Jesus Life 90 - Jesus Army

centre of a wheel in which all human soulfriendships
are vital spokes.
One example illustrates this well. When his
mentor died, Finbar (died 633) felt bereft, so
he went to see his friend Eolang. Eolang had
been praying and had received a word from
God for Finbar. He knelt before him and said:
“I offer you my church and my soul”. Finbar
wept and would have none of it, but Eolang
persisted. “Let it be so, for this is the will of
God. You are dear to Him and you are greater
than I. Only grant me this, that we may live
and die in the same place.” Here it is clear that
the heavenly dimension enriched the human
beyond what it could have achieved itself.
The Celtic anamcharas appreciated that
solitude and companionship had to be kept
in a creative balance. Both were essential for
what they called “soul-making”: the lifelong
process of making peace with God, with
oneself, with others, and with all of creation.
Soul friends are committed to helping one
another make this journey successfully.
The need for such committed love has
perhaps never been greater than in the post-
Christian West.
JL
they genuinely
saw each brother
or sister as a
potential source of
precious blessings
from God
Trevor is a senior leader in the
Jesus Fellowship. He says, “I
love learning from God’s movers
and shakers in history because I
want to be a history-maker now!
READ HIS BLOG:
radical-church-history.blogspot.com
For further reading on Celtic soul friends,
Trevor recommends the writings of
Edward Sellner. Find them here:
jez.uz/soulfriends and jez.uz/soulfriends2
JL
www.jesus.org.uk
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