What’s In A Name?
Juliet:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)
Juliet Capulet speaking to Romeo Montague in Shakespeare’s tragic love story tells him there is much more to something than just its name. Juliet tells Romeo that a name is only a descriptor of the true being. Juliet says this because she loves Romeo a “Montague” who are the enemies of her family the Capulets. She professes her love in spite of him being named a Montague. Romeo in his passion for Juliet rejects his family name and vows to “deny (his) father” and be “new baptized” as Juliet’s lover. This one short line encapsulates the central struggle and tragedy of the play. It also sets the stage for how we think of our church name Crossmark.
Have you ever asked why churches have names? Originally churches were simply named after the city that they existed in. The Church of Jerusalem, Thessalonia, Galatia, or Rome. After the Reformation churches took names that pronounced their doctrinal allegiance such as St. John’s Catholic Church. Wars broke out in the Church and for centuries doctrinal disagreements some major and others minor became the central dividing issue between many churches. Churches took names to distinguish themselves from other Christians. In our day people know very little of Christian doctrine, teaching, and especially very little of Christian history. The divisions to most non-Christians seem pointless. Many Christians see the divisions as pointless as well.
To be sure some division are important. Some so called churches even change the meaning of the gospel thus confusing the world of who is rightly proclaiming the identity of Jesus. Names are only as important as what they reflect. When our pastor was searching for our name he desired not to be identified as just “another church” instead he wanted to be identified with being from the real Jesus. We believe God gave us the name Crossmarkas another way to identify with the real Jesus. The story of the crossmark comes from God working in the lives of a nation on the verge of total moral, social, and political collapse. Yet God was at work. God promised that He would redeem those who believed in him. In the story God sends his faithful messenger to put a cross mark on the heads of all those who believed God’s promises (Ezekiel 9:3-4, John 15:16). We believe this messenger was Jesus. We believe this story foreshadows what Jesus came to do in his life particularly his work on the cross. We call ourselves Crossmark to identify with Jesus in whom we put our hope for the best possible life now and in the world to come.
Juliet raises a valid question though. What is in a name? We agree that Juliet had it right when she observes that a simple name change does not define a being. We know that we are not defined so much by Crossmark as we are defined by the Church. People have heard of the Church. Most people probably haven’t heard of Crossmark. The Church doesn’t often reflect the image of transformation by Jesus in the world in which we live. People see the Church as something that is to political, irrelevant, prideful, mean-spirited, self-centered, shallow, rigid, and unthoughtful. Some even label the Church as unChristian! Sometimes these criticisms are valid. We at Crossmark know that we can’t change the image of the entire Church. We aren’t even going to try. That’s not our job. God in his wisdom collectively called a group of people called the Church as his chosen group to reveal himself to all the peoples of the world.
Romeo was willing to forsake whatever name he had been given before so that he could be identified with her. He was willing to forsake everything just to be known as hers. She wisely corrected him that he would still be her Romeo no matter what his name reflected. We believe the true Church no matter what its name reflects to others shows the world the reality of Jesus at work in their lives. This is why we identify ourselves with what Jesus has done. The name Crossmark Church represents our hope in God to reach sinners like us and bring them into the true Church by making the real Jesus known.
On Earth there are two types of churches. There are true ones and false ones. They are both made up of sinners. The difference is that true churches are being reformed by God where false churches are being reformed by the values of a fallen world. We believe that the true Church best reflects the real Jesus as it lives and interacts in local communities. True churches are daily working on knowing God more intimately through Jesus and making him known. That is our job and we hope we will do it well. We will at times fail. We will repent of that and persevere. Come see if we live up to our name. Hold us accountable. See if our name fits.
