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| Not Just a Name"Therefore that place was called Beer-sheeba, because there both of them swore an oath." - Genesis 21:31 As I spend time with the stories in the book of Genesis this summer, I notice again how all the names have significance. Both names of people and names have places have significance, and they record this history of people encountering God, and learning to live together. Sometimes characters’ names get changed; sometimes places have more than one name. It’s always fun to read the footnotes to get the translation of the Hebrew place names. I share with you now some “footnotes” about my name, and the names of my children. In my family, it is the tradition to give a grandparent’s name as the middle name of a child. Thus, “April” was chosen because my father liked it (not because it was my birth month; I was born in July). “Marie,” my middle name, came from my grandmother Marie, whom some of you remember from her years of belonging to, and making cookies for, PB UMC. In the same way, the moment I gave birth to a baby girl, I knew “Mary,” my mother’s name, would be her middle name. I liked “Elizabeth” as a first name in part because of the link between two women of the Bible who shared a great friendship. When a second girl was born, she received the middle name “Rachel” from Andy’s mom. “Christina” seemed a pretty name, and significant because it contained the word “Christ.” Each girl, in her own time and way, reached an age when she became very clear about her own name, and what she wanted it to be. I was fond of using the nickname “Stina” because it reminded me of some Swedish great aunts that I never knew, but that my grandmother used to tell me about. Christina didn’t like it, though, and I had to stop. “My name is Christina,” she said, more than once, until I got the picture. (She seemed more tolerant this year, when her soccer teammates at school renamed her “Heidi” because of her braids.) When the child we all used to call “Elizabeth” entered high school, she took advantage of a situation in which no one had any previous knowledge of her. She defined herself as “Lizz” (with two Zs). Over the years, her friends called her “Tizzy,” “Dizzy,” and “Lizzy,” as well as Lizz, and there was even one confused kid who somehow got the impression her name was “Dippy.” I don’t know if she is content with her name now, or if it will undergo another evolution when she goes off to college. When I got married, it was my intention to take my husband’s name, because that was our societal tradition. But when it came time to fill our the marriage license, I found I just couldn’t do it. I valued the name “Herron” and it’s connection with my father, my family, and my identity, too much to let it go. So, for 22 years, I have been a “Herron-Sweet” and have fielded many questions and compliments about my name. Andy legally changed his name as well, and the girls also have a hyphenated last name. Now I have reached a time in my life when “Herron-Sweet” no longer seems to be the description of who I am. As my marital status has changed, it seems right (more honest or true somehow) to go back to being simply “Herron” again. So, over time you may notice that the hyphenated name is disappearing from bulletins, letterheads, and newsletters, and the pastor is increasingly referred to in print as “April Marie Herron.” Of course, I have long been “Pastor April” to you, the church, and I have no desire for that to change. I am more eager than ever to claim and use my grandmother’s name, because of her legacy of strength, love, and good humor. It is those gifts, passed on by her and by many others, that have sustained me through recent difficult changes. Hopefully, these explanations will serve as a sufficient accounting to all of you as to what has transpired, because “Pacific Beach United Methodist Church” will always mean to me “place of hope, purpose, and sustenance.” In the words of Philippians 1:2, I pray “Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” God's peace to all, Pastor April |
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