peace & friendship

Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.

3 John 15

“Sometimes you wanna be where everybody knows your name…” Yeah, that was a theme song for a TV show about a fictional Boston bar, but given the ending admonition to the third letter of John, it kind of captures what the church is supposed to be. There are two things in these three short sentences that show us how warm the relationships with believers in the church should be.

First, the church is a place of peace. We should have an experience of peaceful unity when we meet together. Gathered Christians know peace because Jesus has made peace with God for us. And gathered Christians should know peace because Jesus Himself is our peace and broken down barriers between us. When we truly center around Him we can know peace and unity. It is beautiful.

Secondly, Christians should know one another. The admonition to “greet the friends” is more than a brief nod of “Hi, how are ya?” It is a connection of care. We care about friends. We know friends. We want to be with them. We are in involved in their lives. We enjoy them. We love friends. It is a warm relationship that strengthens us, builds us up, gives us joy, and provides a culture of care and peace where the gospel thrives in the church. It attracts those seeking to see Jesus. We know one another as friends. And it is Jesus Who exclusively makes this possible.

God,

Save Your church from superficiality in our connection. Make us legitimately, intimately connected as friends in Jesus, with one another so we will know Your peace together, know Your love together, and know one another well! Be our peace. Be our friendship.

Amen