“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
These immortal words from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1594), capture the central struggle and tragedy of the play. But, alas, I find there is much more to a name than either Romeo or Julet could have dreamed. Today I innocently called someone whose birth name is Priscilla, Melissa. For the rest of the day I bore the relatively good-natured reproach of all who witnessed my gaffe. But really, if Juliet is right and names are artificial and meaningless conventions, then was this not much ado about nothing? OK, it was her wedding ceremony and I was addressing her and Steven, the startled groom, in front of 500 of their friends and relatives. Granted, it wasn’t the most appropriate time to get the name wrong. But why wouldn’t I call her Melissa? My nephew and his wife are Steven and Melissa, so the two names certainly go together. And frankly, Steven and Melissa are two very nice people who are happily married so one could certainly be called something worse. On the other hand, a pastor appealing to Shakespeare to ameliorate a humiliating faux pas is pretty lame.
Part of me wants to rib you about this for the next 10 years. Another part of me feels your pain . . . I have done a similar thing – once when introducing the brand new couple at the conclusion of the ceremony, I slaughtered the pronunciation of their last name to my shame and their horror. During the ceremony on Saturday, you mentioned to them that this would be a day that they would never ever forget . . . I wanted to shout out, “yeah, because you messed up her name.” Despite the name gaffe – good words indeed, I was listening. As always, it was good to connect with you, albeit so brief. Stay out of trouble and stay tight with Jesus.