{"id":3923,"date":"2025-05-13T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/?p=3923"},"modified":"2025-05-12T20:19:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T20:19:35","slug":"whats-in-a-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/2025\/05\/13\/whats-in-a-name\/benedictine-spirituality\/3923\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s in a name?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Image by Steve Buissinne from pixabay.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Acts of the Apostles are very dynamic. The Apostles travel far and wide to share the Good News of the resurrection. They\u2019re full of hope and delight even as they face challenges disagreements and persecutions. This is not the action of an established Church with centuries of tradition behind it. I

t\u2019s the action of a disparate group trying to make sense of a deeply life changing experience. As they begin to preach to the Greeks in Antioch they don\u2019t even have a name for their group. The writer of Acts tells us:

\u201cIt was at Antioch that the disciples were first called \u2018Christians.\u2019<\/em>

We don\u2019t know if they gave themselves the name or if it was given by others. We\u2019re not sure if it was complementary or derogatory. We do know that it has come to define us ever since. So I\u2019ve been reflecting on what this name means for us today.

The gospel gives us the answer. In today\u2019s Jesus says:

\u201cThe Father and I are one.\u201d<\/em>

This gives us the foundation stone of our Christian identity. We are Christian because through our baptism we are united to Christ and the Father. That foundation has to be built up through practical action in daily life. The gospel makes tells us how to do that too. In Johns gospel Jeans says:

\u201cI give you a new commandment: love one another; you must love one another just as I have loved you. It is by your love for one another, that everyone will recognise you as my disciples.\u201d<\/em>

Jesus\u2019 love is inclusive, practical and non judgemental. The call to be a Christian is a call to love. It is love that defines us and is as people of love that we seek to be recognised.

Where are you called to show love today?
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Acts of the Apostles are very dynamic. The Apostles travel far and wide to share the Good News of the resurrection. They\u2019re full of hope and delight even as they face challenges disagreements and persecutions. This is not the action of an established Church with centuries of tradition behind it. I t\u2019s the action […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,494,461,359,239,271,537,362],"tags":[802,796,112,28,18,143,376,448,6,8,33,229,13,29,15,69,10],"class_list":["post-3923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-benedictine-spirituality","category-christ","category-divine-office","category-eastertide","category-gospel","category-lectio-divina","category-liturgy","category-resurrection","tag-actsoftheapostles","tag-anewcommandment","tag-baptism","tag-benedictine","tag-challenge","tag-christian","tag-disciples","tag-discipleship","tag-gospel","tag-hope","tag-kingdom","tag-kingdomvalues","tag-lectiodivina","tag-love","tag-newlife","tag-resurrection","tag-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3929,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923\/revisions\/3929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}