My Name Isn’t Reverend

From my earliest days of preaching, I’ve met people now and then who insist on calling me “Reverend” Himmel. That always makes me uncomfortable—no, queasy would be more accurate.

My dictionary says “reverend” is an adjective that means “worthy of profound awe and respect.” Now, there may be some folks who respect me, but I’m quite sure I do not deserve anyone’s “profound awe.”

Of course, people who call me “Reverend” do it because they think that’s what you’re supposed to call a preacher. But who decided that? Certainly not anyone in the Scriptures. The word “reverend” appears only once in the Bible—as a description of God. “Holy and reverend is his name” (Psalm 111:9). Newer translations render the word “awesome” or “fearful.”

Such a majestic description of the power of God sounds ridiculous when tacked onto the names of men. Only human pride could create such a mismatch.

Jesus spoke in strong terms against the kind of attitude that delights in fancy titles. He denounced those hypocrites who gloried in being called “Rabbi,” “father,” and “teacher” (Matthew 23:6-10). He pointed his servants instead to humility: “But the greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (verses 11-12).

Even a common Christian term like “brother” can become a title of sorts when we apply it only to certain people, such as preachers or elders. Christians are all brothers in Christ (Matthew 23:8), servants of God and of each other. Why should I be called “Brother Jeff” and some other member of God’s family just be called “Tom”?

We are followers of the Son of God, “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant” (Philippians 2:6,7). The wearing of high-sounding religious titles is the very opposite of that servant spirit.