Greetings from Prison

Read Colossians 4:7-18
Just finished my study of Colossians, and I was WOW-ed by two important themes I had never noticed before:

Look at some of the words Paul uses to describe his friends: “beloved brother, faithful minister, fellow servant, fellow workers for the kingdom of God, a comfort to me” among them. He mentions an unusual array of people. Aristarchus, who is a fellow prisoner – does it interest you as it does me to know Aristarchus’s story? He sends greetings to a woman, Nympha, in whose house the church meets. You can hear the eagerness and longing in his voice as he remembers his precious Colossians community; you recognize the strength and encouragement those he has with have given him.

The second thing that struck me were the words, “Remember my chains.” Reading this brought one of those neon-sign moments, when words jump off the page as never before. It will take a “whole nother” (as we like to say in the south) blog to write about the connections the Holy Spirit flooded me with (Mary: “Behold I am the bondservant of the Lord.”) For now, I’ll just say that what really hit me was that Paul was suffering – he was in affliction; he was a prisoner because he had spread the gospel. But he didn’t let any of these hindrances keep him from continuing to tell the story. He didn’t do much – he did what he could. He wrote a letter. He encouraged and received encouragement from those he was with. He exhorted his beloved community miles away.

This amazing portion of Scripture leaves me with a good question: If I were in prison for the gospel (and I think I am, though in a far different way than Paul), what kinds of greetings would I send? (Put away, as Mr. Rogers might say, “Who is my neighbor?”