Celebrating 75 Years: The Sweetest Sound
Perhaps you’ve heard Dale Carnegie’s famous quote, “Remember that a person’s name is to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” How do you feel when someone says your name with kindness, or even remembers it in the first place? We are so blessed at St. Matthew’s to have a Reverend, as well as a team of leaders and volunteers, who choose to be intentional about remembering the names of parishioners and visitors. Rev. Philip couldn’t possibly have known how much I was longing to be known by name when I first started attending St. Matt’s. Our family’s former church, a wonderful place in many respects, had gone through several leadership changes in the years leading up to the pandemic, and for many understandable reasons, none of the lead pastors had ever addressed us by name. However, after only one visit to St. Matt’s, not only did Rev. Philip remember our names as he shared warm greetings, he continued to speak our names weekly during the rite of communion. The first time I heard those words, “Lisa, the body of Christ, broken for you,” I was moved to tears. God understands fully how each person needs to be seen and known in a personal way. We are reminded in John 10:3 that God calls his own sheep by name and leads them. The prophet Isaiah writes about how the Lord calls us and knows and speaks our name before we are born (49:1.) May each of us embrace this beautiful way of sharing God’s love with one another by speaking the sweet and important sound of each other’s names.
Lisa Oppitz