Whatever Happened to "Friendship with Jesus?"

TylerR
Church & Ministry
Christian Music
Worship

Roger Olson: If Christian song writers and performers and congregations have new songs with this theme/motif, I would be glad to know about it … This theme/motif seems to have dropped away almost entirely. How can something that central, prominent, signal, crucial to a type of Christian spirituality drop away entirely and something valuable not be lost?

Discussion

Profile picture for user Bert Perry
Bert Perry
Mon, 03/27/17 11:09 am

…Norman Greenbaum comes to mind….yes, despite a serious theological error in the lyrics, I’ve got it on 45….seriously, the notion of being a close friend with Christ made a huge impact on me when I came to Him in the late 1980s. I remember being stunned when I bought my first German-language Bible, and realized that Luther had chosen the familiar forms of “you”, not the formal forms. There is a lot to be said for describing closeness with the Lord that does not have to stray into “Jesus is my boyfriend.”

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Profile picture for user Bert Perry
Bert Perry
Mon, 03/27/17 12:32 pm

There are times when we pray very, very distantly to God. I’ve heard pastors pray and address God in the third person. Think about that one for a minute. On another note, I heard someone describe the Holy Spirit as “it”. No, sister; “He.” We ought to take this very seriously in light of His warning that some are going to hear “I never knew you.”

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.