On the one hand we hear that we need each other, that it’s not good to be alone, that friends are forever.
On the other hand we hear that all we need is Yeshua, He is all-sufficient and provides all our needs.
Both of these are true, and so we are faced with something of a paradox on the topic of friendship.
As believers in Yeshua, it is through our friendships that we are can be connected not only in the flesh or through emotions but also in the Spirit. A good example of this is the way that John the Baptist responded with excitement to Yeshua while they were still in their mothers’ wombs. So it can be with us when we see someone we know and love. The spirit within us gets excited when we come in contact with each other.
Why is this? It can be emotional, physical and spiritual. It may be because we are in relationship; we have something in common and we understand each other. This is what the congregation is built on; this is what it means to connect. In Hebrew the word connect or connection comes from the same root as the word for friend (Chaver). A friend takes our focus off self and puts it on to someone else. We are connected and concerned for each other.
Yeshua said, “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). Why is it so important to be a friend? A friend in this context does not control or manipulate but is genuinely concerned. Friendship like this knows no selfishness or jealousy but its purpose is to build up the other person out of a desire to truly care for one another.
The solution to the friendship paradox is the love God revealed when he came and walked among us. All we need is Yeshua. Yeshua is our example of the ultimate faithful friend who sacrificed everything for us and in spite of our failings, loves us to the end. And … if the focus of our lives is a personal relationship with God through Yeshua, then we will also be empowered to share His quality of love with others, becoming a true friend to those around us.
In July the “Branch of the Galilee” Congregation in Nazareth (a ministry of Return to Zion), organized a kids day-camp together with the neighboring congregation “Zur Yeshuati” and a group of youth from America. Forty children ages 7-15 speaking Russian, Hebrew and Arabic gathered in unity as one team! This is the fifth year in a row this camp has been conducted.
The camp lasted eight days, most of which were spent at the congregational facility. The children and youth engaged in various activities and enjoyed cooked meals. On the eighth day they went to a water park on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The delight of the children and the joy of their parents were very touching. We praise the Lord for His protection. No one was hurt, and all were blessed by these special days together.
Each day we started and finished with prayer, and throughout the day the children were taught lessons from the Word of God. Through the children, their parents also learned about Scriptures. We believe the seeds that were sown in the children will sprout and bear good fruit!
We have just finished a week that was a little taste of heaven, and a test flight into the joint destiny of Israel and the nations. How could all that happen while conducting a camp for 60 Israeli children?
Tents of Mercy Congregation organized and sponsored the logistics for the Israeli end of the camp. As has happened every year for the last eleven years, a large team of selfless volunteer servants of God came from Beltway Park Church in Abilene, TX, to intercede, serve in every way imaginable, and in general help shine God’s love into the hearts of the kids. The children, along with their selfless young Israeli counselors came from our northern Tikkun-related network of congregations.
The inspiration for our camp theme came from the almost magical way a hot air balloon rises from the ground and travels through the air, moved along by the wind, something we cannot even see with our physical eyes (bear in mind that in Hebrew the word spirit and the word wind are one and the same – “ruach”). We desire to see our kids lifted off the ground and flying in life – powered by God’s Spirit and not our/their own strength. Hence camp week was a kind of test flight.
Of course there was lots of fun and games, and food and water to cool off the hot days. Then came the evening worship and impartation of encouragement to live life in dependence on God’s spirit. We saw a new level of breakthrough in worship, in prayer and in the general atmosphere. Children heard God speak to them, and we could see they were truly touched.
And come to think of it we did have a taste of joint destiny in “Acts 2:44 style” community – which also happened 2000 years ago through the power of Gods spirit. In a small way, during a week of kids’ camp, Israel and the Nations were becoming one. This happens in mutual service and in relying on God’s Spirit – the only source that can empower us to live lives of witness.