Philippians 2:19-24
I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you. I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. All of them are seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But Timothy’s worth you know, how like a son with a father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope therefore to send him as soon as I see how things go with me; and I trust in the Lord that I will also come soon.
Few things substitute for the company of good friends.
What we witness in Paul’s letter to the Philippians is the tending of a relationship at a distance. We may do that differently now – although it wasn’t all that long ago that we actually wrote letters! – via phone calls, email, texting, and social media, but the importance of being connected to those we love and from whom we are separated remains the same.
In this case, Paul wants very much to send his companion Timothy to Philippi so that he can bear Paul’s greeting to them in person and, just as importantly, bring word back to Paul of how the Philippians are doing. Paul appears to covet a more tangible, more relational connection than what he’s been able to manage thus far, perhaps all the more so because of the isolation of his imprisonment and the concern the Philippians have expressed for him. He hopes to get there himself sometime soon, but in the meantime he will send Timothy.
Which I think is instructive. Letters seem to have served Paul pretty well in keeping in touch with his various congregations. But there are times when we need more than correspondence. We need a more tangible, even physical sense of connection and belonging. Why? I think it’s because relationships mediate the presence of God. Martin Luther once described a primary purpose of church as “the mutual conversation and consolation of the faithful” – the opportunity, that is, to gather together and encourage each other in faith and life. And so until Paul can gather with the Philippians in person, he will do more than write by sending a beloved friend to visit his beloved congregation and in this way seek a deeper connection than ink and parchment provides.
I know that in these days there are more and more folks inclined to believe they can cultivate their spiritual lives on their own, or who struggle to make time for Sunday worship or active participation in a church because of multiple demands on their time. But I think that one of the things congregations provide is an embodied sense of God’s presence and promises. We come together, that is, to remind ourselves that we are not independent agents, plodding our way to God along a lonely, isolated pilgrimage. Rather, we are the body of Christ, certainly individually members of it, as Paul writes elsewhere, but also joined together in indispensible ways. For as each of us knows, few things substitute for the company of good friends
Prayer: Dear God, remind us of your presence and promises through our encounters with our fellow believers so that together we may encourage each other to bear witness to your grace and goodness in word and deed. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Grow the fellowship, grow the faithful