friendship

Keep Them For Yourself

By Cindy Koch –

This time of year is blooming with photos of our memories and special moments. Christmas, loved ones, beautiful trees and tables—I always enjoyed these frozen moments until just recently. Up until now, I didn’t realize how perverted our pictures have become. Now, I’m not talking about sneaking a peek at dirty pictures of shameful things. Rather, we are all now shaped by a culture that has a deep reverence for a filtered millisecond caught on a phone. Every time my little boy creates something, he proudly says, “Mom, take a picture!” When my daughter thinks something is funny, she asks, “Mom, can take a video?” Of course, it is not just our kids who have this digital obsession. But until recently, I didn’t think about the ramifications of our spectophilia.

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The Anti-Social Social Media

By Scott Keith –

I understand that what I am about to write is full of irony and perhaps even sanctimony or hypocrisy because this will be published on the internet and shared on various social media platforms.

I recently listened to an Art of Manliness podcast (ha, perhaps another form of social media), which interviewed Christina Cook, author of The Joy of Missing Out. In part, her book recounts a thirty-day period in which she gave up the internet, even email. I say “even email” because that is the work-related medium that I have a hard time eliminating from my daily life.

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Guns, Beer, and Biblical Translation

By Paul Koch –­­

Every Tuesday morning, I meet up with three other pastors from my circuit to translate the lessons for the upcoming Sunday. Now, this may seem like a simple task, but I assure you it is not. This habit has had a profound impact on my vocation; it has challenged me, caused me to focus, and even helped me to stay out of trouble a few times. Ideas are batted back and forth between texts as we revel in that great mixture of insults and encouragement that men of almost any age seem to naturally excel at.

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Locker Room Humor and Male Friendship

By Bob Hiller –

DISCLAIMER: This is not a blog about who you should or should not vote for. It does not seek to endorse either candidate. This is a blog about sin and manhood. It does happen that the foil for my blog today is running for the president of the United States. His comments about women and how they reflect current cultural stereotypes are the focus of this blog. Please do not use the comment section as a place for political fighting. Save that for Graham’s blog.

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Finding my Brother

By Paul Koch –

“For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother…”

I had a t-shirt in college with that line on it. I had no idea that it was penned by Shakespeare. I didn’t know it was from the famous St Crispin’s Day speech from Henry V or that the actual battle of Agincourt in 1415 inspired the scene, but I knew, without a doubt, the truth of the words.

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Eating Our Own

By Scott Keith –

President Ronald Reagan is often credited with coining the so-called eleventh commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.” Reagan used the term many times to discourage infighting within the GOP. I think that there is something to be learned from Reagan’s insistence on knowing when and with whom to pick a fight. A quick scan of the good ole Interweb––even (perhaps especially) when scrolling through “churchy” sites––will indicate we are all obsessed with eating our own.

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Flips for Drinks

By Paul Nelson –

Last week, you made the pisco sour, a drink that utilizes the white of an egg to create a thick, foamy topping on the drink. Technically, the pisco sour qualifies as a flip, a variety of mixed drink that utilizes all or part of an egg. The term flip is a bartending adjective dating back to the mid-19th century, and there are any number of variations because there are all sorts of potential liquors to work with. The egg adds thickness and creaminess to the drink.

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Bad Moms Exposed

By Cindy Koch –

She put down the glasses for just a moment. The door swung open and a wave of voices rushed in.  Hugs, hair, purses perfume, swirled around the bar as a fresh group of women performed the ritualistic welcome dance at the “meet you there” spot. Wine glasses lined up and ready, the bartender began her pours in a steady liquid rhythm: white, red, white.

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Mutual Brotherly Consolation and Forgiveness

By Scott Keith –

“As for myself, I judge the loss of all one’s possessions easier to bear than the loss of one faithful friend.” – Martin Luther

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” – C.S. Lewis

Last week on the Thinking Fellows podcast, Dr. Rosenbladt and I interviewed one of the hosts of Front Porch with the Fitzes, Pastor Joel Fitzpatrick, on the topic of masculinity. It was interesting to me how quickly our conversation turned from masculinity to the subject of male friendships. (Fodder for another show, I’m sure.) What has become evident to me over the past several years of research is that the two topics––masculinity and male friendships––cannot be separated.

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Go Out

By Cindy Koch –

Many good advice-givers tell me that marriage is hard work. I even want to believe them in these times of kids, activities, commitments, meetings, bills, stress, and the endless search for rest. My husband of 18 years, now, is a familiar face in the blur of everyday routine. And sometimes, I find myself missing the friend I knew in my youth.

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Christian, Go!

By Jaime Nava –

Is our time outbid by yet one more thing? If you haven’t seen anything about Pokémon Go, then you’re not reading this article, because you live in a gopher hole. It’s literally everywhere. We’ve already had two articles about it on our own Jagged Word. Here’s another one. This game is consuming hours of people’s lives. It’s been involved in a collision with a police vehicle. People are finding dead bodies (and here) playing this game. Two idiots fell off a cliff dashing to find a pretend being. I’m sure you’ve seen all these things in your feeds. It’s flippin’ everywhere.

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The Smiling Face of Church Politics

By Paul Koch –

I want to share with you a story about one of the most enjoyable times I have had since becoming aware of things like Synods, church voter’s meetings, and district conventions. Like many of the Jagged Mafia, I spent most of my days in wonderful bliss regarding the need or pervasiveness of politics within the Church. I simply went to church, received the gifts, and knew nothing of the bureaucratic procedures and policies that kept the lights on, the mortgage paid, or for that matter, provided insurance and retirement plans to church workers.

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Road Trip

By Caleb Keith –

Today (that is yesterday, for those reading this), I embarked on an eight-hour road trip from Irvine California to Gardnerville Nevada. I make this journey about three or four times a year for various occasions. I grew up in Carson City, Nevada by Lake Tahoe, and my Grandmother still lives in the area. Trips are made mostly to visit her and my lifelong friend, Carson Iverson. This trip is for the very same reasons, but there is an added twist. My friend from Concordia, Jacob Mueller, joined my wife, daughter, and me on our five-day journey.

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Welcome to the Rebellion

By Paul Koch –

“If our master, by force or by propaganda about ‘Togetherness’ or by unobtrusively making privacy and unplanned leisure impossible, even succeed in producing a world where all are Companions and none are Friends, they will have removed certain dangers, and will also have taken from us that is almost our strongest safeguard against complete servitude.” – C.S. Lewis, “The Four Loves”

Friendship is, at its core, a rebellion. 

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