What's In A Name - part 1

Ramblings from the Rector

  When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.  (Acts 2:1-4 NRSV)

What’s in a name?  Just over twenty years ago many of the churches in this diocese were asking this question.  At the bishop’s direction, the diocese was adjusting parish boundaries.  Both of our parishes, Holy Faith and Touchwood Trail, were formed around this time.  Both parishes held meetings, prayed, and deliberated, and finally chose a name to carry them into the future.

Some of the churches that formed these parishes are now gone, yet their legacy and memory are carried on.  I am going to list them now and I ask that you offer a prayer for each.  With each church closed, we feel a new loss, a new pain, and we reach out with compassion to those for whom the loss is personal.

Christ Church – Abernethy

St. Mary (the Virgin) – Cupar

St. George – Ituna

Holy Trinity – Kelleher

St. Michael and All Angels – Lipton

All of these churches are gone, but they are still part of us.  We still remember them.  We still carry on their traditions.  We still minister to those who called them “my church.”

Over the past two months we have been talking about another change of parish boundaries.  We have been celebrating the coming together of two parishes to share ministries and become a new community in Christian unity.

We have been looking at possibilities for the name of the new parish.  But even more importantly, we have been looking for our calling as a new parish.  We have been asking the Holy Spirit to come among us and inspire us.  We have been praying.  And we have been listening.  We were looking for an ideal of Christian ministry that would bring us into a new future together.  And on the Day of Pentecost we came together with the Holy Spirit and voted.

This is the ideal you chose:

Finding new expressions of worship and faith that would help us bridge the gap between our current traditions and the spiritual and worship needs of our communities. Setting our parish on a path of study and renewal.

Not only was this the clear choice of our adult members, our seventy-five percent of our younger members chose the same ideal of Christian ministry.

Our choices of parish name came from this ideal.  You chose the name “The Teachers of the Faith.”

I know that this was not everyone’s choice.  No matter how we chose or what we chose, it would not be everyone’s choice.  I ask that in this time of chance we all respect this.  Whenever there is change there is both the pain of loss and the uncertainty of a new beginning.  And so I once again ask you to pray:

Gracious God, please help us all to believe in UFO’s.  Let us find unity even when we are not in agreement.  Help us to forgive the hurts that we have received and to reach out in compassion to those who are suffering.  Guide us as we move forward together so that we may discover how we can engage in outreach which aids your mission in our communities.