He was so loving, loyal, forgiving and faithful a friend. For some, canine companionship is preferred to human friendship, ‘a man’s best friend’, but we were made for so much more!

Self help sections in our libraries and bookshops reflect the priority and preoccupation with ‘self realisation’ in Western culture. Don’t get me wrong, nurturing a positive relationship with your self is critical to relating well to others, but might our emphasis be off-beam and askew? 

In the first Bible book, Genesis, we see that us humans are made in God’s image to reflect the eternal family love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We’re made for relationships: with God, with our own soul, and with other people, planet earth and its creatures. 

Loving community living is God’s Plan A. Loving, caring relationships are what Christ died to realise in his resurrection life.

Sadly our experience of church and community living can be painful, but learning to forgive and demonstrate unconditional love is major in maturing us personally and together. 

People tell me that "you don’t need to go to church to be a Christian", but this misunderstands what ‘church’ is.

To say that ‘you don’t need church’ is to say that you don’t need to meet up with and communicate with family to be a family member. It may be true, but it is to deny ‘who you truly are’ in relationship to spiritual brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. It’s to roadblock the road to ‘growing up and maturing in God’. 

As someone said: “It often takes longer to uncover people’s virtues than to spot their sins.”

St Benedict included ‘stability’ as a rule for his community living, sticking around long enough to learn to love as we’re loved.

After nearly 35 years in Irvine, I feel a fresh call to friendship and building community. 

C.S. Lewis’s friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien further inspires me to nurture robust and faithful friendships. Were it not for Lewis and Tolkien’s probing and prodding rapport with each other, it’s said that the legendary worlds of Narnia (Lion, Witch and Wardrobe, etc) and Middle Earth (Lord of The Rings etc) would never have reached us. 

May you seek, work hard at and find faithful and fruitful friendships that neglect the worst and bring out the best in each other.

Yours be the many splendoured views, rich fragrant scents, creative colours and transformational love of our Greatest Friend The Great ‘I Am’ - Father, Son and Spirit. There is no room for ‘loneliness’ in God’s world!