At the urging of my publicist, my teenage daughters, the church staff, and practically the whole universe, I entered the world of social networking in 2009.  This despite the fact that no one in their right mind would write a "book" about my "face," "twitter" sounds like someone with a caffeine addiction, and LinkedIn reminds me of either sausage links or the fact that I'm a really bad golfer. 

I've now accumulated almost 600 friends on Facebook.  But, are they really? 

In a recent New York Times magazine article, Hal Niedzviecki asked this very question.  Soon after starting a Facebook account, Niedzviecki had accumulated about 700 on-line "friends." In his own words, he was "absurdly proud of how many cyberpals, connections, acquaintances, and even strangers I'd managed to sign up." But he went on to point out that due to a 2-year-old at home, his "workaholic irritability," even his love of being left alone, he had fewer in-the-flesh friends to hang out with than he'd ever had before. So he decided to have a Facebook party to push his virtual friends into actual friends.

Niedzviecki invited all 700 of his "friends" to a local bar for a party. People could respond to one of three options: "Attending," "Maybe Attending" and "Not Attending." Fifteen said they would be there, and sixty said they might be there. He guessed somewhere around 20 would show up.

He writes about what happened next: "On the evening in question, I took a shower. I shaved. I splashed on my tingly man perfume. I put on new pants and a favorite shirt. Brimming with optimism, I headed over to the neighborhood watering hole and waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually, one person showed up."

And the one woman who showed up to meet Niedzviecki? He didn't know her. She was a friend of a friend. They ended up making small talk and then she left.

Hal waited till midnight but no one else showed up. So, he ordered a beer and sulked. He concludes his article with these words: "Seven hundred friends, and I was drinking alone."

Jesus himself had thousands of followers on his Jerusalem Facebook site.  But when He threw a Facebook party at Golgotha, they all allowed two simple pieces of lumber to get in their way.  I wonder if Jesus thought from the cross, "Thousands of followers, and here I am being offered vinegar to drink--alone." 

"Greater love has no man than this," the Lord said, "that a man lay down his life for his friends."  And so at Calvary Jesus proved to be the greatest friend I could ever have. 

I want to be that kind of friend to YOU in 2010.  I want to go beyond Facebook and Twitter and really serve others.  I want to experience the depth and breadth of friendship this year.  As my dad always said, "Son, you have to BE a friend in order to HAVE a friend." 

So here's to enjoying rich, abiding friendships in this new year.  Pass the sausage links, please.