Crusty songwriter Kris Kristofferson in a song “The Last Thing to Go” writes:
Love is the reason we happened at all
And it paid for the damage we’ve done
And it bought us the freedom to fall into grace
On our way to our place in the sun

It often does not feel like love as we are thrust from the womb. And yet our lives are spent, often unknowingly, seeking the connectedness and wholeness we experienced in the womb.

Spiritual friendship connects with that deep hunger for connectedness and unique identity which often expresses itself in unhealthy and self-destructive ways.
This hunger for wholeness also positively empowers our growth, creativity, accomplishments, desire for relationship, family and community.
It also empowers us to love and be loved, to learn to care for persons or causes that are greater than our own self-interest.

This journey to “our place in the sun” cannot be done alone. If we happened at all because of love, the ongoing “happening” of our lives, year following year, needs to be nurtured by the giving and receiving of love in relationship.

This is much more than our normal experience of life - our Canadian culture has become dominated by an economic value system which cannot comprehend giving with no expectation of return on investment. True spiritual friendship swims against that stream.

We are together as friends, swimming against the stream in friendship. Personal, relaxed and friendly exchanges about Jesus can get to pretty deep and profound places unexpectedly and in a hurry. That is the centre of our friendship – his friendship with us

Spiritual friendship is an important place for us to discover truth – hearing and telling truth – about ourselves, our place in this world and about what truly matters when life is over.

We will remind each other that we are loved by God, each other and many who share life with us. The mystery we share is mediating the knowledge and experience of Divine love through human love and care.

Our friendship includes:
• unconditional acceptance combined with truth telling
• transparency about ourselves expressed in a safe and confidential context
• exploration of Jesus life and work with our own incarnation of this in our current life
• commitment to care beyond our own interest
• desire to receive truth about ourselves for our own growth and protection
In our time together we will express and experience Jesus’ intention for us "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. 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, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”