Is life a comedy or a tragedy? Are we the hero or the victim? Or maybe the villain? Is the world descending into chaos and dystopia or are we on a path of ever-increasing prosperity and progress? The stories we tell orient us to our place in the world and our role in the story.
The Bible tells the story of a loving God and a messy people. There is a beginning and an end. Major themes of creation, redemption, and sanctification trace the arc of this grand narrative. And Jesus Christ is the center of it all – the great hero of the story who comes incognito to rescue and redeem his broken creation.
Invocation
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation
Lord Jesus, you once came to humanity in a rustic barn and a messy manger. Do not be distant from the rough places of our lives. We often find ourselves far from you. In mercy, come near to us, our Lord, Emmanuel; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Confession
Forgive my sins, O Lord – forgive me the sins of my present and the sins of my past, the sins of my soul and the sins of my body; the sins which I have done to please myself, and the sins which I have done to please others. Forgive me my wasted and idle sins, forgive me my serious and deliberate sins, forgive me those sins which I know and those sins which I know not, the sins which I have labored so to hide from others that I have hid them from my own memory. Forgive them, O Lord, forgive them all.
Word: 1 Samuel 20:15
“Do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the LORD has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
Meditation: Friendship by Susan Senechal
I hope you have a friend like my friend Amy. We have known each other since our kids were in pre-school and had an almost instant bond. And we have been through IT together. Beyond the joys, we have also known tragedy and heartache, pain and loss. I don’t wish IT for you, but I’m sure most of you have already had your own experiences, so I hope you had a friend like mine to go through them with.
The story of Mephibosheth cannot be told without the backstory of his father Jonathan and Jonathan’s great friend David. This seems to be a friendship that was deep right from the start, when shepherd boy David finished talking to Saul after slaying Goliath. 1 Samuel 18:3 says, “After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as he loved himself.”
The depth of the friendship is especially amazing when you realize that David has been anointed to be king to replace Saul, a position that would seemingly have been handed down to his son Jonathan. But rather than despising him, Jonathan makes a covenant with him.
As time passes, David becomes more and more successful, and Saul becomes more and more jealous. Jonathan, caught in the middle, stands with his friend. When Saul’s jealousy becomes murderous, Jonathan saves David’s life. Beginning in 1 Samuel 20:14, Jonathan says to David, “May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. But show me unfailing kindness like that of the LORD as long as I live…and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family.”
And together, as they weep in parting when he helps David get away from his father’s murderous anger, Jonathan says to David, “go in peace, for we have sworn a friendship with each other in the name of the Lord” (1 Sam 20:42). David begins his life on the run in the peace that this sworn friendship brings.
A friendship that brings peace…it’s something we long for. And something we have in Jesus. In John 15:15 he calls us friends. A few verses earlier he says, “greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” And a few verses earlier he says, “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” There can be no greater friend than Jesus.
Dear Jesus, what a friend we have in you. You bear our sins and griefs. What a privilege we have, to carry everything to you in prayer. Grant what we long for: a deeper, enduring friendship with you. Amen.
Benediction
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:7)