Installation and Covenant

Photographs by Bill Miller.

These pictures are from the Installation service held on October 21, 2007.

What's In A Name?

Many of you have asked me what do I prefer to be called. I have usually responded with “please feel free to call me Alvin,” but in public settings my preference would be Pastor J or Pastor Jackson.

This no doubt feels awkward and maybe even archaic for some of you here in a small close-knit community like ours, where we greatly value intimacy, familiarity and collegiality. And of course one of the signs of these values is that we are all on a first name basis with each other. It is really one of the attractive and appealing characteristics of our community. I like it as well, but it could also be one of the things that impede our community from becoming the growing thriving multi-cultural community that I think we all desire.

Now I am sure on the surface that sounds preposterous, for how could a little thing like what the minister is called impede our growth? Well, consider this we all come to this community with different experiences and backgrounds.

As a child growing up in the Delta of Mississippi, I never called my minister who served the little church that I grew up in for 54 years by his first name, though he became a very dear, close and personal friend. He was always Elder Harris to me. Even as I delivered the eulogy at his funeral this past October, Tommy Harris remained Elder Harris for me.

I guess one never quite gets over growing up in the 50's and 60's in the days of raw racism, segregation and Jim Crowism where sport was often made of calling older Black people by their first names, even by young white children as a way of disrespecting them and “keeping them in their place.” My father and other professionals like him often used only their initials to keep people from calling them by their first names. In my father’s case it was C.C. I was a teenager before I knew that my father's name was actually Clyde Cullen. That was how tightly it was held!

We certainly shouldn’t let names, titles and positions get in the way of our building the kind of community we all desire here at the PARK. But what I would ask of us is that we would at least have sensitivity to the histories, backgrounds and experiences others bring to our community -- particularly people of color.

But more than putting a salve on the wounds of past slights and rejections, what I am really calling for is not my personal elevation, but the elevation of the office of Pastor. We are all ministers! Every member of this congregation is a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But from among many ministers some are called to serve as Pastors to teach, to lead, to love, to care, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith (Ephesians 4:12a).

So, call me what you will. I will answer to most things. There is an old African proverb that says, “I am now what you call me, but I am what I answer to.” Yes, call me Alvin and I will gladly answer to it, but I want to also be your Pastor.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I am very excited to be able to share the wisdom of our faith with you, along with some of my own thoughts and experiences.

Reverend Dr. Alvin O'Neal Jackson