I think I surprised people by whole-heartedly and quickly changing my name to my husband’s last name. At first, I didn’t think twice about it and then I began to wonder why changing your last name or not changing your last name as a woman has become a part of being an independent woman.
I don’t know how other women feel, but for there is something significant about changing your identity as you enter into a covenant relationship. For Jacob and Saul in the Bible, a name changed signified a change in their journeys. It also signified an encounter with God that had changed them so significantly that they couldn’t continue as they had been.
For me, that’s why I wanted to change my name. I wanted to signify in some way that this covenant relationship in which I vow to journey with someone as we follow God’s calling for us. For me, changing my name is just a small way to show this. ]
And when I get ordained, the same thing will happen. I will be called reverend or pastor to mark the change in my journey as a minister. These things may seem minute, but the celebration and ceremony is much like placing an altar in the Old Testament to remind us of where we have been and the time when we have had significant encounters with God.