Philippians 1:1-2




Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ancient Letter Writing
Today when we write letters we start off with who we're writing to, "Dear Mom." And we end our letters by signing our own names. In ancient times it was different and easier. One first identified one's self and then who you were writing to. Have you ever received a letter and had to skip to the end to see who it was from? Long ago they didn't have to! It was settled early on.
The Blessing
Paul often begins his letters with a blessing. 

 "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." 

 Starting with a blessing was also common in ancient letter writing. Paul raised it to a theological art form. It was Paul's desire to be a blessing to them. Here's a good, short prayer to start the day with: 

 Loving God, make me a blessing today. Make me a blessing for someone today. Amen.
Identity
Who am I? It's one of life's most basic questions. How we answer it is simple some days and complicated on other days. I faced this question in creating this blog when I had to describe myself as the blog adminstrator. Surprisingly this was not an easy task for me.

 I've heard it said that our identity is simply the sum total of the roles we have in life - husband/wife, mother/father, brother/sister, friend, pastor, church member, etc. Others might describe their identity in terms of the virtues they strive to live out. "I strive to be a loving, honest, caring person." One friend of mine places a high value on peace. It's in her heart, on her mind and within her views on many social issues. Peace is integral to who she is.

 In this passage, Paul describes himself as simply a "servant," a servant of Christ. "Doulos" is the Greek word he uses that is translated servant in the NRSV Bible. Slave is also an accurate translation of the word. That's not an analogy that we're comfortable with. But for Paul it meant this - he belonged to Christ.

 Dietrich Bonhoeffer once asked the question, "Who am I?" He answered his own question this way, "I am yours, O God."

 Who are you? How do you describe your identity? 

 What does it mean to belong to Christ?

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