St. Paul’s first letter to the Church in Thessalonica is the probably oldest literature in the New Testament, written in 52AD. Paul begins the letter (as became his custom) with a word of gratitude: We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers. As he praises the Thessalonians the adds: we have no need to say anything. But in the course of the letter he says alot! This is important because St. Paul is using the technology available to him in his day to spread the gospel. He could only be in one place at a time but with the letter he could be in two places at once. (In fact, his letters we copied and distributed widely to other churches which is how they ended up on the Bible.) All of which should challenge us to use the technology available to us to spread the gospel as well — maybe not letters but electronic communications are the tools for a modern Paul.
