Make New Friends, But Keep the Old

I ran into one of our Scout Leaders early last Sunday morning as he was preparing to take the Troop to their summer camp in Oklahoma.  After he left I found myself reminiscing about the Scouting experiences I had had as a girl.  This song came to me that I learned beginning in my first Brownie Troop.  The first verse goes like this:

Make new friends

But keep the old

One is silver

And the other, gold.

I bet some of you are singing it right now!  This fun song is the one the Acts 16:5 Initiative uses to help us remember the value of long-time friendships and the importance of making new friends.

In Jesus Christ, becoming faithful people is what we all are striving to do.  Our own transformation and the church’s transformation will take place in energetic ways when we put this powerful idea to work.  Here’s a reminder of the way it works:  Next time you invite “gold” friends over for a meal or for dessert, invite someone that may be relatively new or “silver” to your gathering.  It could be an office co-worker or a neighbor or someone who’s been visiting the church.  The big challenge is NOT to talk about the church during your time together, because, of course, that would leave out the people who do not know the church well.  Bringing others into our circle of friends is how our own lives of faith are enlivened and stretched.  One of the fun things about meeting “silver” friends is learning about who they are and finding out about their lives, their interests and their faith.

Today in our busy and full lives, it may be too much to ask to have people over to our home, so another option is to change the venue.  Meet at a restaurant and have a meal together.  Meet at an ice cream parlor on one of these hot summer evenings and have conversation while enjoying cold, creamy cones.  Another alternative is to invite gold and silver friends to a game of some sort.  The possibilities are endless.

On the 4^th of July, my husband and I were invited to a parishioner’s home for dinner and homemade peach ice cream.  Yum!  There were people there, some of which we knew and some of which we did not.  What an enjoyable evening we had in lively conversation with both “gold” and “silver” friends.  It was an important reminder to me of making the effort to expand our circle to include those to whom God will surely lead us.