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“I bet I can tell you what your favorite word is,” the speaker bragged.
“Other people have favorite words?” I thought in surprise. I
have a whole list of them. Fun words, meaningful words. Words that roll off
the tongue – like bombastic or serendipity or words whose meanings are rich
but difficult to define, such as holiness. “How could he possibly guess what
our favorite words are?” I wondered. Then he reached his right arm out and
shook my hand, looked me in the eyes, smiled warmly and said, “Hello Luann.”
He explained, “Each of our favorite word is our name.”
“Could that be true?” I doubted it at first. But I had to admit how warm I
felt when he said my name, his voice cloaked with acceptance and
familiarity.
Politicians know this truism. Franklyn D. Roosevelt took great effort in
remembering names, stating, “To recall a voter’s name is statesmanship. To
forget it is oblivion.” It makes people feel important.
What better way of making visitors to our church feel welcome than by saying
their name? We give them name tags so we can do just that. But what if they
can’t return the favor? We have name tags made for us. Many in our
congregation do not wear them. I hate to admit this, there are people at
Light of Hope I like a lot and appreciate week to week. Perhaps they sing in
the choir, perhaps they always give me a friendly hug, perhaps I just find
comfort in seeing them there. But I don’t know their names.
I’m sure we’ve been introduced. I forget. I am brain damaged. Honest. I am.
Head injury from a car accident years ago. I try to remember but fail often.
I keep a list of our neighbors, so as not to forget because I can’t possibly
ask them to wear name tags around the neighborhood. Too bad.
What are we saying to visitors when we ask them to wear a name tag but
several people in the congregation do not? “The people who really need to
know my name do already.” Most likely, it’s just something overlooked
without much thought and certainly no insult intended. But it is important
that we learn one another’s names! It helps in community building and helps
those visiting, new…or brain injured…to learn by repeatedly looking for the
name worn each and every Sunday.
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