Maybe it was KITT the talking car, maybe it was the stealth nature of the missions, or the mysterious nature of the theme song, but as a six year old Knight Rider was my favorite television show. So much so that I wanted to change my name to Michael after David Hasselhoff’s character Michael Knight. Hasselhoff was cool enough, I suppose, but the name Michael seemed so substantial, weighty, and much more sophisticated than…..Jay. I mean, the letters of the alphabet are cool, and hey, I’m named after one, but I was ready to move on to bigger and better things.

That is until I learned some more about my name. When I would ask my parents about my name, they would always talk about how much I kicked in the womb. Jay means adventurous, vivacious, quick (maybe like the bird?), and that seemed to fit me well. As I grew up, I grew into my name. I owned it, rejoiced in who God made me. Life and experience would prove that this name, Jay, would bear the weight of who God made me to be.

In last week’s newsletter I mentioned we’ve been asked to take on a new name by our Bishop Philip Jones and our sending church All Saints Dallas. This Sunday I’ll be sharing a new name I believe God is calling us to take on and will begin a series of Sunday sermons where I unpack a vision based on the new name. This name is one that I believe will bear the weight of who God is asking us to be, who he’s calling us to be. I believe it will make space for the breath of life he’s breathing into us, the vision he’s incarnating in our midst and that which he’ll continue long after each one of us dead and gone.

This name won’t change the core of our identity - a three-stream Anglican church connecting with the people of East Dallas and beyond - but it will enable us to embody the vision and mission God is unfolding in us and through us.

I hope you can be there this Sunday.

- Jay+