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Friendship

7/11/2020

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Picture
Who Needs Friends?

Sure, friends are nice.  But we already have our families, coworkers, neighbors . . . the mailman. 

Are friends that important?

Yes!  Let this sink in:  

          It was my endeavor
          to so organize the Church
          that the brethren
          might eventually
          be [brought into]
          the celestial kingdom
          by bonds and covenants
          of mutual friendship
          and mutual love.

(Joseph Smith, History of the Church, vol 1, p. 269)

What is a Friend?

Jesus did not just want us as His sons and daughters: He also wanted us as "friends" (see John 15:15).  

          There is a friend
          that sticketh
          closer than a brother.

(Proverbs 18:24)

I remember hearing a person at church lament that they had lost one of their best friends.  How?  The ward boundaries had been divided and the two members found themselves in different wards: just a block away, but worlds apart.

Imagine what we could accomplish with true friendship:

          The soul of Jonathan 
          was knit
          with the soul of David,
          and Jonathan loved
          him as his own soul.

         Then Jonathan and David
         made a covenant,
         because he loved him
         as his own soul.

          And Jonathan stripped himself
          of the robe that was upon him,
          and gave it to David,
          and his garments,
          even to his sword,
          and his bow, 
          and to his girdle.

(1 Sam. 18:1, 3-4).

Community

Two of the hallmarks of a Zion society will be community and consecration.

One of the issues we face today is the disappearance of community (which is being replaced with social networks).

Instead of neighbors seeking each other's welfare, we keep tabs through Facebook.

There is a reason friendship is essential to Zion: without cooperative effort, who will hew granite for the temple or dig the irrigation ditches to water our crops? 

It takes community to erect an ensign. 
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© COPYRIGHT 2019 - 2025
  • Home
  • Poetry
    • Fleeing Egypt >
      • Tower of Babel
      • The Orchard
      • Tithing Settlement
      • Chastity for Churches
      • Sign
      • Cleaning House
      • Elijah
      • Rulers of Sodom
      • Beware
      • Two Churches
      • Beginning At My Sanctuary
      • Toll Road
      • Get it Strait
      • Corporation Sole
      • The Religion of the Circle R
      • Fig Tree
      • Eve
      • New Jerusalem
      • Shemlon's Shore
    • Ascending Sinai >
      • Ark
      • Sin of the Calf
      • An Idol Observation
      • Dew from Heaven
      • I love you, Elder Holland
      • Easter
      • How Sweet
      • Haiku
      • The Barn
      • Patron Saint
      • A Conversation with Brigham Young
      • Mine Testimony
      • The Meadow
      • The Gardens
      • Ice Fishing
      • Without End
      • Forest
      • Continental Divide
      • A Great Sacrifice
    • Promised Land >
      • Lanolin
      • Zion
      • Wisdom
      • Take Up Your Cross
      • Was the Sun the Same
      • Plain and Precious
      • Bridegroom
      • Faith
      • Amos
      • But First
      • Wax
      • Parable of the Piano
      • Repentance
      • Wake Up, Child
      • Cold Storage
      • Covered Wagon
      • Multiply and Replenish
      • Rollercoaster
      • The Baptist
    • Seven Stations of the Cross >
      • Jesus Condemned to Die >
        • Life Signs
        • Fashionable Religion
        • Tithing Declaration
        • A Pretty Important Detail
        • Jesus is All
        • Salt Lake Temple
        • Zion in the Lion's Den
        • High Noon
        • Bookmark
      • Jesus Stumbles and Falls >
        • Unveil
        • But Faith
        • Sifting
        • The Ballerina
        • Credit Declined
        • Prayer Circles
        • Work Out Your Salvation
        • Lovebirds
        • Unrequited
      • Simon of Cyrene Bears the Cross >
        • Proxy
        • Chartres
        • Like the Nile
        • Artificial Intelligence
        • Not Born
        • Parable of the Crossing
      • Women of Jerusalem Weep >
        • With A Price
        • Fields of Asphodel
        • Night
        • Desert Rose
        • Goodbye
        • Spring Snow
      • Jesus Stripped of His Garment >
        • Love Letter
        • I am disquieted
        • Dream
        • Noah's Wife
        • Parable of the Five Sons
        • Eggshell
      • Jesus Nailed to the Cross
      • Burial and Resurrection
  • Blog
    • Previous Posts >
      • 2025 Posts
      • 2024 Posts
      • 2023 Posts
      • 2022 Posts
      • 2021 Posts
      • 2020 Posts
  • About
  • Contact