Back to a school reunion!

 

I wonder if you have ever been back to your old school? Perhaps you live nearby, or your kids or grandkids now go there, so it’s a regular thing. Perhaps you wanted to forget school as quickly as possible, and haven’t set foot in the grounds since. When I got an invite from my old sports team saying they were getting together, I plucked up the courage to get to a school reunion last Saturday.

It was fun to see the old dining room, the massive tree that my friend Mark had climbed up, the sports pitches, and there were even a few butterflies when I saw the old sports hall where I did my GCSEs. Much had changed of course- a few new buildings, better school food, and now the kids have mobiles and their own laptops rather than sharing one payphone and one BBC Micro computer (that dates me!).

But it was the friends that I was glad to see. For some of them it had been 30 years since I’d seen them. Some of us had a few less hairs than when we last saw one another, but apart from that, we could have been back in 1993 with the same ridiculous Spanish phrases and movie quotes. Though one is now a businessman in Hong Kong, another an architect in London, and I’m a vicar here in Huntingdon, we don’t actually change that much over the years!

Friendship is a wonderful gift, and I was glad to reconnect with some of those old buddies. Perhaps it’s nostalgia, but as you go on in life, “you need a little help from your friends”- even if it’s just catching up on memories from time to time.

There’s a book in the Old Testament part of the Bible called Proverbs, and as it says on the tin, it’s packed with wise one-liners called proverbs. And in a world of facebook friends and fair-weather friends, we might do well to listen to the proverbs about friendship. A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for a time of adversity” (Proverbs 17:17)  Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses” (Prov 27:6)

I’ve got 10 copies of a book on True Friendship to give away to anyone who gets in touch, but meanwhile, a final proverb. “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Prov 18:24). This ultimately speaks of Jesus Christ, who loved his friends so much that he laid down his life for them. For those who put their trust in Him, He’ll never let them down, and never let them go! That is a true friend.  Thanks for listening, have a great day.