I learned something new today...

While cruising the Internet I ran across something that caught my eye and I felt a need to see what it was... It was link to Scum of the Earth Church in Denver, CO. Considering that for almost the first 4 decades of my life I thought the only "scriptural name" for a body of believers was "The Church of Christ (Romans 16:16)", seeing a name like this was at the very least...intriguing.

I mean by what mandate can they call themselves "scum of the earth" - that's not even biblical!

So, I followed the link and read about them - a group of believers that are reaching out to those that are broken - just like Christ did. They obviously have some new ideas about what Church is about and how to spread the Gospel. Almost immediately, I saw - at the very top of the web page - the scripture. The very kind of thing I have done myself - a scripture that describes their personal mission and drive...below it quoted the previously mentioned scripture. As I read I was CERTAIN that they were using some strange pseudo-translation (commentary) and I was also CERTAIN that they had used creative licence on the "scum of the earth" reference. So I pulled out my trusty NIV and here's what I read...

1 Corinthians 4:11-14

To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

I had to read it twice, then I went back and read the whole chapter. I remembered the chapter, but the part that we always focus on when studying this passage is Paul chastising Apollos and his followers. It really says scum of the earth!?!? (yeah, KJV says "filth of the earth", but I still don't do the "King's English" very well).

Reading back through the passage the part that really calls to me is this - "when we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly". I have been called to endure much in the last few years and the way that I have responded to much of it has been a topic of debate and dismay for my friends and family. They want me to rise up and stand up for myself - to get what I am entitled, to play dirty like those around me...to stoop to their level.

Paul got it - he was (and IS) trying to tell us that you can't stoop down farther than you already are! How do you stoop down to someone else's level when you are already at the bottom - already the "scum of the earth"? Answer - you don't. You answer kindly...

Earlier in the chapter Paul says that we have no business judging others - that's God's job and God will take care of it. "It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God." 1 Cor. 4:4-5 He goes on to say "For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" 1 Cor. 4:7 God provides - he provides everything we need including judgement for those around us...leave that to Him.

I learned something new today - don't judge a book by it's cover or a Church by it's name.

The Balcony

The Church I am a part of has a balcony in the auditorium (most people there call it the "Sanctuary"...that's for another discussion). The Church that I attended for about 12 years and left a few years ago added a balcony a few years after I started going there (with the INTENTION of using it for growth). Other than that, most of the Churches I have attended haven't had them.

I don't like them...

I used to be afraid of heights - that fear is pretty much gone (although I'm still not crazy about falling - especially the sudden stop part at the end), so the reason I don't like balconies has nothing to do with height...

They CAN be useful...as overflow. To me, overflow (noun) is simply the stuff that won't fit into the container with the rest of the stuff. For example, if I am filling my Big Gulp with Mountain Dew at the 7-11 and I get distracted (hey look! a squirrel...in the 7-11?!) the Mountain Dew will overflow (verb). The stuff that did not make it into the 64oz. tub is the overflow (noun). In this case it flows into the drain and it's "healthy goodness" is gone forever... Consider the Mountain Dew - made for one purpose - to be consumed by us and at the last moment their life is rendered in vain...i digress...

Have you ever sat in the balcony? I have to when I work in the A/V booth (or whatever we call it), otherwise I don't. I don't understand why you would unless there was nowhere to sit on the main floor... The only reason I can think of is...

That you really don't want to be there anyway...

Sitting in the balcony is like WATCHING the game from the nose-bleed section. You are THERE, but you have to watch the jumbo-tron to see what really happened. I still remember my first trip to "The Big House" to see Michigan play, my son and I were on the goal line and the band was on our side of the field on the other goal line. I remember that I could hear the band on the radio I had plugged to one of my ears but I couldn't hear them "live". It was surreal...

At best the balcony is the "box seats" of worship. You get box seats so that you don't have to deal with others impeding your view of the action or (in the case of a baseball game) spilling beer on you. You get to go to worship, but you don't have to get "dirty" doing it, you can be there in body...you can say "I was at worship".

At worst the balcony is like a "sky box". If you every have the chance to watch an NFL game from a sky box it's a treat. You get to be AT the game - you feel GREAT, you are comfortable... You are "out there" but not IN IT. When the temperature dips into the cold you don't care because the sky box is comfy and warm and dry.

• You get to watch the replay on the T.V. mounted right above...
• The BUFFET and
• There is always a beverage nearby - no yelling for a vendor or fighting your way through the crowd spilling it all the way.
• If the game gets too loud, you just close the windows and listen to the play-by-play on the T.V.

If I sit in the sky box I can say I was there, but no ringing ears, no cold limbs, no beer soaked back, no rain soaked clothes and no aching back from the stadium seats. In fact, my nice clothes are as clean as when I left home... It's...like...I didn't..go...at...all...

It's just sad to me to watch someone come to worship and walk directly to the balcony and sit way up in our "nose-bleed section" and "watch the game". You can't convince me that you can participate from the balcony (unless MAYBE you are on the front two rows). I'm not complaining too loudly because they are THERE - and I have been just there myself before.

I wish we would close the balcony until the floor is loaded... Problem with that is that everyone that wanted to sit in the balcony would...just...come...late...

"Oh bother"...

Little white sin...

We've all done it. How many times have you said something that wasn't quite true, but not so false as to be a REAL lie? I mean, is it really necessary to tell that lady that you think her new dress makes her look like a walking optical illusion? Maybe not...maybe so - either way we still know down in our heart that an "un-truth" is a lie. However, I'm not convinced that telling the nice lady that her dress looks nice to make her feel good is bad - it's not going to hurt anyone...

But is there something that we Christians do that we twist around in our minds and hearts until we believe that it's OK that has the power to hurt ourselves and others? I'm sure that there are plenty of things, but let's talk about one that gets very little "press".

No "self respecting", "Church going" Christian honestly believes that stealing is OK, or that it's good thing to just stop going to Church or that swearing a lot is no big deal.

However, what about...gossip?

"When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell."
James 3:3-6

James tells us that our words have the ability to corrupt. What gets me is how often we as Christians use our words as a weapon. Not in a frontal assault - no street corner preaching or face to face rebuking - but a sneak attack. A little white sin...

We claim to love each other, we do great deeds and give and give and give of ourselves in the name of THE LORD, but in the same breath we talk about others behind their backs. It almost makes sense - we are "lovers, not fighters" so why should we confront our brother (or sister) with something worth saying to someone else? No, it's just easier to talk about it with others - maybe they'll get the message through osmosis... It's just so much easier to talk about them to others than to get involved.

I think I'll go brush my teeth now...

Things I've Learned on Tour Part 2

Ok, tour is over now... Here's the rest of the list. This time I'm not falling asleep while writing them.

• Everyone has spells of "self-preservation" - don't take it personally.
• It is possible to present too much information,
• Control is not always worth the price you pay for it...and often not available at any price.
• You shouldn't judge a Church by it's cover.
• Roller coasters are awesome...simply awesome. Did I say they were awesome?
• Some things just won't make sense...maybe you just don't have all the information of maybe it just doesn't make sense - either way don't spend valuable time trying to figure it out.
• I love meeting new people.
• If you treat people like friends - that's what they become.
• The term "Contemporary Service" is as descriptive as "As Soon As Possible (ASAP)".

Christmas Redux

I'm enjoying my second Christmas season at our new Church and a year later I find myself somewhat more at ease.

A year ago I was riding a roller coaster of emotion during this time and as I was participating in our Christmas program at Church. One moment feeling great, the next feeling a bit guilty and overwhelmed. This year things are different.

I purposefully decided to limit my participation this year to singing in the choir; there are a few cool solos and speaking parts, but (unlike me) I resisted the urge to wildly jump in. I have already committed myself to working with the teen choir and between that and "just" singing as part of the choir in the program that will be plenty. I do not want to over extend myself like I have in the past. At first, it was a bit difficult, but once I made the decision and stuck to it, I have never looked back.

Anyway, I digress... This year I'm not hyper-analyzing all the Christmas stuff going on around me and once I stopped doing that it's making more sense. There are lots of reasons that it does, but one stands out for me. If this is the ONE TIME that someone MIGHT be influenced by Christians during the course of the year then what is wrong with making that one time special so they see how great our God is. All my life I have resisted this mentality as being "wishy-washy" and conforming to the world, but God tells us through the words of Paul...

"Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." I Corinthians 9:19-23

What powerful words! Paul reminds me that it's not only OK to reach out to others "while the reaching is good", but it's our responsibility!

On an even more personal note, the teen choir is singing "Love Came Down" Sunday. It's a Christmas song with a bit of a twist. If you listen to the words they remind us that God sent his son, that "...love came down at Christmas time...". I used to lose the message behind the quest for the facts (Jesus wasn't born on December 25th), if I'm honest with myself and remove the glasses, I can see that for what it is...legalism. There it is, plain and simple, I have never thought of myself as a legalist...

Now, when I hear those words, sung by some of our teens, I just get goosebumps.

Look out for falling bricks

Every once in a while something hits me like a ton of bricks. Sometimes I'm amazed at how slowly I figure things out...

I think I figured out another key difference between the Church that I now call home and the one that I grew up in.

Personal Relationship with God. In my past, that has always been one of those phrases that could spark a conversation in a flash (not unlike, "Praise Team", "Visitor Friendly" or "Home Bible Study"). People threw it around for different reasons... Some would throw it out there to show that they really understood what was important, others would cringe at it knowing that...others...would feast on such words chewing them up and spitting them out as some perversion.

It now occurs to me that in my past, I was encouraged to learn about God and develop my relationship with His Church and THAT would lead me to a closer relationship with God. As I studied scripture and discussed it with my Christian brothers and sisters I might mature as a Christian. My goal was to be considered a "mature Christian".

Only those that were busy with Church-work were growing...if you wanted to become more mature in the faith, mow the grass at the building, speak your mind at the business meeting, hang out at the office, be visible. I mean, how else does everyone else gauge your level of Christian maturity?

Now I think there's a better way. I know it may sound radical, but hear me out. I've seen it in action...

I am now seeing people walk into the Church building that already have a personal relationship with God. Their relationship with God does not depend on who they know, how much time they spend at the building, how many potlucks they attend, how well they sing...

They come to "Church" to enhance the relationship they already have! To combine their praise and adoration to God with others so that it might be more powerful and effective. They are not using "Church" as a sole means to get to God, they are participating in it to enrich a relationship they already have.

For me, that explains why I see people with very different backgrounds worshipping together, some are quiet and contemplative, others are active...raising their hands, clapping and even shouting, still others are in between. You see their "Church" has not defined who they are, but God has and how they (we) participate in worship to Him is expressed differently because the source of our faith is in Him, not brick and mortar, not the preacher, not peer pressure or our friends...HIM.

I'll keep looking up for the next set of bricks...

"Friend"

Lately, our choir has been singing a song titled "Friend of God". It's a great song with a simple, powerful message..."I am a Friend of God...He calls me Friend".

One thing that I have noticed while singing this song and watching our director mouth the words as he directs us is...it's impossible to say the word FRIEND without smiling. I don't know what the origin of the word is but it seems logical. Try it for yourself, see if you can say the word friend and frown. Trust me, it's going to take some work.

When you call someone your friend or talk about a friend it should invoke good thoughts and feelings...and...make you smile.

Church Music VI - "How do those words taste?"

Excuse me while I eat and type, I find the Veranda font somewhat bitter compared to Tahoma, but meatier...harder to swallow.

Part of the fun of writing a blog is going back and reading what you wrote before. I started this blog as a way to chronicle my journey and it's..interesting (excuse me while I wipe my mouth, the words can sometimes be messy) to look at the journey and be reminded of where it started, where it took me and where I am now.

I wonder where I will be 3 months from now or next year? God is my "tour guide" so the answer is ANYWHERE!

So, I was reading my blog Church Music V - "Corrective Lenses" and the other 4 parts to that "series" and I have to start eating. Eating my words. (excuse me again, while I take a drink of Mt. Dew to wash some more down)

Looking back at what I said then is like looking at myself through a telescope. It's not so much that I disagree with what I said, it's more about the way I said it. However, there is that phrase (gulp) "I believe in ACapella music for corporate worship." (gulp) that came from my fingers and my mind. Since I now weekly participate in corporate worship with every conceivable instrument in them was I wrong then, wrong now, have I had an epiphany, or does it really matter?

I don't have all the answers yet, but I know this. I am truly enjoying where God has led me and I am doing all I can to hang on to his hand as he leads me through the crowded path ahead. My other hand is stuffing my mouth with words and wiping the mess on my sleeve...

Tingling.

When my arm goes numb from sleeping on it I have to wake up and dangle it so that the blood will start to flow again. Soon my arm starts to "wake up", that's a good thing, but...ouch! The "tingling" starts.

This is no ordinary tickling, it's more like "prickling". It feels like my arm has been surrounded by hundreds or thousands of small needles, when I make a fist to get the blood flowing faster the "prickling" intensifies.

I said a few months ago that I felt numb, I was terribly unfeeling and unmotivated to get excited about "Church". I also said that if my analogy was correct, that when the numbness subsided it would be temporarily replaced by pain.

The good thing about this type of pain is that you KNOW that it is temporary and in some ways it is invigorating. It is part of the process of waking up lifeless muscles and getting them back to normal functioning order. But still...ouch!

It's Christmas!

As I have said before, I grew up attending the Church of Christ. This time of year has always been a bit...confusing as a Christian. What's so confusing about Christmas to a Christian? Well, "for the record" the Church of Christ does not celebrate Christmas.

Specifically, we do not celebrate Christmas as a "religious holiday". Momentarily going back to the basics for our beliefs, the phrase "speak where the Bible speaks and silent where the Bible is silent" is thrown around a lot. (Actually, there is some inconsistency in this phrase and how we use it, but that is for another time) Nowhere in the Bible does God tell us to celebrate Christ's birth. There are no examples of such a celebration in the first century Church, no references to such and no command. We are told to celebrate his death and we are given an example of such a celebration happening every first day of the week. So that's what we do.

There are the facts about how the Church of Christ (officially) sees Christmas. In practice, things get a bit wierd.

As a boy and a young adult, I was very adamant about Christmas. It was a man-made event, not authorized by God and therefore not to be acknowedged in our Church or our worship. The name "Christmas" comes from the term "Christ Mass" a special mass from the Catholic Church. My feelings about this bordered on irrational. How so? Let me give you a couple examples.

As a song leader I would never dream of leading songs relating to Christ's birth during the holiday season. Also, whenever (inevitably) someone else lead one of these songs, I would get up and leave. I felt that if we did what the "Catholics" did, then how would the "unchurched" differentiate us? I felt that we needed to be different from the rest of the world that gave lip service to praising God by going twice a year (Christmas and Easter). One ugly side of this is that songs about the birth of Christ are rarely ever sung in our services. Why would you want to sing "Silent Night" in July? The answer is that there is nothing wrong with it, in fact if songs about Christ's birth were standard fare in our Churches, then there would be no problem with singing them during the holiday season.

Also, even though we celebrated Christmas at home there was to be no religious symbolism. That means, no angels on the tree, or stars and especially no nativity scenes (I still don't like those).

So, why celebrate Christmas? The simple answer is because everyone else does, the ironic thing is that this same response answers the question of why we DON'T celebrate Christ's birth around Christmas. It wasn't until I started to stop and look around that this hit me in the face, and that's when I started asking questions...

Here's what I know (and what I don't). Christ was not born on December 25th. Yeah, so what. I don't really know of anyone that really and truly believes that. "Christmas" is a man-made holiday. I used to think that many religions saw it as a religious holiday, that's where I was wrong (even though there are some that do). "Christmas" as we know it is really different that it used to be. Now, it just one of many holidays during our "Holiday Season".

So, the big question for me is "what is so wrong about recognizing Christ's birth on December 25th?" Honestly, I'm having a hard time holding on to my old answers to that question. Yes, God did not command us to celebrate his birth, however...

HE sure made a big deal about it. Take a look at Matthew sometime and tell me he didn't want us to remember his birth. Every word in the Bible is God-breathed and there for a purpose. That's one of the reasons we study it so often (or should) and intently. Since every word comes from God himself, it's an extremely important form of communication with and praise to God. If he didn't want us to know about Christ's birth of if he thought that it was not important, then why did he devote so much space to it in the Bible and, more importantly, why was it so wonderfully miraculous!

There are many examples in our relationship with God and our worship and service to him that displays our own personality into what he set forth. I don't remember anything about using song books in the new testament, he didn't tell us to meet on Wednesdays to study the bible and have an "invitation", he didn't tell us to spend Church funds to buy softball uniforms, the list goes on. Most of us (almost all of us) have no problem with these man-made infusions of personality into our worship to God.

So, for me, I am an old dog that is learning a new trick, a mule that is finally starting to move, the stick in the mud that is wiggling it's way out. I am embracing Christmas for what it is, a man-made celebration of the miracle of Christ's birth. It's not nearly as important as his death, but one comes before the other and his birth WAS miraculous, wonderful and God-given. Praise God, Christ was born!

"Church Music" - Part V - "Corrective Lenses"

OK, it's time to finish this (at least for now). Let me just say this so I can make myself clear and so that there can be no misunderstandings.

I believe in ACapella music for corporate worship. I base this on MY PERSONAL HISTORY, I like it's simplicity, it is harder (certainly not impossible) to let material things get in the way when we are praising God this way. As of today, I have no intention of making a practice of worshipping God by singing songs of praise with instrumental accompaniment. However, I don't think that non-ACapella worship is unscriptual, unacceptable praise to God and worth our gargantuan efforts to stamp out. If a friend of mine invites me to worship with him (or her)and they use instruments as part of their heart-felt praise to God, I will join them. I will no longer cringe or concern myself that I am doing something terrible (trust me, I've done MUCH WORSE things), in fact I will try very hard to worship HIM in spirit and in truth.

The real issue here is not about the music issue it's about our LACK OF FOCUS ON THINGS THAT MATTER. To quote Paul Woodhouse from "Grace Centered Magazine", "Let's drop the instrumental music issue. It is irrelevant to the poor single mother, the aborted infant, the divorcee, and the prison inmate...It's time to get real and move on." There are so many other things that NEED our FOCUSED ATTENTION, immorality, the declining importance of family, abortion, depression, divorce, suicide and the list goes on. We should be lights...BEACONS for the rest of the world to find Christ, not enforcers of religious practices (does that sound like a....Pharisee?) If we took just 50% of the time and effort that is spent everyday defending ACapella singing in the Church of Christ IMAGINE WHAT WE COULD DO?!?!

We have lost our focus, it's time to get corrective lenses and get to work.

OK, I'm done (for now).

"Church Music" - Part IV... our kids

I grew up, primarily, in the 70's and I really don't remember this being a big deal then. Yes, it was discussed, and yes, even then the Churches of Christ were distinguished by (among other things) that fact that we didn't have any instruments in our worship service (or our buildings). The difference between then and now is that, then we looked at the whole Instrumental Music in worship "thing" as insignificant. The kids of my day were not talking about it and our worship services (practically ALL of them throughout the mainstream Churches of Christ) were the same. It wasn't an issue because we all understood what was "right and good".

One BIG change between now and then (from my view in the cheap seats) is that our kids talk with other kids about Church, God, Religion and the Bible MUCH MORE than we did. They invite their friends to devotionals and teen outings like crazy. When I was a kid is was all well and good for US to invite THEM to OUR outings, but forget about going to THEIRS (why would we do that?). So, over the years, the youth of our faith have become more and more...accepting of other faiths.

Why? It's simple, their FRIENDS are from other faiths. We used to have our "Church friends" (those kids from OUR Church) and our "Other friends", which we did not mix together (at least not very often). Youth (and what you call "youth" can very GREATLY) look at all of their friends as one big unit and they cherish their friends that go to other Churches and regard them very highly. Why? Because they can be very good people!

So now, they are exposed to different views of their faith from a very early age and those differences are not keeping them up at night. Their discussions about spiritual things often take them down the same paths...they don't get caught up in the details.

Their friend (Chris, we will call him) is a Christian too! Even though they play guitars in their worship service and might have women preachers. Even though Chris doesn't go to the "Church of Christ" he is still a Christian. Why? "How can't he be? He believes the same things that I do, he just does a few things different. He has the same moral values that I do (sometimes higher). He is just as active in his Church as I am, and I enjoy worshipping with him (the few times I have gone) and he enjoys worshipping with me."

The youth of our faith are more accepting than we are or were when we were their age. That could be a big factor in why they are pushing our Church to update and try new things because they are being exposed those things and their positive impact on personal spirituality. Simply put, their world is bigger and the bounds of their Christianity are too. Singing with musical accompaniment isn't a big deal, they hear the arguments against it and they may even nod their head with understanding, but they also see the positive impact that their friends (their Christian friends that don't go to a Church of Christ) have on them. Furthermore, they can't believe that their friends are going to hell, they are strong Christians, so what if they sing with instruments!

Then we are surprised when they pull back from our faith and become "rebellious" when they are given a very rigid view of Christianity, one that excludes these people they look up to.

More later...

"Church Music" - Part II

One of the issues with music in the Churches of Christ has become a DEFINING one, and that's at the root of the problem. In other words, since when did we start defining who we are and what we do by telling others what we DON'T do?!

You wouldn't go to the dictionary and see something like this:

DUCK - An animal that does not look like an elephant, does not have fur and does not hang from trees.

Reading that definition of a duck would tell us NOTHING about what a duck is, nor after reading it would you be able to identify one EVEN IF YOU SAW IT.

I am tired of describing my Church by identifying the differences in it from other Churches. We should have only one identifying mark, that of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have to start from there, BEFORE we worry about the other stuff. The other stuff is important (some, much more than others, like baptism by immersion for the forgiveness of sins), but what good does it do to start off by telling someone about all the things that his or her Church DOES NOT do?

There will be a part III...

"Church Music" - Part I

I want to talk about a topic that brings fear and cringing to most Christians that attend Churches of Christ. Music.

Specifically ACappella vs. Instrumental. ACappella, is simply translated as "Church music", but has come to mean music without instrumental accompaniment. But, even that definition is not enough for some. For some, even a human voice (or hand or other body part) that mimics an instrument is no longer ACappella music. For such people, mimicking a bass or creating a beat (for example) defies the spirit of the idea of "Church Music".

On the other side we have something as simple as a Church that might use an organ or a piano along with congregational singing, then there are Choruses, all the way to full bands with electric guitars and drums. There is an organization here in our town that proclaims that they are "The Church That Rocks".

Speaking as someone that has spent his whole life singing ACappella music in worship to God, and in choruses in High School and College, at devotionals and even in a somewhat short-lived group, I feel uncomfortable with the idea of using an instrument (other than that which God gave me) to worship him in an assembly. For me, it's distracting and unnecessary, the human voice is beautiful and simple enough for our corporate praise to God.

The Church of Christ's stance (at least traditionally and generally) on this issue is that instrumental music is not commanded in the Bible, nor is there a New Testament example of any Church using instruments in their corporate worship. It's really that simple, the Bible doesn't mention it, so we don't do it. Actually, the idea of instrumental accompaniment is rather new, only for the last few centuries have Churches used instruments in corporate worship to God, so those that would try to use the Bible to explicitly show that we should use an instrument in corporate worship would be foolish, it's not there. It is truly a man-contrived addition to what God established....

However, so are song books...and, Nurseries....and, Bible Classes...and, V.B.S...and, "pew Bibles".

(I originally called this "Let's Get This Over With...", but I decided to change the name to reflect what it was actually talking about)