Remember when we used to send cards? In this and so many other ways, electronics have changed our communication patterns. Years ago I read about a man who procrastinated sending Christmas cards. In a hurry, he bought a few boxes of Christmas cards at the grocery store and put them in envelopes, addressed and mailed them, without paying attention to the message inside. A few days later he finally took time to open the card, only to read these words, “This card is just to say, a little gift is on the way.” He had unintentionally promised to send a gift to everyone on his list of cards.
Long before Hallmark, Paul sent a letter to the believers in Rome. We know his letter as a doctrinal masterpiece. Certainly, Paul’s letter has given us a beautiful understanding of the gospel and has deepened our theology. After his greetings and blessings, Paul tells the Roman believers he wants to see them because he has a gift for them. This gift comes from the Holy Spirit and will make the Romans stronger. Led by the Spirit, Paul adds that the Romans’ faith will also encourage him.
I went back to Rosebud recently to preach a funeral for a saint named Ann Marek. She and her husband Alvin took me in as a teen-aged pastor and fed me. They encouraged me greatly. Driving down memory lane off of highway 77, I remembered another member of that church who had a gift of giving. I am looking at a four-volume Alford’s Greek Testament which she gave me. Once she gave my best friend, another young preacher a radio-cassette player. He told her he could not accept her gift. Our Christian sister was incensed at his audacity to refuse her gift. In a moment, she became the preacher and he became the listener as she explained to him that he needed to learn to receive gifts. He listened, made the right decision and accepted her gift.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote, “Friendship is a sheltering tree.” In Christ, we have something to offer to our friends and our friends have something to offer us. There is mutual encouragement. Dr. Charles Wade reminded me that the Latin root of encouragement means to put a cour or heart into someone. Discouragement, then is to remove the heart from someone. We live our lives in the shelter of each other. In our lonely world, it is good to know that we can help each other along the journey. In the body of Christ, we covenant to encourage each other to love Christ more. Let’s keep that promise today.
