Written by Bishop Andrew Gentry   

Beloved Friends,

When I was growing up in a rural village in the foothills of Western Piedmont North Carolina I remember certain words that when adults used them there was a unspoken solemnity to them and to their usage. Many many years later I was to learn that Native Peoples along with their Hebrew and Celtic cousins shared the same concept of the sacredness of particular words. Indeed one of the greatest and saddest tragedies of the Industrial Revolution is the loss of this concept.

One such word was "fellowship". If you had fellowship with someone or some group there was an implicit covenant between the parties to that fellowship. The phrase "extend the hand of fellowship" was no mere greeting or salutation to be taken lightly. I wonder if this is true by in large now and frankly I doubt it. I cannot count the number of times when we as a small community of faith would reach out to other small communities who shared in our vision of structure and polity as well as our theology of the Gospels only to receive nothing more than a polite exchange. I understand all the reasons for this but dearly beloved such response is not Fellowship. Fellowship is an spiritually intimate and interactive relationship of one body of believers to and with another done in and through the Name of Jesus Christ. It is NOT an opinion poll or a statistical listing in and among like minded people!

One such phrase is "in the Name of Jesus". This is not a magical incantation nor a mantra, indeed it has absolutely nothing to do with either even though sometimes it was and is used like some kind of antiphony. In Hebrew thought again like Native and Celtic Peoples one's name was very important for it expressed the totality of what and who that person was and is. To pray in the Name of Jesus then is to enter into the fullness and incarnation of the meaning and purpose of that Name rather than a repetition of a specific language rendering of the name.

Americans love superlatives and they love to use them ad infinitum ad nuaseam! A classic example of this is the word, and I can barely even type it much less say it, "hero"! Every blessed person in this media competitive driven culture is a hero. If you are in the military, if you are a police officer, a first responder, or the top fund raiser for the United Way you are a hero. Well that is in a word bull puckie! You are not, repeat, NOT a hero for simply doing what is your duty to do. You are a hero when you go above and beyond your duty. That does not happen with regularity I would suggest.

A few more examples of words that have fallen victim (and that is one of them) are "friends", "artist", "performer", "poet", and "expert" and you could throw in "life coach", "spiritual", and "consultant"! Hype and spin which is another way of saying "packaging" is credo of the moment not balance, nor objective or factual presentation.

Sometimes when contemplation is getting too much it is good to have a lie down and take a nap and so I bid you all adieu.

Peace
Bishop Andrew Gentry
The Church of All Saints and Sorts,
A Congregational Catholic Church an Intentional Eucharistic Community