What's In a Name? The Meaning Behind The Canterbury Collective

What’s in a name?

--Shakespeare, also everyone who has to name something and is out of ideas

Whether it is a new puppy or a new non-profit, eventually that new thing in your life needs a name. My girls have a picture book called, “A Porcupine Named Fluffy” that sums up the dilemma of needing a name that fits. (It is cute and makes us giggle when we read it. I recommend it.) To further prove my point no one is arguing against, my three year old has been telling me lately that her middle name is Rose (her sister’s middle name) instead of Renee (a middle name she shares with me; thanks a lot, kid). Names matter to porcupines and people.

When dreaming about, planning for, and eventually starting this ministry, I wanted a name that would give people an idea of what they could expect. A baseline to start from. We are a Christian ministry in the Anglican tradition. I want you to know that upfront. I’ve given “Canterbury” that job in our name. I think it is up to the task. There has been a cathedral in Canterbury since 597 AD. It has been the heart—physically and metaphorically--for Anglicans throughout the centuries. As such, it has always served as a place of pilgrimage. Some journey to the Cathedral in England, others into Anglicanism as Robert Webber’s book Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail captures. (A title which describes my own journey.) As an Anglican priest, I didn’t want there to be any “bait and switch.” My hope is that with Canterbury in the name folks will be able to guess (or at least not be surprised) that this is a Christian ministry, even if the specifics about Anglicanism are fuzzy.

Canterbury as a place of pilgrimage also captures something important to us. We are all pilgrims. We never “arrive” and begin a static existence. Just as our physical bodies are always changing, so our hearts, minds, emotions, vocations, and abilities are constantly growing and changing. We have seasons of rest, preparation, learning, connecting, as well as leaving, giving, receiving, beginning, ending. None of these categories remain separate from the others. They overlap and bleed into one another. I prefer tidy starts and stops with bows tied around each, but that just isn’t life, is it? So we embrace our status as pilgrims. Ever journeying taking time for rest and reorientation and then stepping back onto the path. We move with and towards the One who created us and loves us, trusting our Faithful Companion is a sure and steady guide.

“Collective” recognizes that what we do here isn’t done in isolation. Whether it is Morning Prayer, mediation, spiritual direction or another ministry, The Canterbury Collective is about serving the world around us. This is a place for people to grow, be reconciled to God and others, and find the intersection of their deep gladness and the world’s deep need[1]. “Collective” also recognizes our interdependence. As you come and bring your gifts, passions, and abilities, the Spirit will use those things to help us grow and learn. We will be guided by our three core words (roots, reconciliation, revival—seen on the “About” page), but we will also strive to stay in step with the Holy Spirit who leads to new paths as well as old. Roots and revival go hand in hand.

[1] Frederick Buechner famously said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.” Read an excerpt on his writing about vocation here: https://www.frederickbuechner.com/quote-of-the-day/2017/7/18/vocation