Letter writing and receiving letters has always been important to me. When I was a child in Primary School, I had a penfriend in rural NSW and we wrote to each other for decades, although we only met once. When I first left home to teach in the country and was homesick, letters between my mother and me really mattered. Letters between me and my future husband Ron, written over several years when we lived in different countries, changed the direction of our lives from friendship to a long marriage.

These days, fewer people write real letters, which I find quite sad. Text messages can be great, and I use them all the time, but they are limited. And as for a string of emojis, that is not the same!

In the years immediately after the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, the followers of Jesus were beginning to spread into scattered communities. As new groups of Christians were gathering in places distant from each other, letters became important. The apostle Paul wrote letters to a number of communities and we can still read them in our New Testament. As Paul travelled, he met little groups in places like Rome, so he wrote a letter to the Romans. He visited the Christians in Corinth and later wrote at least two letters to the Corinthians.

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Matthew 18:21-35
Romans 14:1-12

Anyone who knows me knows that I am hopeless at maths. You will never find me as a volunteer at the sales point in the food pantry because it needs someone competent with adding up. I do less damage if I help in the Food Pantry Cafe where no money changes hands.

The Scripture for today uses the idea of numbers – numbers added or multiplied, enormous numbers or small numbers, numbers when you are keeping a score. It comes in a chapter that speaks of questions to Jesus about how to deal with conflict, particularly among followers of Jesus. What do we do when we disagree? How do we react when someone really hurts us, or offends us?

At some time or another, I expect that all of us have been hurt by someone. Perhaps a family member, a work colleague or neighbour. Maybe we have been cheated, or threatened, or abused, or insulted. Perhaps we have lived in danger in a war zone, or felt betrayed by a political party or by a partner. Sometimes we disagree with others about important issues, and things have turned nasty between us. Of course, there will be times when we have to admit that we have been the cause of the conflict, hurting others, and we are the ones who need forgiveness. Some of these are very great and troubling problems, and others are less so, but still painful.

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