Thread by @emilymiller

I’ve been thinking and reflecting and praying all week on the Monday daily devotional from church which our rector Rev. Russell Levenson wrote. Too long for twitter but it’s about Jesus as our best friend. (Thread)

“As close as some of my friends are, none of them can bear by sins and my griefs. And to none do I carry my prayers.”

(All quotes by Rev. Russ Levenson )

“Jesus changed all of that. God zipped Himself into a suit of flesh to live among us because He wanted more than a relationship at a distance; He wanted something closer than anyone could have ever imagined.”

“I do not know about you, but I need that kind of friend because many of my friends cannot be the kind of Friend Jesus is. For above all, Jesus is trustworthy with all that we carry to Him.”

“In other words, this ‘Friend,’ Who is also our ‘God,’ already knows everything there is to know about us. He is the one incomparable ‘Other’ whom we can trust with our darkest thoughts.”

“He goes on to warn of the danger of self-loathing that can arise from not coming clean with Jesus.”

“St. Augustine once wrote, ‘A friend is someone who knows everything about you and totally accepts you as you are.’

“What the Gospel and what the Friend Jesus offers us is an acceptance and a love that knows no boundary line.”

“When we say ‘yes’ to Jesus’ friendship, by laying ourselves bare before Him, we open the door for a transformation and healing of all our spiritually dark and diseased places.”

“...if we can learn to trust Jesus fully with all that we are, we will come to experience not just His acceptance of us, but His love of us; and in doing so, we begin to accept and love ourselves, and slowly but surely be transformed into the disciples Jesus calls us to be.”

“Having a friend in Jesus brings peace and wholeness, shalom.”

A prayer written by Russ Levenson, Jr., c. 2021.

Amen. Shalom.