11 lines
2.6 KiB
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11 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
<img src="https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/124890.png?w=540" width="540" /><p class="text">We continue series with Northern Seminary DMin grads who summarize their chapter from <a href="https://amzn.to/3eQ9Bqf" target="_blank" class=""><em><strong>Wise Church</strong></em></a>.</p>
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<p class="text">This post is by Jeremy Berg.</p>
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<p class="text">“That which is sweetest when we meet face to face</p>
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<p class="text">is afforded by the impress of a friend’s hand upon his letter.”</p>
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<p class="text">—Seneca, 1st C Roman Philosopher</p>
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<p class="text">When Covid hit and most churches were moving services online, I reached for my electronic ink and quill—i.e., my MacBook Pro—and began writing “pastoral letters” to individuals in my congregation. While digital media has enabled us to be connected with more people more often, the quality and depth of our interactions today is steadily diminishing. The most connected people in the history of the human race are also proving to be some of the most lonely and isolated.</p>
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<p class="text">In our digital age of distance learning, disembodied teaching, and impersonal sermons transmitted through a screen, there’s a need for pastors to return to more personal and embodied forms of wisdom and communication. One powerful way pastors have shepherded souls through the ages is through pastoral letter writing. My chapter in Wise Church surveys the rich and enduring legacy of letter writing for the purpose of spiritual formation—from Greco-Roman philosophers, to the New Testament epistles, and into the writings of the Church Fathers.</p>
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<p class="text">More than just conveying ideas or communicating facts, ancient letters mediated one’s personal presence. Cicero, the most famous and prolific letter writer of Roman antiquity, writes, “Though I have nothing to say to you, I write all the same, because I feel as though I were talking to you. Seneca, the Roman Stoic and contemporary of Paul, writes to his disciple Lucilius: “I thank you for ...</p><p class="more"><a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/scot-mcknight/2021/august/wise-letter-writing.html">Continue reading</a>...</p>
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