The newsletter of the Federated Church is the Federated Flash and it is published every Tuesday. This is my first newsletter article, though my last blog entry could have been a wonderful first entry.
After I finished seminary, Marie and I went to visit my parents in Mexico, MO, a small town between Paris and Columbia. While we were there we went to visit my grandmother’s cleaning lady. Now my grandmother passed about ten years prior making her cleaning lady, Miss Fannie Lucas, near about 100 years old. She welcomed us into her home, sat us down and asked, “Now Paul, do I have to call you Reverend Andresen?” I looked at her with a shy smile and said, “Now Miss Fannie, if I asked you to call me anything but Paul you know my grandmother would leave her grave to have a word with me!”
I have been asked several times, “How do you want to be addressed?” It’s a great question, Miss Lucas knew me all my life, but we hardly know each other. As for parents, I’ll leave this up to you for your children, but I think “Pastor Paul” is fine. As for the rest of us, please call me Paul.
I don’t say this to be informal, I say this because it was the name I was called at my baptism. Since it is good enough for God in the waters, it’s good enough for me. Having worked at the University of Arkansas I like to think calling me by some honorary is like putting a tuxedo on a pig. It doesn’t seem right on the pig and ruins the tux.
Our baptismal identity is very important. We celebrate two sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The first identifies us with Christians everywhere and with Christ himself. The other feeds, nourishes the body of Christ, taking the meal remembering Jesus until he comes again.
So please, call me Paul.
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