"Our Place in the Dictionary"

“Our Place in the Dictionary”

(This was originally written for the bulletin at our New Hampshire church, Southside Bible Fellowship. Each of us can put in our own church’s name—or even our own name—and ask God to help us live up to it.)

 

During the first half of the 19^th century a suburb of Dublin, Ireland hosted an area fair. However, as time went on it became better known for its fights than its agricultural and home displays to the point that town officials closed it down in 1855. The name of the town was Donnybrook, which has taken its place in the dictionary with the definition “brawl, free-for-all.”

In Acts 8 we read about a man named Simon (not to be confused with Simon Peter or any of the other seven Simons mentioned in the New Testament) who attempted to buy the power of imparting the Holy Spirit to others from the apostles and was soundly rebuked. His name has found its way into Mr. Webster’s masterpiece, which gives “simony” the meaning “buying or selling of a church office.”

In the church’s early days those who believed in Jesus were usually called disciples, a term meaning pupils. Since there were many teachers students began to be known by the names of their masters. Not surprisingly, then, those who followed Christ began to be called Christians (Acts 11:26). Probably used in a derogatory sense at first, it became complimentary because of the godly life-style of those so identified and the dictionary still reflects this meaning (“showing the qualities associated with Christ’s teachings”).

Suppose the word “southsideness” showed up in the next edition of this handy reference tool (in the one I use it would fall between southpaw and southward). How would it be defined based on what we display? You and I are determining this for future generations by our actions today. By God’s grace may the meaning be, as described in our motto, “Building one another up to reach out with God’s love.”

Blessings!

Jim McMillan