S18 E23 - Friendship in the Lord: Worship and Friendship in the Lord (Chapters 9 & 10)

In this episode, we continue our book study on Friendship in the Lord and reflect on the gift of friendship as a foretaste of heaven and a living image of God's love. We talk about how we are meant to journey through life with each other, how God bonds us together along the way, and how these friendships are meant to last forever. We also discuss the gift of praising God for our friends, what it means to behold and not possess beauty, and how focusing on gratitude allows us to hold joy and sorrow in tension.    **Announcement:** - You can buy your copy of Friendship in the Lord from Ave Maria Press (or Amazon).   **Journal Questions:** - Who has accompanied you through the valleys and mountaintops of your life? - When do I show up to my friendships from a place of woundedness, deficiency, or insecurity? How is the Lord inviting me into deeper security? - What is the Lord inviting me to delight in? - How have I turned my unmet expectations into demands in my friendships?   **Discussion Questions:** - What are you grateful for? - Where in your life are you experiencing the Lord's presence in the midst of suffering? - When have unmet expectations turned into demands on a relationship? - How do you cultivate delight and gratitude in your life?   **Quote to Ponder:** "Friends in the Lord always turn one another toward the Lord. They are not forever gazing at each other, but together they look to the Lord and to their brothers and sisters in the Lord." (Friendship in the Lord, Page 101)   **Scripture for Lectio:** "We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.  But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,  from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love." (Ephesians 4:14-17)    **Sponsor - Word on Fire's new film, Heaven in Stone and Glass, produced in partnership with Spirit Juice Studios:** Beauty has the power to draw us beyond ourselves and point us toward something more. One of our favorite places in the United States is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. When we are there, beauty has a way of speaking to the ache that we can't name. It is as though our soul knows where it belongs. It feels like a homecoming. Word on Fire's Heaven in Stone and Glass is a new film exploring the beauty, meaning, and evangelizing power of sacred architecture. Journey across France with Bishop Barron as he explores five of the world's most iconic Gothic cathedrals: Chartres, Notre-Dame, Reims, Amiens, and Saint-Denis. Through soaring arches, stained glass, sacred imagery, and centuries of history, Bishop Barron reveals the theological meaning embedded within these extraordinary spaces and explores why their beauty continues to stir something deep within the human soul. Heaven in Stone and Glass invites believers and skeptics alike on a cinematic pilgrimage and asks us to consider what these sacred spaces have proclaimed for centuries: that beauty can reveal something about God and awaken us to the transcendent. Word on Fire's Heaven in Stone and Glass, a production of Spirit Juice Studios, is coming to theaters nationwide on September 20th and 23rd. Get tickets for yourself or a group here: https://heaveninstoneandglass.com   **Timestamps:**  00:00 Heaven in Stone and Glass 01:38 Intro 02:42 Scripture Verse and Quote to Ponder 05:07 Friendship is Meant to Last Forever 10:13 Faith as the Foundation of Friendship 12:05 Mature Love Gives Deepened Life to Others 13:39 Praising God for Your Friendships 17:20 Beholding Beauty in Others 20:11 Asking God for Gratitude 24:28 Closing Prayer