Devotion: Survival of the Friendliest
“…I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends…”
John 15:15
This week we began our new worship series, Survival of the Friendliest, and I ended my sermon on Sunday with the same story that Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods used to begin their book of the same name. It is a story from the realm of classroom education, and it got me thinking about my classroom experience, in which I learned that competition often isn’t what is best.
If you know me well, you may have heard my rant about not being a “happy seminarian.” I loathed the entire seminary process; mostly because I went to seminary figuring it would make me stronger and more faithful, and grow me as a person. What I found was that it was an academic enterprise. The expectation was that we were to keep our mouths shut and get our work done.
I raised my displeasure with the Dean of Faculty who basically said, “if you were a better student you wouldn’t complain.” So, I honed my “workaholism” tendencies and then pulled all “A’s.” When I went back to complain again, I was met with the line, “If you can’t handle it here, how are going to handle it in the parish?” I was shocked both at how often I heard that line and that it was used as a reason for keeping the status quo.
I responded with “you realize, that this place is nothing like the parish!” Well eventually, I was told to keep my mouth shut or I wouldn’t make it. And so I did both… I shut up and I made it.
A few months after graduating from seminary, I was given a report by the Alban Institute, who study churches and seminary education . The report said exactly what I had been complaining about. Namely, that an educational system that pits students against each other in search of a grade is a poor way to raise up leaders who are tasked with bringing people together in parish ministry. I had finally gotten the affirmation I sought.
Societally, we have regularly defaulted on “survival of the fittest.” However, in so many areas of life, being friendly and gaining cooperative relationships are the keys to success. Science has caught up to us and we can now see, through research, that “survival of the friendliest” is what is essential for progress.
I do hope you will worship with us, and that you will grow in your capacity for cooperation. To our knowledge, Jesus never entered any situation as the alpha personality who was going to take down others. Quite to the contrary, he simply called us “friends.” Jesus believes that a friend is one who he would chose to love. Hear that again, Jesus made the choice to love. Can you – will you – choose to act lovingly in the world? New research indicates that our survival may just bank on our friendliness.
Gracious God, give us the wisdom to seek you and to know you call us to both friendships and friendliness. Provide for us giving and gracious hearts for the world. Amen.
Written by Pastor Greg Bouvier
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Pastor Greg heard God’s call to Sheridan in 1999 and that began a journey which has become his life’s work. Having played a variety of roles as pastor of Sheridan, Pastor Greg was called as the Senior Pastor in 2011. He leads the staff and his primary focus is on the creation of culture, the overall direction of worship and partnering with our amazing team. Pastor Greg has been married to Rose for more than 30 years and together they have two servant-hearted grown children.