“Blessed is the one who remains steadfast under trial.” I don’t know about you, but James is one of those letters that never stops making me feel uncomfortable.

Trial is a very strong word, often translated tribulation. In the Bible it almost always refers to the troubles of this present age, not to a mysterious (and in my opinion imaginary) future event. In the midst of trial, James further tells us, we are to “count it all joy.” Somehow we are supposed to find peace in the midst of trouble. I don’t like it, but the truth is that’s usually where we grow. Why? Because that’s where we find God and dig ourselves deeper into him. The grace of God comes to us as we call upon him in our distress

Who doesn’t like the smell of bacon?

That thought took me to an interesting comment Paul made to the Corinthians. “We are the fragrance of Christ,” he said.

And that thought took me back forty years to a preaching visit a good friend of mine and I made to the Outer Hebrides islands off the west coast of Scotland, the site of the last known revival in the United Kingdom. We made a stop en route on the Isle Of Skye, and there we met with a godly Presbyterian minister, who related to us a remarkable story.

When it comes to doing church in our culture, one very strange but true observation can be made: it’s amazing how much we can do without God.

When you have access to financial resources, a decent building, good sound equipment and a preacher who can either stir the crowd up or make them feel good, you can do quite a lot without ever involving God in the process.

I’m sure we’ve all been deluged with opinions on how to survive the long drudgery of this pandemic.

There’s no doubt it has taken a toll. Every public opinion survey you read and every mental health professional you talk to will tell you not only how hard it’s been on people but how long it’s going to take to dig countless millions out of the abyss of hopelessness, anxiety and despair.

I don’t have any great answers other than depending on the fact that God is faithful and will help those who call on him.

But I do have one small suggestion to offer. It’s what I call the next step. Just look at what’s in front of you now.

Friendship is a highly underrated theological category. We spiritualize our relationships in church by calling each other brother and sister. We formalize our relationships in church by calling each other pastor, bishop, apostle and goodness knows what else.

But Jesus brought it right down to ground level: “I have called you my friends.” That’s why the Quakers called their movement the “Society of Friends.” Maybe they had a point.