New Name

January 2, 2019—Transferred Feast of Holy Name

Numbers 6:22-27

Psalm 8

Philippians 2:5-11

Luke 2:15-21

Do you have a good nickname? What about growing up? Did you have a name that only your family or close friends called you? I marvel at how these names sometimes stick. Kim and I call (our son) Teddy by many different, ridiculous names. For example, we started off calling him bubby, but that quickly got shortened to bub, then it got lengthened to bubs, and now I often call him the bub-i-nator! What about you? Do you have a ridiculous name? Do you have nicknames for those closest to you? A What about a profound name?

How about with God? What does God call you? By what name does God call you?

There’s a hymn within the Alleluia III Hymnal entitled “I Will Change Your Name.” It is a favorite within the Cursillo community of Alabama. The lyrics in that song speak powerfully of conversion. Just take a listen:

“I will change your name.

You shall no longer be called

Wounded, outcast, lonely or afraid.

I will change your name.

Your new name shall be

Confidence, Joyfulness, Overcoming One,

Faithfulness, Friend of God, One who seeks My Face.” 

(D.J. Butler, 1987 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing)

Wow! In this song, God is committed to changing our names. Instead of us calling ourselves wounded, outcast, lonely, or afraid; God will change our names. But, why does this matter? Well, it matters because what we call someone matters. And, more importantly what God calls us matters. The Genesis 1 Creation Story tells us that when God speaks God creates. So, what God calls you matters, which is why what God called His Incarnate Son mattered too—and it’s why we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Name (transferred to) today.

In Luke’s sharing of the Good News of the Christ, we discover early on that God, the Father, is going to have an idle role in the proceedings. Via angelic messengers God bends the ear and the heart of Mary. She learns from Gabriel that she will bear God’s Son, and that this child will be the Son of the Most High God. Additionally, she discovers that she shall call him Jesus—and His Kingdom will have no end. But, what’s with this name? Why does it matter? Couldn’t he have been called Billy Joe or Steve?

Often we forget that Jesus’ name was not really Jesus. It was, but it wasn’t. Jesus is a Romanized version of a Hebrew name—the name Joshua. Jesus’ name would have sounded like Joshua in His own day. What’s so important about this? Well, Joshua means “God has saved” or “God will save.” When Mary heard that she was to name her child Joshua she was learning that through this child God would save humanity. I think it’s tough being a parent to Teddy—I can’t imagine what Mary must have felt in that moment, but I digress. Mary and Joseph naming their child Joshua might not seem like a big deal now, but it was.

On the eighth day of his life Jesus/Joshua would have been circumcised, as a marker that he was part of God’s People. Then, he was given his name, which was both a way of giving him his identity, but also for his parents it was a way of taking part in the creative act like God speaking things into being in the creation stories of Genesis. God’s naming Joshua/Jesus such was pointing to what this child from Nazareth came to show us—that God saves. What about our own names? What do they show us?

You may not know what your name means. That’s alright, you can always google it. My name in Hebrew means, “the chosen,” but in Egyptian means, “the devil,” so it could be a mixed bag. Rather than getting caught up in what you are named now, perhaps it’s time to ask God what your new name might be—like what those song lyrics tell us. Through Jesus/Joshua of Nazareth who was the Christ we know that we have been shown the pathway to healing, wholeness, and salvation. God is calling us to walk that pathway of life.

From being wounded, outcast, lonely, or afraid you are called to step into newness of life, as Christ transforms you. God is calling you by a new name. You are Confidence, Joyfulness, Overcoming One, Faithfulness, Friend of God, One who seeks God’s Face. In this New Year, trust in the one who saves and ask God what your new name might be.

What's In A Name?

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet.” Juliet says this to Romeo in Act II, Scene ii, lines 1-2 of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. These words stand out as such memorable lines that they have made their way into our common parlance. It has been awhile since I read that play, but I do remember that as these star-crossed lovers fell for each other this line pointed to the fact that despite them having different last names from feuding families they were nonetheless in love. So, this question wonders should a name matter in a thing like love? Juliet, in this way, summarized the central struggle of all of Romeo and Juliet with a simple question. Today, like Juliet, I too ask, “What’s in a name?”

On this day every year we celebrate not just New Year’s Day, but also the Feast of the Holy Name. In the Jewish tradition on the eighth day of a newborn boy’s life the child would have been taken to the Temple to be circumcised, dedicated to God, and given a name. This is the day when Mary and Joseph gave the little baby from our Nativity story the name Jesus, but what’s in a name?

Let’s start with Luke where we are today. Before Mary conceived of this child the angel Gabriel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.” The child’s name will be Jesus, but there is more to it than just that. He will be great, the Son of the Most High (another way of saying God), and he will come to fulfill a hope of the Jewish people that had been around since David vacated the throne: to have a fulfilling ruler! There is more to this name than just how it sounds or whether or not other children could rhyme it with some insult. What about another Gospel account’s perspective?

My New Testament professor in seminary warned against mixing the Gospel accounts together. The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Kittredge would say, “Don’t make Gospel stew.” With all due respect professor it’s a lovely day for stew and, I would like to phone a different gospel account because while Luke lets us know of Jesus’ dedication ceremony, we do not discover everything we need to know about his name.

Unfortunately, Mark’s and John’s accounts of the Gospel do not speak of how Jesus was given his name. However a couple of Sunday’s ago we heard the story from Matthew’s Gospel of an angel visiting Joseph in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,

which means, ‘God is with us.’

From Matthew’s perspective the child of Mary was to be named Jesus, but he also had this connection with the term Emmanuel.

We hear of the name Emmanuel, which means God with us. This name gives us hope that we have a God who will stand by us no matter what! This was the name foretold by Isaiah. There is also though the name we often take for granted, the name Jesus. In its original tongue it would have sounded more like Joshua, and that name means God for us. This too is profound. What Joseph dreamed points to the truth of our God Incarnate in Jesus: God is both for us and with us!

The Franciscan priest and spiritual leader Richard Rohr sent out a Christmas video on the morning of December 25th. His main theme in this message falls directly in line with this revelation of the meanings of Jesus’ Holy Name or holy names. Rohr explained in the video that we have for centuries been completely focused on the Almighty aspect of God’s nature.[1] This is true. God is almighty! And yet, at Christmas what is made clear to us in a baby born to unwed parents, in a manger, with lowly shepherds being the first visitors is that God is also all-vulnerable. Jesus was both Almighty and all-vulnerable. Jesus is both Jesus that is God for us (Almighty) and Emmanuel, God with us (all-vulnerable).

On the eighth day of his life our Lord was given the name Jesus. He was a vulnerable little child with parents who were not even married yet. He had to rely upon them even though he was the one through whom all creation came to be! This is what we celebrate today. That the God of all creation came down to be for us and with us. He had a mighty and yet also vulnerable way of being, just like the rest of us. What’s in a name? Despite what Juliet says, I would say a great deal rests in a name! Especially in the Holy Name of Jesus.

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[1] Rohr, Richard. The Continual Incarnation. December 25, 2016. https://cac.org/the-continual-incarnation-2016-12-25/ (accessed Janauary 1, 2017).

The Feast of Holy Name: How Do You Celebrate New Year's Coming?

What do you do to celebrate New Year’s Coming? Do you stay up to watch the ball drop? Do you quietly make some resolutions for the impending year? Do you watch some football games? How about cooking up some black eyed peas and turnip greens? What ritual brings in the New Year for you?

Every year we celebrate Holy Name on New Year’s Day and we celebrate the circumcision and naming of Jesus in the Temple. Talk about a different type of New Year’s ritual! On the eighth day of a Jewish boy’s life, he would have been taken to a rabbi to take part in this ceremony, so that he would have been marked as one of God’s Chosen People. While this simple rite comes at the end of today’s reading from Luke’s Gospel, what tends to overshadow this ritual is the visitation of the angels to the shepherds and recalling Jesus’ virgin birth from Mary.

Often at this time of year we are bombarded by the miraculous! Angels visiting Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, and Shepherds, a virgin giving birth to Emmanuel (God is with us), and the magi coming from far away to bestow gifts on this new born king makes overlooking this Jewish rite very easy. This makes me think of how I tend to overlook the commonplace, everyday presence of God, as I seek out some amazing bolt-of-lightning type moment.

When Jesus came to earth we hear of all the miracles that took place for him to arrive. The Incarnation of Christ, the Truth that God would want to dwell within the Creation He made, is in and of itself astounding. Yet, on this day, the Feast of Holy Name what stands out to me is the simplicity and the quiet action of Joseph and Mary taking Jesus to be circumcised and named in the presence of the religious authority of the day. While it comes off as everyday, this rite helps me to know that God With Us was just like us.

We do not have too much about Jesus growing up. There is one story in Luke’s Gospel of Jesus’ trip to the Temple as a child, yet for the most part we are left to imagine what the Son of God was like as a kid, a teenager, and a young adult. Jesus walked around just like you and me. He scraped his knee and ran to Mary for comfort. He played with other children in the neighborhood. He stood beside Joseph watching as the carpenter went about his work.

Certainly, I love to celebrate the magnificence of God coming to dwell with us, the angel’s visitations, and the magi coming. Still what the Feast of Holy Name reminds me of is that God came down and was a little boy of whom Mary and Joseph took care. He was presented in the fashion of his culture. He became just like us and when he did he made our simple rituals and everyday practices holy. Maybe it seems silly to celebrate New Year’s traditions, but even actions as simple as these are made holy by Christ’s coming to be with us.