It sounds like a processed pasta from Chef Boyardee or maybe a dog treat with “real meat flavoring.” 

Pastoroni is neither of those things. It is the name I have been given. 

You know how the first grandchild kinda names their grandparents and all the other grandchildren tend to use that name? That name is not a chosen name, as such. It’s the best that that little one can muster when all the adults in their life are telling them who these lovely people, their grandparents, are to be called. And so, Grandma and Grandpa become “Gigi” and “Pop-pop.”

That’s Pastoroni. It is the name attempted by one little one and has then spread to other littles, and their family members. 

It’s the kind of silliness that happens in families because we are family. We are a Church Family. The Holy Spirit came to form us together into a family. We are not a loose group of people coming through a drive through on our way to picking up salvation. We are living together and with our Lord Jesus. We are in each other's lives and seeing all the things, the good, the bad and ugly because that’s what life is. It’s messy and our LORD knew that we wouldn’t make it on our own, so the Holy Spirit knit together the Church.

Church is where we practice praying with others. That can be weird with a random person but is perfectly normal with a brother or sister in Christ. We can love on the person sitting in the pew next to us. Calling them to wish them well on milestones or when they are absent from worship. Church is about developing relationships that won’t just last a lifetime, they’ll last an eternity. 

Life will happen. Amazing things and, if you haven’t figured this out, I'm the barer of bad news, but horrible things will happen. When life hits it's those around you who will help. It’s your Church who will support you and remind you who our LORD is. And if those children ever call up Pastoroni someday, because they needed help or didn’t know who to talk to, then the Holy Spirit wins. 

When we go to Church we are going to worship our Lord and our God: Jesus the Christ. And when I go to Church, I have an extra agenda item on my plate. I am looking for the ones who know me as Pastoroni.