TUESDAY April 25th
3 John 1:13-15
‘I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.’
Well, we have come to the end of John’s three epistles and he ends this third one in the same way as he ended the second mentioning the pen and ink, so I won’t go over that again, just refer back to the devotion from Monday April 17th.
I will just mention something from the last sentence, ‘The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name’. Although John had probably written the first epistle to a number of congregations or groups of believers, then the second one to a particular congregation, then the third to an individual, it was all written out of his personal care for each one, whether a lone person or a group. His theme in 1 John amongst many things was fellowship and family here he brings it down to friendship.
The one thing that amazes me most about being a part of the Church both locally and universally is that being one in Christ brings about an incredible bond. It doesn’t matter what our background is, Christ unites us together, and the bond is so special that you can go to a church anywhere else either in the UK or abroad and you will find that the bond remains the same.
I recall when I first visited Hungary, only knowing Nigel who I travelled out with, that after that first visit I had made great friendships out of those that I met, it wasn’t anything that had to be worked at, it happened organically because of the bond of unity that was there between us because of the Holy Spirit and being the family of God. The most difficult bit was to do as John says here in the text ‘greet the friends, each by name’, for even after eleven years I struggle with some of the names, and that includes remembering names in the UK. But there is something about greeting by name rather than by a title that speaks of friendship, closeness.
I was brought up as was possibly many who read the devotions to never call anyone by their first name unless they were of your own age, anyone else was either Mr or MRS or you could call them aunty or uncle, you probably know what I mean. It was considered to be showing respect, and I understand that, and maybe we have lost something of it, but something changed and suddenly we have found ourselves in a society that does actually seems to fit in better with the verses before us today ‘Greet the friends, each by name’, well after all, we are brothers and sisters, we all belong to the one and the same family, the family of God, but whatever our view on this change that has taken place, it is that we still should and must hold respect for others, especially those of an older generation, and I have always valued those who are older than me, I know that I am starting to enter the bracket of those who are older, but they have gone through so much and gained far more experience that we can learn from. So good morning John, Billy, Carol, Iain, Tracey . . . oh dear, it will take me too long, but good day to you all.