Sirach 6 and the Value of Friendship

A failed boating excursion turns into an opportunity to record an outdoor podcast wherein we discuss the value of true friendship, the difficulty of cultivating and maintaining friendships, and how to go about finding a true friend that will accompany you (and that you can accompany) during good times and bad.

Sirach 6:5-11 counsels that:

“Pleasant speech multiplies friends, and gracious lips, friendly greetings.  Let those who are friendly to you be many, but one in a thousand your confidant.  When you gain friends, gain them through testing, and do not be quick to trust them.  For there are friends when it suits them, but they will not be around in time of trouble.  

"Another is a friend who turns into an enemy, and tells of the quarrel to your disgrace.  Others are friends, table companions, but they cannot be found in time of affliction.  When things go well, they are your other self and lord it over your servants. If disaster comes upon you, they turn against you and hide themselves.

"Stay away from your enemies, and be on guard with your friends.

"Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one finds a treasure. Faithful friends are beyond price, no amount can balance their worth.  Faithful friends are life-saving medicine; those who fear God will find them.  Those who fear the Lord enjoy stable friendship, for as they are, so will their neighbors be."