and believes in your goodness in spite of your worst moments or in spite of things that sometimes aren’t going so well. And a friend is deeply open and accepting and grateful and willing to forgive.

What if we get to develop a relationship with the Bible’s narrative passages—especially the gospel stories—that’s a kind of a friendship? Is there a way to make peace and find friendship with those stories and find yourself included? What if we get to explore the heart of God through these stories? 

Using imagination and prayer is a way of heightening our sense of awareness and emotional identification in our prayer experience. It has been a normal part of Christian spirituality through the centuries, but it was brought into prominence by St. Ignatius of Loyola in his famous book of spiritual guidance The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius and through his follower St. Francis de Sales’ book Introduction to the Devout Life.

Praying with our imagination suits the character of the scriptural stories. Stories are not abstract, conceptual discussions. Any good storyteller will draw the listeners into identifying with the story through the use of contextual detail and dialogue. And the Bible just happens to be full of stories! 

Brent led us in a guided imagery exercise through the story of Levi’s encounter with Jesus. If you’d like to try it, he offered this resource with the basic guidelines and suggestions to help you with your own prayer as you befriend this story, or any story, in the Bible.

And beyond this, in this summer, what steps might you be wanting to take or can you take in your own friendship circles? Are there one or two friends you would like to go deeper with and to value and to have a celebration with and to invite them over? 

What about friendship with creation? Is there a piece of land or a tree or a river that you would like to befriend and have that sense of, “Oh, we’re not separate!” (See next item in this newsletter!)

And what about our Southpoint community? Brent said that for him, “church is a spiritual practice of helping to build friendship. It is not easy or straightforward. And it’s not the only container, but gosh, what a wonderful place to practice safe connections where we can risk being seen and known and feel the potential of a growing friendship.” 

Invitations to reflection
Which is harder for you? To remember that you are not alone but held by a wide circle of love? Or to remember that you are free to be yourself fully acceptable just as you are? 

A nudge to action 
Practice being aware of the narratives you carry in your mind about how people see you or feel about you. Practice trusting that people enjoy you just as you are and want you around. 

Try out this breath prayer. 
Breathe in: “I am held”    
Breathe out: “I am loved”    
Repeat as long, and as often, as you need.

Summer Ordinary Time series:
Friendship & Flourishing
This summer we’re sitting with the contention that we are “loved into flourishing”. What if friendship lies at the heart of a life worthy of our deepest desires? What if Jesus invites us into this form of flourishing life himself, by calling us his friends? Come, join us as we explore these questions.

Sun Jul 28 
Rev. Janice Young
Meet at Semiahmoo Hatchery
All Out WILD CHURCH
No service at Sunnyside

Sun Aug 4
Markku Kostamo
Friendship and the Myth of Self-Sufficiency
Gal 5:1,13-15

Sun Aug 11
Janice Young
Friendship, Sameness, and Difference: “Found Family”
1 Cor 11:17 f

Sun Aug 18
Carolyn Gerber
Friendship Across Generations
2 Tim 1:1-14

Sun Aug 25 Wild Church at Kingfisher Farm
No Service in the Sunnyside building

New to Southpoint?

At Southpoint, it all begins with God’s love. Just as a plant grows, it receives sunshine, so we grow as we receive God’s love. At Southpoint, we are growing in our capacity to love God, ourselves, one another, and Creation.

We seek to be a community of grace that is intentional yet organic, spacious yet authentic, grace-filled yet accountable. * We are fully welcoming. *

We encourage relationships rather than run programs, yet we recognize the importance of intentionality and structure as we nurture life together.

As a community, we seek to put our love in action. We value helping out on Sunday mornings, sharing food, and showing up in hard times. We keep our church life simple so folk have time to build relationships with family, friends, and neighbours. We encourage folk to serve in tangible ways within the wider community. We rent space rather than own a building, allowing us to do more with less, supporting missions at home and abroad.

Curious to know more?

These six slides express what motivates our ministry (best viewed on a monitor). Here’s the bio of our Pastor, Rev. Anne Baxter Smith.

If you’d like to really peek inside, sign up for our weekly Southpoint News (scroll to brown footer at bottom of page). The Southpoint News is a MailChimp distributed email—you can unsubscribe anytime and will not be added to our contacts list. Email us at office@southpoint.ca. Website: southpoint.ca.