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Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you (Ephesians 6:21-22).

Many of Paul\u2019s letters end with mention of people by name. There is only one here: Tychicus. He is first mentioned in Acts in connection with Ephesus (Acts 20:4). The sermons Paul was preaching in that city set off a riot. Paul and seven of his companions, one of whom was Tychicus, cleared out. Now he is set to return home carrying Paul\u2019s letter to the Christians there.

Its worth our time to pause at this name and others mentioned in the New Testament letters. They remind us that church is a community of Christians. As the old song says, \u201cthe church is the people.\u201d Naming Tychius reminds us that real people write, deliver, and receive this letter. The church is God\u2019s gift of people to one another so that we can learn the practice of resurrection life together.

The Christian life is never an abstraction, never anonymous, never a problem to be fixed, never a romantic ideal to be fantasized. Christian resurrection life takes place in various ways but never apart from conversations between God and people with names, such as Tychicus. It can not be done in abstraction, only practised among real people.

\u201cTychicus will tell you everything.\u201d This letter will not come via email. It will be delivered personally. And the deliverer will give the context in which the letter was written, everything that is going on with Paul, everything that is going on with the congregation in Rome, the ways in which political events in Rome are impinging on the congregation of believers, perhaps greetings from acquaintances and friends, stories of the journey.

It is likely that Tychicus left Rome with two letters tucked in his robes. He also carried the letter to the Colossians (4:7). He would then have carried news from one church to the other. Paul sends Tychicus to encourage the hearts of the Christians. Having been encouraged, all these conversations will undoubtedly be turned into prayers.

We should not reduce church to sermons and sacraments, theology and liturgy, Bible studies and prayer meetings, committee minutes and mission statements. There are names, meals, small talk, births, deaths. There is us. Conversation is essential. The \u201ceverything\u201d that Tychicus will say to the Ephesians is not insignificant to being the church. And you and I are Tychicus.

This is all underscored when Paul names both Tychicus and the readers \u201cbrothers\u201d, the plural is used to include both men and women. It\u2019s a common designation Paul uses for his fellow workers and Christian friends, underscoring the bond and sense of family early Christians felt.

Further, at the beginning of the letter Paul described his readers as \u201cthe faithful in Christ Jesus.\u201d Here at the end, Tychicus is described as a \u201cfaithful servant in the Lord.\u201d Paul is underlining the importance of both faithfulness and that we are all in Christ.

The phrase \u201cin Christ\u201d is not just a piece of theology, it also describes how Paul sees his Christian friends. It is our bond, our unity. We are all in Christ and thus belong to each other. These words shape how we view God and ourselves. Paul\u2019s view of his friends and his concern for them deserve to be copied. By viewing other Christians as in the Lord and by desiring God\u2019s gifts for them, we change the way we relate to them.

So next time you read names in these letters, pause and wonder. Who are they? How are they connected to the church? What gifts are they bringing to the fellowship? Who have they encouraged and who might have encouraged them? What names connect you to the community of faith? How will you express the \u201cin Christness\u201d of the church? When we do this, we fulfill the doxology that has undergirded our wanderings through this letter.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:17-21).