January 3, 2012
What’s in a Name?
While the rest of the world was celebrating New Year’s Day–or recovering from their celebrations from the night before–the Church celebrated the Feast of the Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ on January 1. That got me to thinking about the significance of names and naming, in Scripture and in our own lives.
Most parents take the job of naming their children very seriously. It’s a big responsibility, and we want to find just the perfect name every time. We want it to sound right, to look right, and to say the right things about our child. Boys’ names need to seem solid and masculine, but not boring; girls’ names should be feminine and pretty but still be the kind of name one can take seriously if the girl grows up to be a heart surgeon or a Supreme Court justice.
Mary and Joseph, apparently, did not get to pore over a list of most-popular baby names. They did not get to name their firstborn child after a relative or a friend, or worry about what how his name would look on a driver’s license or a business card. They named him Jesus because that’s what the angel told them his name would be. I wonder how many parents in the 21st century would be okay with having to forfeit the right and the privilege of naming their own child? We tend to see our children as our own, rather than thinking of them as gifts given to us by God. It might surprise or even worry many of us to think that God already has an identity in mind for them even before they are born, a destiny and a purpose that are more important than our own hopes, plans, and dreams.
So, to steal a line from Shakespeare, what’s in a name? Our names do help shape how the world sees us, and in turn they become an important part of who we are. Think about the name of our parish. By identifying ourselves as the Church of the Good Shepherd, we are telling the world that we place our trust and our hope in Jesus Christ, who is the true Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. We remember that the Good Shepherd is the one who knows his sheep by name, and who searches for the one who is lost.
With our name, the Church of the Good Shepherd, we also announce that our communal identity is important to us, that we want to be a flock who follows where the Good Shepherd leads. We do not each get to go our own way; we will survive and thrive together, or not at all. The Good Shepherd will guide us to green pastures and living water. The Good Shepherd will feed us and help us grow. Our name says a tremendous amount about who we are, and who we want to be.
Happy New Year!
Pamela+
December, 2011
Christmas blessings
‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ Luke 2:15
One way of entering into the Christmas story is to think about the various journeys the characters make—Mary journeying to visit her cousin Elizabeth, the Holy Family journeying to Bethlehem, and soon the lowly shepherds and then the grand Magi following them on that journey.
Those journeys must have been so unlike our modern travel, where we can plan ahead with Mapquest or Google and rely on GPS units to navigate every twist and turn along the way! The Holy Family and those who followed the star to Bethlehem were traveling by faith, guided only by their desire to do God’s will and to be as close as they could possibly be to the Glorious Impossible, the God-With-Us, the newborn Savior, Jesus.
At some point, most of us grow wise enough to realize that the only real constant in life is change. Life, like the weather, never stands still, but is always moving forward, whether we are ready for it or not. But if we are even wiser, wise like children and shepherds, we know a deeper truth: the only real constant in life is God. God’s presence and God’s love are with us no matter where our journey leads, no matter how uncertain our path.
Six years ago, one week before Christmas, I bundled my two children on a plane and flew away from our beloved home in California. The only thing that we knew for sure would be awaiting us in St. Louis was my husband. I didn’t know neighborhoods, schools, or churches here; in one sense it was just a journey across country, but in another sense it was a grand leap into the abyss. We were traveling in a modern-day jet plane, but we were traveling by faith. Looking back, I can see that we had a little taste of the Christmas journey that year.
The years have flown by, and our family has been greatly blessed and richly rewarded, not least by my ordination to the priesthood. We have made friends and established a home. And now we are here with you, joining on the journey that is the faith life of the Church of the Good Shepherd. I am so grateful, so gladdened to be at this place and to have this opportunity to serve among you.
Please know that each and every one of you will be in my prayers this season and in the year ahead. I hope that during the Christmas season (which is about to begin!) you will have some time to reflect on where you are on your journey. Remember that God is ever calling us forward, ever offering us new life, which is the ultimate gift of the Christ Child to us all.
We are all on the journey to Bethlehem, and we are blessed to be journeying together.
Christmas blessings,
Pamela+