It was just announced that the television show “Friends” is being released on Netflix in its entirety.  Apologies to anyone who invested in a DVD set.  To be honest, it wasn’t my favourite show at the time, I was way more into Seinfeld.  But I watched, and so did everyone else.  It was a trendsetting show, now 20 years old!  It made coffee shops cool before they were ubiquitous, among other trends.

How many films, television shows, have focused on groups of friends?  Think of How I Met Your Mother, Seinfeld, Dumb & Dumber, and so on.  Particularly comedies!  There’s clearly something very attractive about friendship.

The possibilities for adventure, conflict and crisis are all there, but a show based on friendships has a larger pool of characters, and less exclusivity between them than you’d find in portraying a dating or married relationship.  Even shows that feature a married couple often include a number of close friends who are almost like family.

The Mayo Clinic boasts on its website that good friends are good for your health. Several sites talk about the importance of quality friends, not just lots of friends.

Of course, in reality, this can be really challenging.  Some people are great at forming lots of relationships, but not many good, deep ones.  Some people are great at forming deep relationships, but don’t know how to make other, new friends when they move, lose a friend, or otherwise find themselves missing that deep relationship.

What kind of friend could be friend to even the friendless?

Question: How would you define a true friend?  Would this person be a friend to even the friendless?

Meeting with a Group?  Your discussion questions are in this week’s Group Study Guide

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