A visit to the hospital

One of men which found us thanks to evangelism with Chorale Gaudete – CREC choir – has been in psychiatric hospital with depression for 2 months. When I visited him two ladies (65 and 35) joined us in discussion and asked a lot of question about our beliefs, the church. During the next visit they invited 2-3 more people and we discussed in a small group in one of their rooms. I am conscious of their emotional problems but they are not disabled people, I would say that their problem is also spiritual and they are spiritual hungry people.

 I visit them twice a week, we talk about their challenges, problems, they promised me to visit our church after leaving but the biggest encouragement is praying with these people at the end of every visit. During the first prayer they asked me how to pray? They heard my prayer and then every person said: Maybe I could try. Now it’s your turn. One of them prayed: “Father, I ask you that I can leave this place so I could do a lot of funny but good things and that I can bring chocolate and cigarettes for my friends here”.

:-)

About friendship

Friendship is a test and preparation for marriage. Nurturing friendship we learn in this way, the meaning of words: the company, trust, devotion, fidelity. A man or a woman who doesn’t know the essence of friendship will probably not be a good husband and wife. Hence it is important to learn to be a good friend. Willingness to sacrifice (time, money, power, energy and emotion) doesn’t always come naturally. Especially when you yourself go through the care and life tests.

Friendship is usually built around common interests. Friends often combine the values, aspirations, passions and purpose - though sometimes they can be spiritually unhealthy, and friendship (completely honest) can be built on the foundations of the ungodly (for example, "Leon: The Professional"). An example of such a friendship can be found in the Bible: " Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.That day Herod and Pilate became friends - before this they had been enemies.” (Luke 23,11-12).

Friendship is a very important part of human life. Thus man's relationship with God also has a dimension of friendship. “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15,14-15). In the Bible Abraham is called the friend of God (James 2:23), the same sa the sincere (Proverbs 3:32) and all those who carry out the will of Christ.

In the context of the desires that man has he may be in friendship with God or with the "world ". James says it’s impossible to reconcile the two. " Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"" (James 4:4). Friendship with the world is not running away from him. The attitude of asceticism and closing in the walls of the church has nothing to do with true spirituality and maturity in faith. Friendship with the world is worhiping its takeover of non-biblical values and principles, habits and ways of thinking. This is flowing of current (like dead fish).

Friendship is so essential in our lives. I always engage in a friendly relationship, either it is a relationship with God, he refers to by faith (Rom 1.17; Rom 3,23-24, Eph 2:8), or with the world, which comes through lust.

Some want to be "cool" (and "trendy") and want to be friends of all (religions, philosophies, values). Provide a friendship (or love) almost all the people they meet. But the essence of friendship is that it has a few of them. I think that they can have at most a few. Not without reason that Jesus chose the twelve apostles, which could be devoted to building a close relationship with them. But of these twelve only three spent most of the time (Peter, John, James).

365 or 40 days of Lent?

When we look back in history we can see that the churches that exclude lent from the liturgical calendar do not replace it with continual atmosphere of joy. For example, the Puritans abolished lent, but also removed  Christmas and the joy associated with the celebration of Christ's incarnation. They removed from their lives other celebrations involving singing, dancing or recreation. This was not only a puritan trend. In the seventeenth century also Catholic Church in Madrid closed theaters, as well as the Protestants in London or the Orthodox in Russia.

In many churches rejecting Lent comes together with discarding the joy of Christmas. This explains why it is not about removing periods during the year, which interfere with the experience of joy. Removing the period of Lent didn't bring continuous joy of Easter, but resulted in continuous full-year leant. Churches that believe Lent in the liturgical year to be one of the greatest heresy -  really fast all year round. This is because they say it's wrong to drink alkohol, go to pubs, listen to rock music or dance any time.

We recognize the lent in the same sense and for the same reason we confess our sins at the beginning of each Sunday service. This is the time of sadness because of our sins and wickedness. But this sorrow and lamentation should not suppress the joy at the goodness of our God. After the confession of sins we receive the assurance of forgiveness.

There is proper time for both the sadness and the joy. The time before Easter is the time to discover the essence of the resurrection and the blessings of the New Life. The spirit of Lent is a part of life of the church. Figuratively speaking, if we do not wear purple and ash for 40 days we may wear them 365 days a year.

At the end a little note. What's interesting - the church fathers are not recommended to fast on Sunday (except for confession of sins), because the Lord's Day is a day of joy.