SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE 30th September, 2001.

One of the first things we do in getting ready for Christmas
is to send out Christmas cards
and of the last things we do is to take them all down,
always a sad moment
Before they are thrown out or recycled as gift tags for next year
or for scribbling shopping lists
I like to look at them all together
admire their variety, the different shapes sizes colours pictures greetings
an to think about and pray for the people who have sent them

Have you ever thought about how it is that
people write different things in their cards?
Some just put their names, some you puzzle over Who is 'John' 'David'?
Is there a clue in the postmark?
It's nice isn't it when there is a short line of greeting
or a little bit of news?
And these days there are those who send a bulletin
several hundred words about all the wonderful things
the family have been up to
which can begin to make it the season of jealousy
rather than of good will.

Romans 16 is a chapter we might often ignore
with all those names hard to pronounce;
we might think it irrelevant and as nothing compared to
all the great teaching of the rest of the letter.
But I think we should see this chapter as 'Paul's Christmas cards'
his warm greetings to lots of friends that he has in Rome
whom he will not see for some time, if ever again in this life.
And let's not be put off by the list of strange names:
behind each name there is a real human being
loved by God in Christ as we are
and often there is something simple and important for us to note.

1 THE PROMINENCE OF WOMEN AMONG THESE GREETINGS
I don't think Paul deserves his reputation as a woman hater.
Within the culture of his day he can be cautious about the role of women
even as he had to be cautious about the status of slaves in his time,
but did you notice how prominent women are in this list?
He begins with Phoebe
who 'has been a great help to many people including me' 2.
He goes on to mention Priscilla before her husband Aquila,
his fellow workers in Christ. They risked their lives for me 2.
And we also read of Mary 6 Tryphena and Tryphosa those women who work hard in the Lord. 12 and likewise Persis in the same verse.
Then there is the mother of Rufus 13
who has been a mother to me too
and there is Julia and the sister of Nereus 15

For Paul women could be valued co-workers for Christ.
His attitude to women is much closer to that of Jesus
than is often credited to him.
There is not a trace of patronising them, 'let them make the tea while the men do the real work' nor any trace of sexual demeaning or harassment
Do we reflect over much the attitudes and assumptions
of our background rather than of the kingdom of God, the way of Christ?

2 THE DIVERSITY OF BACKGROUND AMONG PAUL'S FRIENDS
YET THEY WERE ONE IN CHRIST
there were Gentiles Epenetus 5 Urbanus
there were Jews, Paul's 'relatives' as he calls them
there upper class people, there were slaves
yet they were one in Christ in the Lord

3 THEY HAD A CLOSENESS WITH EACH OTHER
Paul commends them because neither nor they nor we can be self contained units.
This network of friends and supporters emphasises
our interdependence and the reality of Christian fellowship.
Paul could not have achieved much by himself.
And they needed to be close because it was not easy being a Christian in a hostile world
Fellowship for Priscilla and Aquila 4 Andronicus and Junias 7 and for Apelles 10 -- and for many around the world today -- was not a superficial business of tea and biscuits but a sharing of hardship and sacrifice Alan Martin EwG 6/98
And as an expression of that he asked them to
16 greet one another with a holy kiss
Our verbal greetings need to be confirmed
by a visible and tangible gesture,
for many of us that will be a handshake
although maybe many of us need to learn to be comfortable with something more demonstrative; 'a holy hug'
however much we are aware of the dangers of misunderstanding.

4. FELLOWSHIP IN CHRIST WILL COME UNDER ATTACK
16-20

there is to be innocence but not naivety in the church 18-19
Satan would love to divide us along the different lines of race or social background or temperamentbut
20 the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet

Thank you for the people who mean much to us
who have befriended us, helped us suffered with us
or suffered more than us to help us
Thank you for the joy of fellowship in Christ.
Teach us by your Holy Spirit not to demean another person
because of their gender or racial background or social status
deepen in us an appreciation of the joy and strength of fellowship in Christ

and be with those far away to whom we would send greetings