The Power of Letter-Writing

 

You may have heard that you'll  be receiving a blank, postage-paid postcard in your mailbox in the near future, courtesy of Canada Post. The idea is that the 13.5 million Canadian households will jot a note to someone meaningful in their lives and then drop it in a mailbox. It seems like a rather whimsical initiative on the part of our national postal service, but it's lovely.

Do you remember letter-writing, and finding postcards with appropriate postage while on vacation to send to people back home? It seems antiquated now, as do those songs from our youth which were love letters in themselves. When Ruth, my then-girlfriend, eventually my wife of 45 years, were at different universities we wrote to one another all the time. Today I squirm at my expressions of devotion, but it was an important way to stay connected before email and texts. 

This Canada Post project reminded me that early Christianity was nurtured through letters to various congregations. These epistles written by the apostle Paul - exhortations, admonishments, teaching - circulated through the fledgling congregations, eventually becomiing a key aspect of our New Testament.

Never underestimate the power of a letter!