I like English collective nouns and find many of them to be interesting or even amusing. Even the common ones like herd of cattle, school of fish, pack of wolves, flock of birds, covey of quail, or pod of whales are appealing. I enjoy the fact that many are very descriptive of what they represent such as gaggle of geese, stench of skunks, pandemonium of parrots, or prickle of porcupines. Others bring an image to mind; a parade of elephants makes me see a circus parade, while a convocation of eagles reminds me of a picture I once saw of a group of eagles sitting on branches of trees in Alaska. Since the lion is called the King of the Beasts, it is apropos that a group of lions is called a pride. A group of crows often sits in the tree behind out house, and they always seem to be up to no good with an evil look in their eyes. Many people must have felt the same, for they are called a murder of crows. Ravens must not be quite as evil, since a group of them is only called an unkindness. Two collective nouns remind me of the U. S. Congress; a parliament of owls brings me hope of wisdom, but unfortunately, lately, the collective noun a congress of baboons seems more relevant. To end on a pleasant note, a host of angels sounds heavenly.

What do you call a group of Christians? I know that the collection of ALL Christians is called The Church, which is the English name for the institution that was born on Pentecost. A church (not capitalized) is an organized group of Christians. But what do you call a random, maybe smaller, group of Christians? Even using Google I have been unable to find an appropriate collective noun, and I guess we are free to make one up. One horrible choice came to mind – a hypocrite of Christians; we should do all we can to make sure it is never descriptive. After some thought, I propose the collective noun a presence of Christians. This is motivated by Matthew 18:20 where Jesus says, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” This seems like a good way to remember God’s unconditional love for YOU and me.

Jim