My Sister’s Keeper

Am I my Sister’s Keeper?

“If your sister is in a tearing hurry to get out and refuses to look you in the eye, it’s because she’s wearing your best sweater”-  Pam Brown.

Whether you have a big sister or little sister, we tend to hold strong opinions of our sisters. Whether we (currently) ‘hate’ them or can’t live without them, both emotions run deep.

My Sister: My Enemy My Friend

the iconic advice column “Dear Abbi” was authored by Pauline Friedman. But “Ask Landers” authored by her twin sister Esther Friedman preceded hers. The sisterly rivalry fueled the fire that shot both into fame nationwide. Dear Abby was featured in 1,400 newspapers across the country with a combined audience of 110 million while Ann Lander’s column was featured in 1,200 papers with a combined audience of 90 million. Esther Friedman was older than Pauline, by 17 minutes, I guarantee you, Esther fought to overcome that difference in their readerships everyday of her life.

‘I urge Euodia, and I urge Syntyche to agree in the Lord.’ – Philippians 4:2

These words were written over 2,000 years ago. Throughout time, as commentaries have been written, the identity of these two has been widely discussed.  Were they older or younger? What was their nationality? Only a few commentaries ponder whether they were literal sisters. What is important is that they were certainly sisters in Christ.

 According to the next verses, we know they faithfully served alongside Paul, and at some point, they had a disagreement, Was this a big public cat fight, or a long-drawn out resentment?  Was it a personal difference or well-intentioned disagreement over service to God? Did they make up, or ignore Paul’s encouragement? We will never know. Forever in history we only know them as two women who had an argument so bitter it made it into the bible.  It is what they are famous for. Disunity.

Sisters, we need each other. We complement each other, we encourage one another. And sometimes a little healthy rivalry can be the right motive to get a sister to get something done! When a sister in Christ hasn’t come to church in a few weeks I feel her absence. I agonize over the pains she must be struggling with. We need to pray for one another and check in with one another.

We need to invest in one another, because the church suffers when we don’t.