Guest SERIES: Taster

A good friend of mine has kindly divvied up a longer essay/email into three superb guest posts on the topic of relationship, friendship and community. This vital topic, core to God's community, the Church, is something I'm passionate about and am grateful to my friend for writing his three posts. This evening I want to briefly share a taster of what this is about - and it comes as I start writing about Church, Spiritual Gifts, and a one-off report on Justin Welby's visit to Trent Vineyard. Its an exciting time for my blog, and so, without further ado, here is just a taster of what to expect in this Guest Series of posts...

"Recently, a good friend from my old uni sent me an honest and insightful e-mail about how unsatisfying he was finding he was finding his constantly changing social scene. He was meeting so many interesting people, learning about so many lives, living so many memories - why, he asked, did these leave ‘some sort of melancholy about not having someone by my side but only "people", tangential moments, experiences’, why was he left with only a sense of ‘depression?...[G]ranted these will surely shape my future to come...but what about now?’ 

His powerful words made me really think about what friendships are, why we need them, and what sort of friendships we need. 

What that led me to, which I’ve fitted into 3 posts here, is that they are part of who we are, they’re part of why we’re made, and they’re at the core of the universe. You can judge if I’m overstating my case. So firstly, how friendship is at the heart of who we are..."

I hope you enjoy the three posts over the next few days as much as I enjoyed reading them...