Friendship – Transcending Differences and Difficulties.

This morning I read about the friendship between David and Jonathan. Following his famous victory over the giant Goliath David was a national hero. Jonathan’s dad, King Saul, was jealous of David and hated him. Jonathan’s loyalty to his father was often challenged by his loyalty to his friend David.

Musician, country boy David and prince, privileged Jonathan were very different; their life circumstances often kept them apart – David was on the run, fearing for his life, Jonathan was secure in his palace. They remained close loyal friends: ‘Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.’

In the 1936 Berlin Olympics long jump final the black American Jesse Owens met the white, blond German Luz Long. They chatted and formed a close friendship.

Owens set an Olympic record; Long was the first to congratulate him. Later Owens said: ‘You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn’t be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Lutz Long at that moment…’

War started; the two stayed in contact; Long was killed in action in 1943. In his last letter to Owens, Long asked him to go to find his son, Kai, in Germany after the war:‘…tell him about his father. Tell him, Jesse, what times were like when we not separated by war… tell him how things can be between men on this earth.’

In 1951 Owens travelled to Germany, met Long’s son, and eventually was best man at Kai’s wedding.

On Monday a few of us went to a local care home to take a little service. We said some prayers, one friend told his story of being brought up in Wimbledon during the war… bombs falling, eventual evacuation… We sung the hymn ‘What a friend we have in Jesus…’

I looked round the room… the sick, elderly, vulnerable… reflected on what friendship with Jesus might mean to them…. My faith reassured me that such friendship can transcend even those differences and difficulties.