This was my second sermon preached in the begianing preaching class on Psalm 25 on march 25, 2010.

A Real friendship God.          Wow, that psalm has a lot doesn’t it? Man, I mean can you even remember any parts of what I just read? That Psalm 25 is filled with so much. I Guess I should start out by explaining a little about this Psalm. Its one of 9 acrostic psalms in the book and is given credit to David as the another, although that is debated… To me this Psalm covers almost all that one would need it to, the psalm that has it all, well. I must say I’m a little bias. I love this psalm. This is actually my favorite psalm. When I was trying to decide that I was going to preach on I thought… Rose Don’t preach on your favorite psalm… that’s a treacherous game. But if just kept coming back and coming back to it… so here we are Psalm 25. Here is the Clift notes version of this psalm. God you are the only one for me. Show me the paths of your ways. Remember me! Oh God remember me! I’m bad at this.. God… I sin and have tones of gilt… God is good with those who fear him. Ya! See these folks that don’t like me… Go get them. Help me to have your integrity and uprightness preserve me. And oh by the way redeem Israel. That’s basically it… But there is SO much in this psalm, its rich with metaphor and imagery, I couldn’t possibly talk to you about all of it. So I am going to focus on the one thing that I think is most important, at least at this time, about this psalm. Relationship. This Psalm is written as if the palmist assumes their favor. Lack of dought. Without fail, throughout this psalm the writer has no dought of God’ s presence.  The psalmist knows the character of God and list’s the qualities of God as; Mercy, steadfast love, integrity, goodness, upright, faithfulness, and friendship. Friendship? Can God be our friend? Exactly what do they mean by friendship? Verse 14 reads. The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him ,and he makes known to them his covenant. Well, that’s a bold statement. There is a lot wrapped up in that little verse. We have friendship, we have fear of the lord and we have covenant. Relationship, respect, and recognition.A friendship God. What do you think about that? Is that a pleasant thought? Is that an irreverent thought? Is that comfortable thought? Is that an uncomfortable thought? (silence) When I first came to the point where god was my friend, that was a liberating shift for me, life-giving, faithful, wonderful gift…. But I’m told this is not a new concept. I am a friend of God contemporary song that’s popular right now? … But I wonder if we really, I mean REALLY think of God as our friend, our best friend? … or is that just cute to say? ……oh yea! God and I , we’re buddies. . .Really?  In this psalm we have to come face to face with The Friendship God…. Now you may be thinking. The friendship God, rose? What are you talking about? What dose that even look like?  But I think that is exactly what is wrong. I think that why we have such a hard time! We don’t know what a friendship God looks like. We have a hard time breaking free of the parent images we have of the Lord.  Trust me, I struggle with it too. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. We know those.  Creator, Redeemer, sustainer. We know those. We have those images. But why not give friend a REAL test drive with me?? 
Friends seems to be all that I have been able to talk about lately. I started asking people out of curiosity, to tell me about their best friends. Sometimes I would ask for word definitions, sometimes I would ask for stories, asked people to describe WHY they were friends with, whoever it was, that is their closest friend. I want you to listen to these statements that people both on and off this campus have told me about their friends. But I want you to think about these fraises, not about their friend, but about their relationship with God.  Giving. Loyal. Unconditional Acceptance. Fearless, patient- I cannot believe that he put up with all my shit. She notices me. Confidential… Affectionate.. She balances out my qualities, good and bad she balances me. trustworthy.. Dependable.. Deeply Loving… She knows my pain …kindness, fun-loving. Real.. Honest.. Relentless, weather its relentlessly loving me or relentlessly telling me I’m wrong… I respect him…we have no trouble overlooking personality differences. There was always some kind of real connection that was there, even when we were young.  He will stick with you not matter what …They are always there for you when you need someone. A Good listener. “why? Because she’s  awesome!” non-judgmental. She knows my soul. We have known each other for a long time, our relationship changes and yet, stays the same. Really?!? These are beautiful and specific relationships… I saw a change in people. When we would talk about their best friend. They would first give me there usual discussion, they are a lawyer, we have know each other for 35 years… and I would say yes. But Why? What qualities do they posses that would make you want to be friends with them? And their whole demeanor would change… you could see that this relationship deeply affected them. It was beautiful. I cant help but wonder, if someone was to ask me, why I chose God to be your friend? … what qualities dose God Posses, that would make you want to be friends with him? … would my demeanor change? What qualities would I list? I feel like I should tell you the story of when God really became one of my close friends and no longer as I saw him before. … I was in a very dark time, faith left in God to fix it. These were my card I had been dealt, I had to solder on. I hated it. I was so angry, and mad, and sad, and lonely… I just need someone to listen to me complain and bitch and scream and yell , and just get it all out. I needed SOME ONE, anyone. I called my best friend, no answer, I called my, mom, no answer. My brother, my other friends from college, my classmates, my dad. NO ANCWER! I begin to call my dad every 10 mins on the dot for two hours. And finally at about 3AM I gave in. I had to call the ONE person who I did not want to talk to. GOD. I called and God picked up.  And I went off. I complained and bitched and screamed and yelled , and just get it all out. And then God let me curl up and cry on his shoulder. And just held me. ……I didn’t need an answer… I didn’t need a father.. I needed a friend. I needed God!!!  I needed god to be my friend… and he was. The friendship of the Lord, the secret council of the Lord… Its private, Its personal. It’s a deep deep friendship. It’s a friendship that comes from respect, it’s a friendship that comes from Obeisance. It’s a friendship that is two ways. The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him ,and he makes known to them his covenant.Fear of the Lord is not that shaking in your boots about to cry scared out of your mind peeing your paints ‘fear not’ thing?!? Its deeper than that. Its Loving, is respecting, Its obeying. One description of ‘fear of the lord’ is that it is both an experience of awe and the iristibul attraction to the graciousness of God… reverence and obedience. Friendship is two ways, people are your friends because you listen, you care for them, you respect them. God is AWSOME. AWSOME not like how we use the word today… How was your burger? Awesome… what! NO!! it’s that burger was awesome you would… you wouldn’t be able to eat it! But God is AWSOME. And you Fear and are Friends with God because GOD is Awesome. We are all here for a reason. We are in seminary because we had a moment. Or a “thing” were we KNEW God’s greatness. We are Obedient, and we are friends with God, we fulfill our half of the friendship so that we can have those experiences. Friends….This is a God who wants to make a covenant with us. A two way relationship. The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him ,and he makes known to them his covenant.WOW. That is Awesome. That is a God of relationship. That is a God to get passionate about. I mean right?!? God can be those other things.  A parent. A redeemer. A sustainer. A BIG God. But a friendship God….that’s a god that. (hands to heart) is here. That’s a God that Knows you. Through the Good the bad and the ugly. And still picks up the phone when you call. …… Let God Be your friend……..Amen