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The Epistles Whilst in our culture letter writing might be dying out a little, it is a very ancient and Biblical art. Twenty-one of the 27 books of the New Testament are collectively known as the Epistles. Epistle is from the Greek word ἐπιστολή, meaning ‘letter’. These books of the Bible are the letters of the early church. The New Testament Epistles are written by a number of different people. St Paul wrote the majority (13) of them, whilst others were written by St James, St Peter, St John, and the author of one is unknown. Very often letters had more than one author. They’re written either to individuals or to churches. Whilst modern letters tend to have ‘Dear John Smith’ at the beginning, and ‘Yours sincerely, Duncan Bell’ at the end, the culture back then was to have both the sender’s and the recipient’s names at the beginning. So the letters to the Thessalonians start, ‘Paul, Silas and Timothy; To the church of the Thessalonians.’ It seems to me Ephesus today PHOTO: PAWEESIT that this makes far more sense than our own style of letter writing. I don’t know about you, but when I get a letter, I look to the end of the letter to see who wrote it, before going back to the beginning to read it. It seems much more sensible to put the sender’s name at the beginning! Whilst many medieval paintings portray the Biblical authors poised with quill in hand, writing away, we know that the authors of the Epistles usually dictated to a secretary. Paul sometimes included a note in his own handwriting at the end of the letter. ‘I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand.’ (Colossians 4:18a). In St Paul’s letter to the Romans, the secretary (or amanuensis) adds his own greeting: ‘I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.’ (Romans 16:22). The reasons for writing the epistles are as many as the epistles themselves. Sometimes authors write in response to questions that the church has raised. Sometimes they write because they’ve heard things are going badly and want to help folks get back on track. Sometimes they write because they’ve heard really good things and want to encourage people. Sometimes they write to individuals to help them keep going in tough situations. The letters are as varied as life itself. If you’ve never read any of the Epistles, I’d suggest starting with the book of Ephesians. It’ll only take about ten minutes to read. You can fi nd it online if you don’t have a Bible. Rev Duncan Bell St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats Church Offi ce: Linden Avenue, Sheffi eld S8 0GA Tel: (0114) 274 5086 Page 18 email: offi ce@stchads.org website: www.stchads.org
Compassion is an organisation that supports children and their families all across the world. More than 60 years ago, the Rev Everett Swanson went to South Korea to minister to American troops fi ghting in the Korean war. He became troubled by the sight of hundreds of war orphans living on the streets abandoned by society. One day he saw piles of rags being tossed into the back of a truck. When he looked closer he found them to be frozen bodies of orphans who had died overnight on the streets. Swanson could not turn his back on this, and soon established a unique programme enabling individuals in the western world to provide education, food, clothing shelter and medical care for each Korean orphan for a few dollars a month. Today 12 partner countries continue to build a diverse network of caring sponsors around the world. For a number of years we wanted to sponsor a child, but it just did not seem fi nancially possible. Then one day it came to my mind that if I was prepared to give up a certain commitment I would free the money that we could put on sponsorship. Someone gave a talk at our church on the work of Compassion at this time and we knew this was what we would do. In 2003 we began to sponsor a little boy, and we have had regular letters from him over the years. He always tells me how he loves football and wants to play for Manchester United one day! He also tells us how he likes to help his grandad work in the fi elds. We were sent a lovely picture of his mother in their home and all the food they had purchased with a donation from my husband’s 60th birthday party. Our child (we are not allowed to mention his name) has become part of our family, and is now a handsome young man of 15 years and his photo is on the fi replace alongside the rest of the family. He lives in Mexico and attends the Compassion project near his home. How he has grown! His letters and pictures have been a constant delight, and he loves to hear all about our family. A number of times he has written and said ‘please pray for my mum’ which we do. Compassion has a vision to see four million children released from poverty by the year 2<strong>02</strong>0. As his face looked out on us from the fi replace this Christmas, we thanked God for this young man and his family who have touched our own in so many ways. The child sponsorship programme is in 26 developing nations today. The work of Compassion brings hope, fi nancial support, education programmes and the good news of Jesus to many struggling families across very poor areas of the world. Embracing children in need still remains at the heart of Compassion’s work, which has continued over six decades. Pauline Johnson Showing Compassion St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats Church Offi ce: Linden Avenue, Sheffi eld S8 0GA Tel: (0114) 274 5086 Page 19 email: offi ce@stchads.org website: www.stchads.org
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