Across the Pastor’s Desk by Josh Enderson

 

Lately, I have been enjoying the show “Derry Girls” on Netflix. It tells the story of five kids who live in Derry in Northern Ireland in the early 1990s, during the time known as “The Troubles.” If you remember this time, or have read about this time, you’ll know this was a time of violence in which 3,500 people in Northern Ireland were killed between the years 1970 and the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

What I have enjoyed about the show is that, in telling the story of Erin, Orla, Claire, Michelle and James, they show regular life being lived in the midst of this violence. They go to school and have to cross armed checkpoints with soldiers and rifles. But, it’s not gloomy and depressing. It’s hilarious. And it’s poignant and touching (and yes, quite often irreverent). It doesn’t make light of the situation, but it does show the power of true friendship in the midst of the worst violence, and how that has the power to overcome hatred and animosity.

I have always seen Jesus’ relationship with his disciples in a similar light. In the midst of all they went through, it was their friendship and their love that kept them going.

When Jesus gathered for a last meal with his disciples in John’s gospel, he said these words to them, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34, 35)

Yes, they all faltered at Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. But that love came through in the end. It was their love and that friendship that allowed for them to carry Jesus’ message to the world. Love and friendship always win in the end.

We do not live in a time that is exactly like The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Violence seems to be on the rise, but not to those levels (yet). Our divisions seem to be growing, but not to that level (yet). And yet, I think we all would agree that we live in troubled times.

How do we live our lives in these times? Do we pull inward and disengage from the world?

No. We find our friends and we “love one another.” We find our neighbors and we love one another. We find the outcast and the stranger and we love one another.

Because in the face of violence and hatred, we stand tall with love and friendship. We stand tall as Jesus’ disciples, loving one another. We stand tall, knowing that love and friendship will always win out in the end.

Josh Enderson is a pastor at Hayward Lutheran Church.