"I Have Called You By Name . . ."

But now thus says the Lord,

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine."

Isaiah 43:1 (ESV) 

"I have called you by name."  This is a statement that our Heavenly Father made to Israel through the prophet Isaiah, but it expresses well an aspect of our adoption into His family by grace.  He knows and loves us personally and deeply despite our brokenness.  He knows our name, in fact, He has given us His name through adoption.  We are His.

That experience should shape the heart of every believer in every Gospel-of-Grace oriented congregation, and then express itself towards the new people that the Father brings to our doorstep each Sunday.  At Christ Covenant, we call it "welcoming people well," and it is something we are mindful of.  Are we welcoming visitors in a way that they feel welcomed?  A way that is appropriate to them?  Not forcing our selves or our agenda on them, but available, responsive and welcoming.  Thinking about their needs as a visitor before our needs as regulars.

A component of that is learning, remembering and speaking to a person by name.  It makes a difference, we try to be diligent about getting names and faces connected, remembered and recognized.  I was struck by the importance of knowing a person's name by a blog post in "Church Volunteer Daily" that I reproduce here in full:

It Always Goes To The Heart

It was a crushing headline that ran in our local Sunday paper, and across the United States: "After Gastric Bypass Surgery, Some Patients Battle New Addictions."  The article itself summarized research, including life stories of people who lived out a connection between dramatic weight loss from gastric bypass surgery followed by an increased incidence of alcoholism.  

• "Drinking for me became like eating used to be — instant satisfaction," said the 60-year-old resident of South Florida.
• "All addictions are about fixing how one feels," said Lerner. "Changing the nature of the addiction does not change the nature of the person." 
• Click Here for the full story. 

Thomas Jefferson Was A Calvinist?!?

Sort of!  I believe he was, in the same way that I am a Freudian, Darwinist who sees the world in light of Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

EPC General Assembly - 2011

I was unable to attend the General Assembly of the EPC this year, but am happy to pass along the following information about it, written by Dana Cadman, Director of Communications for the EPC.  It was originally posted at this link to the Aquila Report.