The Spiritual Friend as Witness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Musician and singer Marc Cohn has me thinking this week about the spiritual value of friends who do more than \u201chang out\u201d or spend time with us.\u00a0 An\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-spiritual-friend-as-witness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Spiritual Friend as Witness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Musician and singer Marc Cohn has me thinking this week about the spiritual value of friends who do more than \u201chang out\u201d or spend time with us.\u00a0 An\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-spiritual-friend-as-witness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"What God Wants for Your Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-25T16:57:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/files\/2012\/09\/MCJointheParade1.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-spiritual-friend-as-witness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-spiritual-friend-as-witness\/\",\"name\":\"The Spiritual Friend as Witness\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-25T16:57:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-25T16:57:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\"},\"description\":\"Musician and singer Marc Cohn has me thinking this week about the spiritual value of friends who do more than \u201chang out\u201d or spend time with us.\u00a0 An\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-spiritual-friend-as-witness\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-spiritual-friend-as-witness\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-spiritual-friend-as-witness\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Spiritual Friend as Witness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\",\"name\":\"What God Wants for Your Life\",\"description\":\"Thoughts on the perennial demands and changing shape of Christian spirituality.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\",\"name\":\"Frederick Schmidt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Frederick Schmidt\"},\"description\":\"The Reverend Dr. Frederick W. 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{"id":922,"date":"2012-09-25T10:57:56","date_gmt":"2012-09-25T16:57:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?p=922"},"modified":"2012-09-25T10:57:56","modified_gmt":"2012-09-25T16:57:56","slug":"the-spiritual-friend-as-witness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-spiritual-friend-as-witness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spiritual Friend as Witness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>Musician and singer Marc Cohn has me thinking this week about the spiritual value of friends who do more than \u201chang out\u201d or spend time with us.\u00a0 An important role in any spiritual friendship is the role of witness.\u00a0 Someone who allows us to name our struggles, explore their interior, and testify to the efforts we have made to live with faith, courage, and integrity.<\/p>\n

That can be a lonely journey and it is easy to lose our way:<\/p>\n

We can be tempted to surrender to darker forces.<\/li>\n

We can lose track of the issues at stake.<\/li>\n

We can be driven and overcome by fear.<\/li>\n

We can despair.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
And, even if we continue to live in a courageous fashion, it can be easy to forget the details of the journey \u2014 minimizing the work of grace in our lives.<\/p>\n
In times like that a friend can witness to our journey, reinforcing our commitments, strengthening our resolve, and reminding us of God\u2019s love along the way.\u00a0 That kind of care is an extension of the Incarnation \u2014 the experience of God\u2019s presence made possible by the living presence of one who shares that space with us.<\/p>\n
If you have a spiritual friend of that kind, give thanks \u2014 to him, to her, to God.<\/p>\n
If you have yet to find a friend like that, begin to look and remember that one of the best ways to cultivate that kind of friendship is to begin by being that kind of friend to someone else.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lyrics of Cohn\u2019s music and a link to his performance can be found below:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TokppfbDY3U<\/a><\/p>\n
When your longest night is coming down
\nWhen pieces of you hit the ground
\nWhen every word they say about you is a lie
\nWhen they put your soul up for review
\nWhen they\u2019re set on turning every screw
\nCall on me and I will testify<\/p>\n
Let me be your witness
\nLet me be your witness
\nLet me be your witness<\/p>\n
When no one sees and no one hears
\nYour secret heart
\nYour bitter tears
\nWhen it feels like you\u2019re just sinking in the sand
\nWhen you cant remember who you are
\nWhen you wonder how you came this far
\nCall my name and put me on the stand<\/p>\n
Let me be your witness\u2026<\/p>\n
To your mystery
\nTo your ecstasy
\nTo the tears you cry
\nI will testify
\nTo your longest night
\nTo how hard you fight
\nTo your inner light
\nA higher place
\nYour grace
\nTo where you are
\nAnd to who you\u2019ve been\u2014
\nJesus
\nJezebel
\nTo your heaven
\nTo your hell
\nLet me be your witness
\nLet me be your witness.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Musician and singer Marc Cohn has me thinking this week about the spiritual value of friends who do more than \u201chang out\u201d or spend time with us.\u00a0 An important role in any spiritual friendship is the role of witness.\u00a0 Someone who allows us to name our struggles, explore their interior, and testify to the efforts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Spiritual Friend as Witness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Musician and singer Marc Cohn has me thinking this week about the spiritual value of friends who do more than \u201chang out\u201d or spend time with us.\u00a0 An\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-spiritual-friend-as-witness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Spiritual Friend as Witness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Musician and singer Marc Cohn has me thinking this week about the spiritual value of friends who do more than \u201chang out\u201d or spend time with us.\u00a0 An\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-spiritual-friend-as-witness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"What God Wants for Your Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-25T16:57:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/files\/2012\/09\/MCJointheParade1.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-spiritual-friend-as-witness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-spiritual-friend-as-witness\/\",\"name\":\"The Spiritual Friend as 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