What's In A Name?

 

What’s in a name?   Most people either have a nickname or know someone who has a nickname like “Shorty”, “Slim”, or “Goofy”.    While those names might not be the real names for the persons, they acquired them because they say something about the person or their character.    I am told that some Native American tribes in the past had the custom of giving persons a temporary name.  Once the person had lived a few years and the community got sense of the person they were, they gave them a more permanent name that said something about  who they were.

In the book of Acts 4, we read about Joe.  Joseph was his full name.   He was a levite, from the priestly lineage of Aaron, brother to Moses.    But he had another name.  Listen to what Acts 4:36 says about him:

³⁶ Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), ³⁷ sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.  

 I want to be “mo’ like Joe.”    I want to be more encouraging.   In 1963, Morris West wrote a book titled The Shoes of the Fisherman.   The book tells a fictional story about the Pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church.   There is a scene in the book where the Pope escapes the pressures of  the papacy and Vatican City and travels out on the streets of Rome.  In a neighborhood, he comes across a home where a family is dealing with the death of a love one.   The call goes out on the street for a priest, and the disguised Pope rushes to the bedside where he offers  last rites for the deceased before  they take their last breath.   As the Pope lingers in the home beside the bed side with grieving family members, some members of the Papal staff discover him.    As the Pope hestitates a departure, one of his staff tells him:   “Father, come now.   Dying is easy, but it the living that gets us down”.     There is much in the world that can easily get us down:   news reports,  social media attacks,  economic tensions, politics, and much more.    

 I want to be like Joe.   I want to encourage my  grandchildren as they grow up and my children as they maneuver the challenges of parenthood, marriage, and living in this 21^st century.   I want to encourage friends and fellow believers as they face the challenges of these days.  In Acts 11: 22-24, it speaks further about  Joseph better known as Barnabus: 

²² News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³ When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. ²⁴ He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

 Mo’ like Joe.   That is my goal and aim for  myself.   The world surely needs more sons and daughters of encouragement.   How about you?   Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

PRAYER     I give you thanks, O God, for the  family, friends, and fellow believers who have encouraged me through the years.  Help me to do the same; through Christ our Lord. Amen.  

Change Happens!

 

Brodie was a businessman in a small town in North Carolina where I  served as a pastor at a local church over 30 years ago.   He worked at a successful business that did  well.   I patronized the business regularly as I have always felt that we should support local businesses.   They are the lifeblood of the economic health of a community.  One day, Brodie and I got to talking about change and he was quite adamant that he did not like change of any kind.  He did not like change in his family, home, or small town.  He wanted everything to always be the same.   I remember what I told Brodie and it was this:   “You may not like change, but it happens.  If  you don’t believe me, go look  in the mirror and see if the person you see in the mirror looks just like the person you saw there 20 years ago”.  

 One of the constants in our lives and communities is change.  As Bob Dylan sang many years ago, “the times they are a changing”.   I was reminded that change is always happening recently when I read the book Who Moved My Cheese?  Pastoral ministry in rural United Methodist Churches has certainly changed since I began my ministry.  While I began my ministry talking on a land line telephone on a party line, today I speak and text with people on a cell phone.  When I started out as a pastor, online is where we hung clothes to dry, but today online  is where I send and receive messages including from members of my congregation and those in our United Methodist connection.    While internet availability is not an issue of concern for me, it is a concern in  many rural areas.

 People of faith in the 21^st century find themselves walking a tightrope if you will on the issue of change.   First, we must always affirm with faith and confidence that we worship a great and glorious God that never changes.   People change.   If you do not believe that people change, do what I encouraged my friend Brodie  to do many years ago.   Go look in the mirror and see if you look the same way you looked 20 years ago.   While people change in their looks and even in their opinions, God does not change.  His love changes not!

 Secondly, while we affirm that God never changes we also as people of faith look eagerly to  discover new ways and opportunities to minister in these days.    As I recall in Methodist history, there was a time when John Wesley and company did  something they had not done before by preaching to the coal miners as they went to and from their jobs.     This pandemic has been the breeding  ground for new ways of ministry for me and perhaps you.   Two years ago,   the notion of doing worship on Facebook live was outside of my comfort zone.   Now, it is something that my congregation and I do  weekly.     What new thing is God calling you and your congregation  to do in these days?   May the changeless God give us open hearts and open spirits to the new paths he is beckoning us to trod.-  Pastor Randy Wall   

 

PRAYER     Thank you that though change happens, your love and faithfulness changes not. Give me a heart that trust more fully in you; through Christ our Lord.  Amen.