Just because the Gregorian calendar says it's a new year, our lectionary decided it wasn't going to provide a new Gospel. OK, so this time we heard verse 21 from the pericope out of Luke 2. But my goodness this was the third service that we were hearing the story of Jesus' birth with the angels and the shepherds.
Text: Luke 2:15-21
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I imagine everyone here has a story about their name…whether it’s your
first name, middle name (if you have one), or maybe even your last name…where
your family came from originally.
The story my mom told me about my name is that she chose “Susan” because there were too many “Lucys” in
our family.
I had an Aunt Lucy…and then she had daughter…my cousin Lucy.
I think there might have
been yet another Lucy somewhere else on my mom’s side of the family.
We don’t often hear people’s middle names…except when a parent
invokes it… and that’s when we know we’re in trouble, right?
My middle name…”Chase”…came from my father’s side of the family.
Rufus Chase was my maternal great-great-grandfather.
He was a shoemaker in Haverhill Massachusetts…and died in 1865.
I shared my middle name with my Aunt Helen…who was Helen Chase
Gage. She would add a name… Miller… when she married my Uncle Arthur.
Women taking their husbands last names at marriage. That’s become
something of a postmodern discussion point: A lot of women are choosing to keep
their family names. Some couples decide to simply hyphenate both their last
names.
Sometimes people change names.
We all know Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz as Judy Garland…who grew up
with the name “Frances Gumm” in Minnesota.
People who are transgender often arrive at a new name… one that
feels more fitting to who they are.
In massage school… we were offered the opportunity to choose a new
name for ourselves. No one in my class did. But it made sense why the school
opened that door for us. The experience of massage school education can be a
very transformative journey especially for anyone healing from any type of
hurts that come from living in a world where people are hurting each other all
the time.
In many cultures…names are carefully chosen.
Shannon Crossbear…an elder in the Ojibwe Nation of Ontario Canada…
says First Nation people have a naming ceremony where they choose a sacred name
for a child.
Grandparents…who can be simply close friends of the family…spend
time praying for the newborn…asking
“Who is this child?”
“What has this child come to do?”
When the name emerges from their prayers… they have a ceremony to
announce the name…which serves as a life guide for that child.
Names… and naming things… is so important.
We can see that here in the last verse of our Gospel story.
The Holy Family is taking part in the Jewish ritual… called the brit
milah… or bris milah…as the Eastern European Jews call it.
This ritual involves the circumcision of male babies and then
giving them their Hebrew name.
It’s one of the important ceremonies in the life of any person in
the Jewish faith.
And lest we forget Mary, Joseph and Jesus are Jews.
This naming ceremony is a sign of belonging to God and it brings
the newborn into the tribe of Israel… and giving them a name to live by.
One source says that the reason this ritual happens on the eighth
day is to signify it’s something that occurs beyond the bounds of the natural
order of things. There are seven days in the week; the eighth day makes it
extraordinary.
Tip the number eight on its side and it’s the symbol of infinity…
the never ending…and ultimately boundless nature of God and God’s Love.
Just as with the naming ceremony for First Nation people… Mary and
Joseph give the name the angel told them to give to their baby…Jesus…the Hellenized
version of “Joshua.”
His name means “God saves.”
How fitting for the life and mission of this one who has come into
the world to reclaim and redeem God’s people.
Sometimes I think there is such a focus at Christmastide on Baby
Jesus that we don’t remember that the name given to him carries an extraordinary
weight.
Baby Jesus is going to grow up.
And this God incarnate is going to experience all the trials and
tribulations that are part of human existence… not because he has to but
because he wants to.
By becoming one of us and joining with those struggling to breathe
free in an occupied land… Jesus is bringing God and humanity closer together.
His persistence…and laser-focus on a mission to bring good news to
the poor, sight to the blind, release to the captives and freedom to the oppressed…will
be encouraging to some…and will irritate and anger many others.
The powerful never take kindly to being told that they should use
their talents to make things better for other people.
And it is through Jesus… we… too… have that same adoption into the
fold of God through His name.
When we’re baptized…our parents or sponsors announce our names to
the whole congregation. They make a commitment to raise us in the Christian faith.
The people of the congregation offer prayers on our behalf.
And then we are baptized in the Name of the Holy Trinity…Father,
Son and Holy Spirit.
We are anointed with oil…made one with Christ’s Body throughout the
world as we are marked and sealed as Christ’s own forever.
We may not receive a Hebrew name…or a special sacred name…
But our given name has now been christened into a life of faith,
hope, and love.
We have gained a relationship with God…as our Galatians reading
says… which is so intimate that we are right to call out to God as if he is our
daddy… our papa… or whatever name you would use for a loving father.
As children of God… we have gained an inheritance to do the work of
love in our families and our communities.
We…like Jesus… have the power to lend our names… our hands and our
hearts… to the mission of making this place where we live, work, and play a
more just and merciful society than what has existed before.
We can name those things that are right, and good, and joyful…while
also naming those things which need to change.
Because that act of naming is powerful and important.
In all that we do…may it be done in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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