Last month we visited the nice town of Romont in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It has a medieval town centre right on the top of a hill with some formidable fortifications, including several distinctive towers. We went to the stained glass museum there and the church with its famed stained glass windows. Then, while the children enjoyed the playgrounds, I took the opportunity of the town’s elevated position to take train videos. Afterwards, we walked through the town, just as market stalls opened. The town’s bookshop also had a stall and sold some of its old quality letter writing sets at very low prices. We bought some.

As I unpacked the suitcase at home I came across this stationery. And I remembered: how my parents made me write letters to grandparents and godparents; but even more how I had later written of my own accord to friends and relatives and how I enjoyed the 20-year long correspondence I had with my great-aunt. At that moment I longed to sit down and use the beautiful paper to write a letter. But these days I don’t write letters anymore, except in an official capacity.

But it is not only I: it seems the art of letter-writing has diminished drastically. Today we communicate far more quickly by email, messenger and a myriad of other apps. While that has been an advantage in many respects, it has also meant that something has been lost. Writing letters was an art-form that required us to think about our own lives and the person we were writing to, while putting our thoughts in engaging language on beautiful paper. And receiving a letter in the mail was something that made our day.

The letters of many famous people have been published and among the day-to-day concerns they contain many pearls of wisdom. Of course, the Bible also includes many letters, particularly the New Testament. Amidst the more mundane concerns these letters outline some of the most important truths of our faith and contain some of the most assuring verses. I’m certainly glad that Paul and John wrote letters that challenged and encouraged the church then and now.

As we nowadays read and write letters les and less, it may be more difficult to approach the letters in the Bible. Today there may be more tools for informing our Bible reading, but some of the personal experience may be lacking. I’m certainly thankful for my letter-writing experience and I wonder whether there is a place to at least now and then resurrect that lost art.