Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The Name Tags Jesus Gives Us

On Sunday, I was at a different church, my parents' church in the Northern Virginia suburbs. It was interesting, as it always is, to hear a different pastor. On Sunday, he talked about the church's recent experiments with name tags, and he said that in the Gospel, we see Jesus give his disciples new name tags: salt and light.

I like that idea--how are we named on our name tags?

I had heard this pastor speak earlier, when I got into town. My mom's WELCA group is exploring how Lutherans live in other places, so they had the pastor come in to talk to them about being a Lutheran in Ethiopia. Fascinating!

He said that he had gotten confirmed during the last gasps of a Communist regime. He had to go to Confirmation classes under the cover of darkness, with the full knowledge that his participation could mean his death. Wow.

He understood early on the price that Jesus' name tags might demand. And he proceeded anyway.

Most of us in the Western world face different challenges as we try to get our overscheduled children to Confirmation class. At least they're not facing death.

Of course, if we look at the history of Christian growth, we see that the most repressed countries often have the most explosive religious growth. Something to ponder as you pour your coffee.

Light and Salt--how can we claim these name tags today?

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