St Mary's Church, Mudford

                                     August 2026

Taken from the 'Ark Magazine'

Dear all,

I really hate it when they ask your name and write it on your takeaway coffee cup.  In a coffee queue recently, when the customer before me was asked for his name I restrained myself with difficulty from calling out, "Don't tell him, Pike!"  When my turn came I resolved that if they insisted on taking my name, I would at least maintain some self-respect by giving my surname.  Mentally I rehearsed, "It's Mr Horner to you, young lady."

In fact what happened was this:  The assistant said, "What would you like?" and `I said, "Double Espresso please" and she said "What's your name?" and I said "Richard' and meekly handed over the money.  And something inside me quietly died.

Our name stands for our self, for everything about us, and we don't give it away lightly.  One of the brutal things that happens in some prisons, and that used to happen in concentration camps, is the taking away of people's names to be replaced by a number.  Having your name taken away dehumanises you; but even giving it voluntarily can feel uncomfortable.

Sometimes we all feel vulnerable.  We feel worried or upset, confused, afraid, lonely or lost.  In those moments - moments of fear, of weakness, of confusion, remember that the one who made you and who knows you better than you know yourself, also calls you by your name:

God says: Fear not, for `I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.  When you pass through the waters I will be with you, the rivers will not overwhelm you.  When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, the flames shall never consume you.

(Isaiah 43:1-2)

With all good wishes,

Richard