Letters from a loved one

2 Timothy 1:13-18 (NRSV)

Paul in prison

Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

You are aware that all who are in Asia have turned away from me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain; when he arrived in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me may the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! And you know very well how much service he rendered in Ephesus. 

Letters are a lost art for the most part.  So it is hard sometimes to remember the often personal nature of some of the "Epistles" of Paul.

Paul (or at least probably Paul…) writes from prison anticipating his death and wanting to bolster strength and courage in his follower Timothy.  They had a close relationship and so reading this letter is quite different from reading something like the Gospels or the Book of Acts, or even one of Paul's letters to his churches.

How do we bolster each other these days?  We don't really write letters.  Texts and emails don't always have the same punch, do they?  And we can't hold on to them to remember the person in the same way we can with letters.

Not long ago, my mother gave me some old letters of hers that were either from me or about me in different periods of my life.  One was the first letter I'd written from college - giving her my dream menu for my first trip home.  Another was from a friend of hers I worked with in my first job, telling my mom I was doing fine, and another from my grandmother about my coming to visit her.  

They are good treasures that my mother has entrusted to me.  And while we might not have letters the way we used to, we still have the best treasure: the faith.  It's entrusted to us with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.  It doesn't get more personal or strength-building than that.

Good and Gracious God: You have entrusted to us the most wonderful of gifts - your Spirit that sustains us and draws us together.  You claim us for relationship with you and with our neighbors.  We don't always remember the gift, and we don't always treasure it so we thank you for the loving reminders you give us along the way. Amen