Photobucket

When a Christian emails another Christian, they are likely to use a signoff that acknowledges the Lord. If a secular signoff is “Sincerely” or “Best,” a spiritual signoff is “In Christ” or “Blessings.” It can also present itself in the following varieties:

In Him,
Your servant in Christ,
Complete in Him,
In His Service,
Covered in the blood,
In His grip,
Grace and peace,
His,
< (an ichtheuse [that’s ” Jesus fish” to the non-seminaried hoi polloi])

New varities of these pop up all the time and the only hard and fast (yet unwritten) rule is that when a pronoun for God is used, it is always, always capitalized.

The apostle Paul signed his letters by gushing a bit about grace and peace, but then, he gushed throughout his letters. Screwtape signed his letters “Your affectionate uncle.” Charles Bukowski signed his letters with all kinds of weirdness like “7 comes eleven,” “Sure,” and “I have leukemia, Bukowski.” Sarah Palin signs her emails “With an Alaskan heart.” Maybe these signatures are as honoring to God as signing off with”In Him.” Who knows? People’s personal experiences inform how they receive everything. If they have spiritual abuse in their past, they may not feel “blessed” by such an email signature, and even a bit wounded. Just something to be aware of, I guess.

Photobucket
More from Beliefnet and our partners