An offer you can't refuse...

"Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent; do not go to the house of your kindred in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is nearby than kindred who are far away."

(Proverbs 27:10)

Yesterday I re-watched "The Godfather" on DVD. The opening scene has a man coming to Vito Corleone asking for vengeance/justice on behalf of his daughter who has been wronged. Don Corleone listens, then comments on how this is the first time in the 20+ years they've known each other that this man has come to him for help. "You've never even invited me over to your house... to have dinner with you and your family..." In short, you've never reached out to be my friend in all these years, he tells him. Of course, as the movie progresses, we discover just how valuable it is to be a friend of Don Corleone.

So when I read this verse this morning in Proverbs 27, images of "The Godfather" were fresh in my mind. "Do not forsake your friend..." Sure. Everyone knows that, right? There's a special bond in friendship. (And if you finish the verse, you see it's even wiser to go to a close friend/neighbor when you're in trouble, than to make a long journey to go to a relative at a crisis.)

But a curious thing happens in verse 10: there's no period after "friend." It keeps going... "Do not forsake your friend... OR the friend of your parent." Hmmm.... that's intriguing, isn't it? My mind now races back to the book I just finished, The Kite Runner... and the scene where Amir has asked The General for the hand of his daughter in marriage. The General reminds Amir of the importance in Afghani culture, of knowing another person's family. He tells him that because he knew Amir's father - and greatly admired him - then of course he'll let Amir marry his daughter. There's power in family connections! The General was a friend of Amir's father. That settled it.

I think we've lost some of the multi-generational connections our parents & grandparents had. Today's culture seems more "me centered." We've neglected the friends of our fathers (and mothers)... or maybe simply forgotten them. They've unfortunately become irrelevant. How much more would our lives be blessed if we intentionally spent more time cultivating multi-generational relationships?

Ultimately, that's what the church is about when we do what we do best. We connect with each other in the Body of Christ. We help one another. Anyone (hopefully)! Because they just might have been a friend of our Father... AMEN!