Whatshouldwecallme?

As you may have noticed from earlier posts, I'm a big fan of our names. There's a significance to our first names. Not to belittle our family names, but our first names are given to us at baptism as our Christian Names - these are the names by which God knows us and calls us (see Isaiah 43!).

One my favorite things about our names is how effectively they can become adjectives. So often, I find that my friends are possessors of such unique behaviors, senses of humor, and characteristics that simple adjectives no longer work really well for them. "Funny," "quirky," "awkward"... they just don't quite capture the essence as well.

I've found that when you have friends like the ones I tend to gather to myself, the only word that works to describe them is their own name. I'd be honored if someone reacted to my tendency to burb excessively loudly or wax theologically or dress in an unusually high quantity of orange or Chicago-sports-related clothes with "wow, what a Dan thing to do."

Why, thank you!

I love that my friends are strange and unique. And I don't think I'm special in having that kind of friend. I think most, if not all, of us possess this kind of one-of-a-kind-ness. However, not every friendship takes vulnerability and honesty to heart in a way that allows both people to see each other for their true selves. That's where I believe I'm spoiled - I have friends who bare their souls and hearts to me in a way that let's me see them pretty close to the way God sees them (with heaven's eyes!). I see their personalities in the context of the gifts God gave them and how their gifts are meeting the needs of the world around them. It gives me the chance to say, "That's so Jason!" or "What a Steph thing to do!" or "How Kurt of you!"

I love the way in which someone's name comes to be so intimately identified with my love for them, invoking good times, memories, laughter, and love. Their name carries a weight to it that isn't heavy but joyful. And the fun of using someone's name as an adjective to describe themselves invokes all of these good things.

I really find my friendships to function as a kind of organic, peer-led spiritual direction. My conversations and shared experiences with them add up to a beautifully positive influence in forming my faith. Jesus has a place in what we share, and the Holy Spirit operates through our interactions and carries our prayers back and forth between each other and God.

How can we describe this life we live? What word can we assign to a life of faith, of companionship, of breaking bread with one another, whether in person, over a Skype call, or in the Eucharist?

We follow the example of the God-who-became-man, of the Word-made-flesh. We live our lives in the penultimate chapter of salvation history: God gathered a people to Himself and led them by pillar of fire and by the Law and the Prophets; then, God became man and walked among us, living, serving, suffering, dying, and RISING from the dead; and now, God established a Church, a social community in which we live, love, and serve with one another and with Christ. We are led by the Holy Spirit, having been founded by Christ and on Christ.

We are Christians.

Jesus shares Himself with us fully. By dying on the cross, He opened salvation to any who come to Him. He comes to us by changing bread and wine into His Body and Blood. He provides us such a unique example and inspiration. How do we describe this beauty and joy!? We use the very name of the One who is all of it.

Christ.

We can only define ourselves as being Christians. We can only become fully aware of the great potential and love of this God, the God who became man and who inspires us with His Spirit, by calling ourselves after Him.

And our hope endures as Christians. We hope that by becoming what we receive - Christ really with us in the Eucharist - that we can be as "other" Christs. Taking on his name not just in baptism or religious affiliation but completely onto our persons. And in the end, Christ will gather His people to Himself: The New Israel, not just ethnic Jews but any and all whose freedom has led them to follow the Christian example.

All in the name of Jesus Christ.