Spiritual Friendship: Learning to Be Friends with God and One Another

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Spiritual Friendship

Discussion Questions

What do you think about Aelred’s thought experiment in 3.76−78? Can you imagine a world with no friendship? Do you agree that friendships are as important to living the kind of life God created humans to live as Aelred seems to think?

What do you think about Aelred’s eschatological 9 approach to Christian friendship (3.79−80)? He suggests that eventually we will be friends

with everyone in heaven, but for now our finitude and human sinfulness means that we must be satisfied with a smaller group of friends. Does his logic make sense to you?

Aelred is articulate about the feelings of love he experienced as he walked around looking at different members of his discipleship

community (3.82−84). When have you experienced feelings like Aelred describes? Does Aelred’s distinction between those he loves and those who are his trusted friends within the community make sense to you? Do you see any potential problems with it?

Aelred calls friendship the spice of life, and reminds us that sometimes friends need to “be a little loose” (3.89). What are ways that

you relax and loosen up with friends? How often do you take time to just have fun with your friends and enjoy God’s good gift of friendship?

9 Eschatology – the study of the “eschaton,” or the end times.