Here's another good quote, "Locating friendship at the heart of mission involves certain assumptions—that reconciliation with God is something for which every human being is made and that relationships are reciprocal. Mission, then, is less about our efforts to help or evangelize “them,” and more about how we can live into the kingdom together. Friendship puts the focus on relationships and offers an alternative to models of mission that are more formal, professional or bureaucratic."
It seems to me friendship is fertile soil for growing hope. It is in the hard work of opening our lives to others, with the expectation that we ourselves will grow and learn from them, that Kingdom friendships are born and hope has a place to spring up.
I'm again attaching a few pictures because you may find them more interesting than my musings. One was taken of me by Mary, a new friend in the library here. The others were taken on the seminary grounds.
Ruth, thanks for sharing about your reading. I love that idea. I wish I were better at making friends...
ReplyDeleteHi Julie, thanks for commenting. It's nice to have responses to the posts. What I like in this book is that there's not an emphasis on numbers or successes but on recognizing that the people to whom we minister are not projects, but people from whom we can learn and who are worth getting to know because they bear the image of God.This is much easier to talk about than to do, of course.
ReplyDeleteJulie, I'm curious if you've found West Michigan to be a hard place to make friends. I've heard that from others.