Again, I stated at last Monday's meeting my desire that the church
which I shall serve tomorrow, may have a name which means something
in the language and thought of our time. The application of this
principle to our church is obvious. The name, Church of the Messiah,
is precious to many of us, because it awakens memories and revives
tender associations. But a name [17] is important not from the
standpoint of those who know what it means, or ought to mean, but of
those who do not know. The name of a church, like that of a
business, is an advertisement. It is a symbol, a slogan, a banner.
It should tell at once to everybody what is behind it, what it
stands for; and this is exactly what our name does not do, except to
the initiate. Dr. Savage tried to save the situation by associating
with the name, Lowell's familiar line, "some great cause, God's new
Messiah." I have tried to breathe the breath of life into the
corpse, by attaching it deliberately to our various activities--as
the Messiah Forum, the Messiah Social Service League, etc. But all
in vain! Our name suggests a hope of ancient Judaism, a period of
Unitarian history, a habit of Episcopalian nomenclature--and that is
all! It should be changed, to give some adequate expression of our
ideals. The City Church, the People's Church, the Community Church,
the Church of the People, the Church of the New Democracy, the
Fellowship, the Free Fellowship, the Fellowship of Social Idealism,
the Fellowship of the Kingdom, the Fellowship of Spiritual
Democracy, the Liberal Centre, the Community Centre,--think of what
we might call ourselves, if we but had the courage. And after all,
what courage would it take, save that long since displayed by our
fathers in this church? How many of you know that for fourteen
years, this church was known simply as the Second Congregational
Unitarian Society of New York. Then in 1839, because the name