The phrase "no longer servants" changes the dynamic of personal relationships. It is a concept of equality. In John's time, one was connected through kinship networks or institutional relationships like master/slave. Friendship as we know it - having the freedom to be friends across gender, class and ethnic barriers - did not exist. But the aim of God to love, the call to us to love one another, moves us into new ways of relating. It is a call to organize our world where we care for all, even those who are outside our familiar networks. It is to be friends in Christ.

The family system church identity is determined by who belongs to whom. This can be a strength, but it can also be a serious deterrent to necessary changes. The way to overcome this is to acknowledge the nature of the community, and to understand how it works in creating an identity. From there the community can begin to move to a friendship network. Even there, there is work to be done. Because we can define friends as neighbors, and since we don't want to cause dissension in the neighborhood, those who are considered to be "different" can be (and too frequently ARE) excluded.