Name Day: June 24 Remembered

Name Day: June 24

“On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, ‘No; he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘None of your relatives has this name.’ Then, they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And all of them were amazed.”—Luke 1:59-63.

If your name is John or a derivative of it, June 24 was your name day. We also celebrated it as the birthday of John the Baptist. In some countries, such as Greece, this is even more important than your regular birthday. When our daughter, Joanna, and her dad were in Greece on this, her name day, their guide Maria did not charge them for taking them around that day. When others heard it was her name day, they gave her gifts.

Just as important as this name day is to our family is the remembrance that June 24 is the birthday of Bob, or “Dede,” my husband’s father, who showed our children and us so much unconditional love and care. Increasingly, in my life, I find it necessary to remember the people who taught us about unconditional love. We can feel the love they brought into our lives as we remember the person.

Consider learning about your name, its origin, and even your name day.

On June 24, I also remembered my grandparents, Joe and Anna, as I was named after them. Again, these were two people who taught me about love without conditions. I was the “apple of their eye.” They loved me no matter what I did. They did not always condone what I did, but still loved the sinner. Through their love, I learned about the unconditional love of God.

Honor and remember those who have brought the presence of love into your life. My experience is that by bringing them back into our memory, we can still feel and experience that love, even if they are no longer with us and are now living in eternal life.

The God of my understanding does not give us this love and then stop it at death. Love lives on. Love never dies.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

 

Buechner: Birds

Buechner: Birds

“Wheeling through the summer sky, perching in the treetops, feeding their young, birds go about their business as generally unconcerned with the human race as the human race is generally unconcerned with them. But every so often, they do something that catches our attention. Canada geese heading south in the shape of a V. A white-throated sparrow grieving over poor Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody. A cardinal darting through the shrubbery like a flame. For a moment or two, even the dullest of us dimly realizes the world would be a poorer place without them. 

One wonders if, from time to time, birds feel the same way about us. A man with an umbrella is walking in the rain. A woman in a bathing suit picking peas. The patter song of a two-year-old in the sandbox. Do birds every once in a while see us as we see them, as basically irrelevant but occasionally worth the cocking of a beady eye, the flicker of a wing, the first few notes of a song?” —Frederick Buechner in Beyond Words.

The birds who visit the feeder just beyond my window save my life. As I write or read, their movement pauses me to look up from my page or computer and see the world outside my window. They call me to stop what I am doing and briefly say a short prayer of thanksgiving or a blessing for the healing of someone I know who is in pain that day. They bring me to a power outside of my world that is consuming me to be greater than myself and any difficulties I might feel that day.

 I also see similarities between our lives and theirs. Some birds don’t like to share. Some are constantly vigilant of their surroundings, seeming to fear constant danger, almost as if they are so nervous that they only feed for a moment.

I try to name them, but most stay for such a brief time that I barely get to know them. So today, I give thanks for the many sparrows, the brown thrasher, the blue jays, the nuthatch, the tufted titmouse, the Carolina chickadee, the male and female cardinals, and especially the downy woodpeckers, the northern flicker, and the red-bellied woodpeckers who change and redeem my life every day.

My husband gave me a clock for my office where I hear a different bird call on each hour. David Kalvelage, a longtime friend and former editor of The Living Church, shared with me his spiritual practice of reciting a prayer at the hour as the clock in his house strikes the hour. I have started following this practice, which keeps me connected to the God of my understanding for brief periods, again as the “real” birds do.  

Joanna Seibert https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Serenity Prayer

Serenity Prayer

“God, Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And Wisdom to know the difference.”—Reinhold Niebuhr.

My grandmother kept a copy of the Serenity Prayer on her bathroom mirror. Today, I honor her by doing the same. I remember visiting her as a young girl and reading the prayer in her bathroom every morning. What I mainly remember is that I thought, “This is a ridiculous prayer! If there is a problem, I know if I try hard enough, I can solve or fix it!”

Many years later, many trials later, I have learned the truth of the Serenity Prayer the hard way. There are so many things I cannot change. The only thing I can change is myself and my reactions to others and the situations I encounter. I cannot change others. I try to share my firsthand experience with spiritual friends, but others like myself often need a firsthand rather than a secondhand experience to see this truth.

I wonder if it took my adoring grandmother as long as it did me to discover and learn to live the truth.

I wonder if she had as many setbacks as I often do—thinking I can change situations and others.