It has been suggested to me that letter writing is a dying art, as emails take the place of personal letters.  However, I would suggest that emails can often come across impersonal and sometimes are sent in haste, compared to a letter, which takes time to write. I was richly blessed a short while ago when a handwritten letter was sent to me in the post, a letter which encouraged and thanked me for the message I shared in that week’s ‘Worship at Home’.
Our reading today is a letter Paul wrote to the ‘faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae’.  Paul was unable to visit in person, due to being in prisoned but spent time learning about the fellowship in Colossae and wanted to encourage them in their journey of faith.

The personal nature of a letter and conversations, encourage us all.  They are key ingredients that enable us to flourish within our Christian communities and everyday life.  Last week I came home from our annual Methodist Church conference in Telford and my ordination at Shrewsbury Abbey. Our new president, Revd Richard Andrew and vice president, Matt Forsyth encouraged us all during their opening addresses (https://www.youtube.com/live/WeaaU2ncW1E?t=5060s and https://www.youtube.com/live/WeaaU2ncW1E?t=11221s ), as they shared the theme for the coming year; ‘Our story, our song, learning to live again’. Matt Forsyth finished his vice-president address by saying, ‘Our story is not stuck in the past. Our song is for us to sing now. It is being written, being sung anew, by the Spirit who makes all things new’.

Our story as Christian disciples is a life lived in love, as was seen in the Colossae fellowship (Colossians 1:4 “for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints”) and will always be, because God is love (1 John 4:8 “for God is love”).

What then does Paul’s letter to the fellowship in Colossae teach us about how we can encourage one another in love, with love. Paul shows that his inability to be there in person, due to being in prison does not limit his ability to encourage.  An encouragement which begins in prayer, “In our prayers for you we always thank God…” (Colossians 1:3). Praying for one another regularly, is not an optional extra but a foundation of our way of life as Christians, that is not dependant on our ability or location. 

The personal nature of Paul’s letter, to a fellowship in a city of trade, for me reflects Paul’s pastoral ministry, he cares for their spiritual wellbeing and recognises their need for encouragement. His letter teaches us that time taken to find out about how the ‘brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae’ are doing, under the guidance of ‘Epaphras’, a “faithful minister of Christ on our behalf” (Colossians 1:7-8) is time well spent. The information he gained enabled him to thank them for their faithfulness in following the way of Christ and in the way that they seek God and minister to one another (Colossians 1: 4-6). Paul recognised that Colossae was a Pagan city and there were many challenges around them and therefore encouraged them to continue to seek the way of God.  Joining these reflections together with the Methodist theme for the coming year, ‘our story, our song, learning to live again’. Reminds us that as Christian’s, holding each other in love, with love, as we participate in the enfolding story of God’s love, is brought alive within community and that we all have a part to play. Amen.