“Peace be with you. Your friends here greet you. Greet our friends there by name.” (3 John 15, emphasis added)
What’s in a name? In Bible times, a name told a lot about a person, including their family identity, reputation, and character. And as the scripture above from 3 John illustrates, one of the key characteristics of biblical hospitality was the practice of God’s people greeting each other by name.
Today, calling people by their name is equally important, because it lets them know that we don’t view them merely as some nameless, impersonal being among the masses of people that we see and interact daily with in public. Instead, it subtly conveys that we see them as someone who is special and unique both in our eyes and in the eyes of God, who created and knows “the hairs on our heads” (Luke 12:7).
As a church of Jesus Christ, we at McKendree U.M.C. seek to value each and every person touched by our ministries, whether in person or online. But because we are such a large membership congregation, it’s often difficult to know and call people by name unless we have some kind of regular interaction with them. This challenge has become increasingly more profound in the last few years as we’ve experienced a turnover of active members – some have either moved away or been called elsewhere, while many others have moved or been called here to begin or continue their spiritual journey with and among us. Either way, the result is that it’s increasingly challenging to be able to greet each other by name in our worship services and other church events because we just don’t know each other!
I’ve therefore become more and more convinced that we as a congregation need to return to the wearing of nametags when we are present for in person services and events, and -- if we’re attending events online -- to ensure that our name appears accurately on our Zoom or chat screen. We did this as a congregation in the 1990s, but it’s time for us to do it again!
So, starting September 19th and thereafter, I want to invite and encourage every McKendree UMC member and friend to wear your nametag whenever you come to the church facility for in person services and/or events, and (if you’re online) to change or add your name (if needed) to the Zoom or chat screen when you arrive online. We’ll provide nametags for all McKendree members and friends in the Narthex when you arrive in person, but it will be up to you to create a new habit for yourself in order to remember to bring and wear it each week.
Some might ask: what about the need for anonymity, especially for newcomers and guests? It’s true that people today often come to church (especially at first) to be anonymous – to have space to “check things out” before committing to a community of faith or to its people. Consequently, we’re not going to require visitors or guests to wear nametags. But we will have them available for when they are ready to allow us the privilege of getting to know them.
Remember that nametags (and the online equivalent) won’t create intimacy or personal connection in and by themselves – that takes additional work practiced over time. However, they can be a good starting point for the fostering and development these. After all, a good relationship begins at the very least with us being able to call the person who we want the relationship with by name, and it’s hard to do that if we don’t even know their name!
So, please join me in wearing your
nametag to in person events at church (and include your name online, too),
so that, together, we can follow the advice of 3 John 15 to “greet our friends
[new and old] by name.” Remember that God loves you and I do, too!
