What's In a Name...

My husband is a pharmacist. He's practiced long enough that he can look at most pills and within a few seconds tell you what it is, the strengths its available in, what its used for and many known side effects.

He also is diligent about his continuing education and has, over the years, picked up on the nuances of the 'name brand' vs 'generic' battles. He fills many of our personal prescriptions with generics. For only a very few drugs does he go the extra mile to fill with name brands.

While making a presentation to a community group--he fielded questions about the differences between specific drugs. He knows which generics are manufactured in the same factory... only going into a different bottle at the end of the line - and which ones are perhaps made somewhere else and perhaps not as identical as they could be. It always amazes folks to hear about such things.

Yet in daily practice, he finds that some folks will pay sometimes 100% more for a name brand, rather than the generic (even those made in the same factory). Some folks have even gone so far as telling him that they'd tried the generic and it didn't work as well... or they experienced a side effect--even though he knew they were identical. Their response was not to the medication--but to the name.

What's in a name? It's interesting to observe among my friends as we become "parents of grown children who give birth." What to call us now? Grandma? Grandmother? Nana? Grammie? There are likely others, but those top the list. My mom has accepted GG in lieu of great-grandma as I've taken her place in the family as Grammie. As a child we called my paternal grandmother "Doody Grandma" - a word she repeated as she bounced babies on her knee. "Doody, doody, doody, doody." Long after we were bouncing size, she was still Doody Grandma. That is until my older brother began attending the high school where she worked. He only called her Doody Grandma once and was intstructed that at school, he was to call her Katie. :)

What's in a name. This July I'll take my final vows as a Benedictine Oblate. I started down this path at first unknowingly; but in the last 10 years quite intentionally. Since 2009 I've been an Oblate Candidate to St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, MN, where I'll make my final oblation, God willing.

The process toward becoming an Oblate is one of candidacy during which I've reflected on the Rule of Benedict, the vows, disciplines and practices of community members, and have written short papers for the Fr. Kwatera, Oblate Director. I've been in quarterly contact with Fr. Kwatera and have attended the annual Oblate retreat weeks. But even before I began the process I'd immersed myself in many Benedictine practices and rituals, because they seemed second nature to me.

As the time draws near, I notice how my ministry practice as a Presbyterian clergywoman is being influenced and shaped by my Benedictine formation. No one would ever insinuate a contemplative bent to the Reformed Tradition ;-) yet that is how I am spiritually fed and what I'm most passionate about living and sharing. Though my Presbyterian ordination is precious to me, and the Presbyerterian Church is my denomination of choice, I realize I'm practicing my faith in a way that might more accurately be described as PRESBY-DICTINE... or BENE-TERIAN. What's in a name?

This hybrid is an accurate description of me spiritually. It's a faithful represen-tation of both what I beleive, what is meaningful to me and how I choose to practice my spiritual life. Likely there are purists from both traditions who will cringe at my very audacity! Yet the name describes the Reformed Tradition which has brought much meaning to my theological understanding and the Benedictines, who have shared with me the contemplative tradition which feeds my soul.

As part of my final oblation at St. John's in July, I'll be invited to take a new name. Names of mothers and fathers in the Benedictine tradition will be among those from which I'm encouraged to choose. In preparation I'll be reading about these pioneers of the Benedictine tradition to listen for some call into my life. If you have any ideas, I'd welcome them.

I am reminded that there is One Name, that calls into each of our lives no matter if we're Benedictine, Lutheran, Catholic, Episcopalian or Presbyterian. One, that is the pioneer of our faith. One Name we stand under from the moment of our Baptism that forms us and calls us and seeks to shape our lives. And as we consider all the naming opportunites of our lives,One who sacrificed all, that we might live. My hope and prayer as we consider this cacophany of names, is that we might be brought to a moment of refelction and recollection of the One who's called us as His own. May we seek to live fully into being His disciple. JOY AND PEACE TO YOU THIS LORD'S DAY. THE CELTIC MONK