Friending

Using Colossians 3 and 1 Corinthians 13 as touchpoints, Lynne Baab helps us understand the impact of new media and other cultural realities on our relationships, and shows us how we can celebrate and strengthen our relational ties while continuing to practice the timeless discipline of friending in our time.The notion of friendship is under broad review. A highly mobile and increasingly busy society--rootless, some might argue--means that most of our relationships can't depend solely on face-to-face contact to flourish. ^^The increasing prominence of the virtual landscape--where the language of friendship has been co-opted to describe relationships ranging from intimate to meaningless--requires that we become fluent in ever-expanding relational technologies. It's never been easy to be a friend, but it seems to be getting tougher by the nanosecond.^^In Friending, Lynne Baab collects the insights, hopes and regrets of people from across the spectrum of age and life circumstance and syncs them with the wisdom of the Bible. Using Colossians 3 and 1 Corinthians 13 as touchpoints, Lynne shows us how we can celebrate and strengthen our relational ties while continuing to practice the timeless discipline of friending in our time.Introduction^^1 Real Relationships^2 Friendship Then and Now^3 Friendship Goes Virtual^4 Challenges from Technology^5 Challenges beyond Technology^6 Friendship with God^7 Initiating^8 Listening - Remembering - Praying^9 Asking - Giving - Thanking^10 Sharing - Caring - Being Together - Being Apart ^11 Pacing - Choosing ^12 Accepting - Forgiving ^13 A Friendship Experiment^^Appendix A: Discussion/Reflection Questions About Other Friendship Topics

The notion of friendship is under broad review. A highly mobile and increasingly busy society-rootless, some might argue-means that most of our relationships can't depend solely on face-to-face contact to flourish. The increasing prominence of the virtual landscape-where the language of friendship has been co-opted to describe relationships ranging from intimate to meaningless-requires that we become fluent in ever-expanding relational technologies. It's never been easy to be a friend, but it seems to be getting tougher by the nanosecond.In Friending, Lynne Baab collects the insights, hopes and regrets of people from across the spectrum of age and life circumstance and syncs them with the wisdom of the Bible. Using Colossians 3 and 1 Corinthians 13 as touchpoints, Lynne shows us how we can celebrate and strengthen our relational ties while continuing to practice the timeless discipline of friending in our time.
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