Greetings Siblings in Christ,
I pray that you are all doing well. We are now entering into the month of September. Summer is coming to a close, and school is about to begin. Growing up, I always looked forward to the beginning of the school year. First, I enjoyed school because I enjoyed learning. Secondly, I looked forward to school starting because I was excited to see my friends again on a regular basis. I would see my friends periodically throughout the summer. However, seeing them during the school year was different. We got to see each other every day. We got to eat lunch together. We had classes together. We played during recess together. Then after school, we went to sports and extracurricular activities together. We did everything together, and because of this I formed lifelong friendships!
However, reflecting back on it now, I know that my experience of school was not universal. Many do not have fond memories of school. It was hard. It was scary. Some got bullied. Others found it difficult to make friends. I was in a unique position because I already knew everyone at my school because my town was small. I had 19 students in my graduating class. However, then I went to college. It was 3 hours away from my hometown, and it was twice as big. When my parents dropped me off and moved me into my dorm, I did not know anybody. It was the first time that I truly felt alone. I had to learn how to make friends, and it was difficult. My first semester of college was probably one of the most difficult times of my life. However, eventually I got involved in campus ministries, and the rest is history.
I bring this all up because this past week I was reminded of how hard it is to make friends. It was hard when I was young. However, it is even harder now in this age and society. Luca and I recently went and saw Toy Story 5, which focuses on this struggle. In the film, Bonnie, the current owner of the toys, is growing up and facing new social challenges. One of these challenges is making friends, and this is the underlying plot of the film. Thus, Jessie, Buzz, and the rest of the toys' main goal throughout the film is to help Bonnie make a friend. This proves to be difficult in the age of technology when there are less physical interactions. This may be a fictional children’s movie. However, this challenge still rings true for many in our society today. During Jerusalem's VBS, I heard a child talk about how the best part of VBS was that they made a friend. The child told us about how they had struggled for the last two years to make friends. This is also not just a struggle that children have. National and international organizations, like the World Health Organization, have declared over the last few years that we are in an “Epidemic of Loneliness." Thus, we as a society struggle to be in relationships with each other. We struggle to have real human connections, to make friends, and this causes us to feel alone. However, Church, the good news is that we are not alone. We are not friendless for we have our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! In Matthew 15 Jesus says to his disciples:
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Thus, in these times that we feel alone, when we struggle to make friends, we can take heart in knowing that Jesus is our friend. That he is a friend that loves us and we know this because he laid down his life for us. We know that he is our friend because we too are his disciples and he too chooses us. He chooses the people of the world and he calls us all ”to go and bear fruit." And so, as you continue on in your life, as you go out into the world, I pray that you may find comfort in this and know that you are not alone and that you are loved. Amen.
Peace and Blessings, Pastor Ethan Doan
I pray that you are all doing well. We are now entering into the month of September. Summer is coming to a close, and school is about to begin. Growing up, I always looked forward to the beginning of the school year. First, I enjoyed school because I enjoyed learning. Secondly, I looked forward to school starting because I was excited to see my friends again on a regular basis. I would see my friends periodically throughout the summer. However, seeing them during the school year was different. We got to see each other every day. We got to eat lunch together. We had classes together. We played during recess together. Then after school, we went to sports and extracurricular activities together. We did everything together, and because of this I formed lifelong friendships!
However, reflecting back on it now, I know that my experience of school was not universal. Many do not have fond memories of school. It was hard. It was scary. Some got bullied. Others found it difficult to make friends. I was in a unique position because I already knew everyone at my school because my town was small. I had 19 students in my graduating class. However, then I went to college. It was 3 hours away from my hometown, and it was twice as big. When my parents dropped me off and moved me into my dorm, I did not know anybody. It was the first time that I truly felt alone. I had to learn how to make friends, and it was difficult. My first semester of college was probably one of the most difficult times of my life. However, eventually I got involved in campus ministries, and the rest is history.
I bring this all up because this past week I was reminded of how hard it is to make friends. It was hard when I was young. However, it is even harder now in this age and society. Luca and I recently went and saw Toy Story 5, which focuses on this struggle. In the film, Bonnie, the current owner of the toys, is growing up and facing new social challenges. One of these challenges is making friends, and this is the underlying plot of the film. Thus, Jessie, Buzz, and the rest of the toys' main goal throughout the film is to help Bonnie make a friend. This proves to be difficult in the age of technology when there are less physical interactions. This may be a fictional children’s movie. However, this challenge still rings true for many in our society today. During Jerusalem's VBS, I heard a child talk about how the best part of VBS was that they made a friend. The child told us about how they had struggled for the last two years to make friends. This is also not just a struggle that children have. National and international organizations, like the World Health Organization, have declared over the last few years that we are in an “Epidemic of Loneliness." Thus, we as a society struggle to be in relationships with each other. We struggle to have real human connections, to make friends, and this causes us to feel alone. However, Church, the good news is that we are not alone. We are not friendless for we have our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! In Matthew 15 Jesus says to his disciples:
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Thus, in these times that we feel alone, when we struggle to make friends, we can take heart in knowing that Jesus is our friend. That he is a friend that loves us and we know this because he laid down his life for us. We know that he is our friend because we too are his disciples and he too chooses us. He chooses the people of the world and he calls us all ”to go and bear fruit." And so, as you continue on in your life, as you go out into the world, I pray that you may find comfort in this and know that you are not alone and that you are loved. Amen.
Peace and Blessings, Pastor Ethan Doan
