Dear Friends,

The other day I was rummaging around in a cupboard upstairs when I came across a bunch of letters. They were written a long time ago, and instantly recognisable by the handwriting. As I re-read them, many memories stirred; the image of the letter writers came to mind. There was something magical about seeing the distinctive scripts: the echo of their voices drew me close to the people who wrote them; some who have long since died.

Many letters were joyous news;  some had difficult emotions to communicate.

I reflected how infrequently these days I either send or receive a handwritten letter. Most of my mail consists of circulars, promotions, and offers to lend me money, or else verbose computer-generated official documents. In fact the recent postal strike was in some ways a blessed relief. Like many other people, the majority of my communication is now through email. It is fairly instantaneous and not affected by industrial action; although it is vulnerable to computer failure, invasion of privacy and constantly threatened by unwanted spam. Moreover it lacks the warmth and intimacy of a handwritten letter, even when that letter may be from “disgusted of Tonbridge Wells”!

Of course I can always post a blog on my web site; or set up a web cam. But it is not person to person; it is person to anybody. In fact the “open” letter has a very long and venerable history. St Paul was just one in a long line from ancient times whose letter writing became widely disseminated as literature. When we hear him in Church, in those letters authentically from his hand, we may feel a little closer to the personal excitement of his early faith in Jesus – and yet I suppose if St Paul were around today he might use a blog, or an email. Then we wouldn’t have Scripture, we would have Blogture. (I claim a whole new word!) I don’t really think that “the email of St Paul to the Corinthians” would have quite the same impact as the
“letter”.

I am not calling for nostalgia and the reinvention of the fountain pen; after all, this letter comes to you via my computer. (and via this website - Ed!) However, since November is a time for remembering, with All Souls, All Saints and Remembrance Sunday, let us remember that each new communication creates memory. As we find new ways of communicating; the photo CD, the DVD, the web camera and no doubt many ways yet undiscovered, I hope we will not lose entirely the personal touch: the connection of person to person that once was so strong in the unhurried script of
a letter penned by the hand of one we have known, whom we still know, or who may be a stranger, whose imprint as flesh and blood lingers to affirm a form of communication at once human and personal.

Chris Boulton