What’s in a Name?

Sermon

Have you ever wondered about the power of naming? How does it shape our identity and future? There are some funny (true) names that have left me wondering. When I was in high school, there was my dermatologist: Dr. Rashleigh. I wondered, did he go into dermatology because of his name? And there was the minister whose doctor’s full name was Dr. Christian Killer. Yes, really! Those names are amusing. But we recognize that names have power and meaning. The one who names us can possibly shape our life and our sense of belonging.

But now, thus says the Lord: “I have called you by name. You are mine.”

Belonging. It is one of our deepest human motivations, and it is at the core of our faith. On this Sunday, we remember the baptism of Jesus, and we often have celebrated baptisms of infants and adults on this day. In the service of baptism, we call the name of the one baptized, and we recognize that we belong to God, and we belong to one another. This belonging may be challenged right now, when once again, we are physically separated from one another.

When I began writing this sermon, I expected to be delivering it to you in person. On Friday, when we decided to have only livestream worship, my approach took an abrupt turn. Isn’t that just the way life has been for the past two years? The range of what we are constantly adjusting to is extensive: from the inconvenience of changing daily plans, to the stress of teachers and parents adapting to closed schools and reopenings, to the heartache of isolation, to the concerns about our children and teens’ mental health, to the tragedy of unexpected deaths. Our losses continue to unfold.

Today, the rapid spread of the Omicron variant makes us backstep rather than stride forward. Some who have done everything possible to keep safe, and to keep from spreading the virus, now are testing positive for COVID. The physical and the emotional burden of that (the fear of infecting others and feeling guilt) is real. Also, in this past week marking a year since the assault on the United States Capitol, and concern for our unsteady democracy; in this time when weariness blankets the shoulders of every decisionmaker for schools, businesses, faith communities, and families—we need the reminder from today’s scripture. The word of God through the voice of the prophet, says:

Do not fear, for I have called you by name. You are mine. I will be with you when you pass through the floodwaters. I will be with you when you walk through fire. No matter what befalls, you won’t be overwhelmed by fire, flood, weather, virus, or insurrection. You are precious in my sight, and I love you.

This is a message of comfort. This is a message meant to energize all who are weary.

This passage from Isaiah was first delivered to another weary people: the people of Judah and Jerusalem, in 6th century BCE. They had been defeated by Babylonia and exiled from home for one hundred years. After Cyrus of Persia defeated Babylonia, the Jewish people were finally allowed to return to home only to find that you really can’t go home again.

“Going back to normal” was impossible when so many things had changed. The temple had been destroyed, loved ones long gone. Even when they were on the right track to healing, they realized that it was going to take a long time to rebuild. The people experienced repeated disappointments, setbacks, and hardships, and at times just felt overwhelmed with one more tragedy. But, just remember, the prophet says: God loves you and calls you by name.

It’s possible that the first hearers of this passage may have believed that they only were the chosen ones of God. But today, through the movement of God’s Spirit, that message extends to all the forlorn. This tenderness of God sends a universal message: You are precious in my sight, honored, and I love you. How do we realize this meaningfully in our daily lives? How do we live it? On baptism Sunday, we are reminded that for those who bear the name “Christian,” our meaning comes with the vision of unshakeable, forgiving love. One of the best examples we saw in the late Congressman John Lewis.

In his later years, Lewis recalled an encounter with the son of a man who had attacked him at a bus station on May 9, 1961, in Atlanta. This young man had been encouraging his father to seek out the people that he had wronged during the height of the civil rights movement, and it led them to Lewis’ office. Lewis remembered, “The father was a few years older than I am. In 1961, I was 21 years old and he was probably 24, maybe a little older. But they beat me and my seatmate and left us lying in a pool of blood at the Greyhound bus station.” Lewis recalled that the father, accompanied by his son, came to his office after so many years and asked, “Mr. Lewis, will you forgive me? Do you accept my apology?” Lewis said, “Yes, I forgive you, I accept your apology.” At this point, he said, “the man’s son started crying, he started crying, and they hugged me, and I hugged them both back and I started crying too; they started calling me brother and I called them brother.” The man and his son visited Lewis numerous times after that first encounter.

The disease that has long been preying upon our world and nation, long before the pandemic, is the corruption of power, greed, ethnic-cleansing, racism, and supremacy. But, like the saints before us, we can walk through the fire of resentment and hatred; we can walk through the flood of injustice, apathy, and cruelty. We can choose this path every day, remembering who we are and WHOSE we are. We belong to God, and are called to love. We can choose that, with God’s help.

Have you noticed that the more we are able to believe that we ourselves are precious in God’s sight, the more we are able to see that others are precious, too? This is how we help love guide and heal our world. And friends, we get there by prayer and action. We don’t bury our heads in the sand at the problems, but we keep perspective by being in relationship with others with different experiences. We cultivate a daily discipline of love and trust in God. We choose in our attitude, our words, how we invest ourselves. We steer away from relationships, habits, and situations which foster division, mistrust, un-truth, and destruction. John Lewis said, “Non-violence and forgiveness is not just an idea, but it is a way of living for me.”

Especially when we bear the name “Christian,” we have the opportunity to remember to live with the same love that Jesus shared, even as he was dying on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Yes. That is a tall order, but friends, it is God who created us, and who lives in us, that gives us the power to choose love.

We may never have so dramatic a story as John Lewis, but we absolutely have the same call to forgiveness and love. Never doubt that our prayer together can bring about love that the world so desperately needs. If we develop the discipline of spending time every day listening to the voice of love, we will gradually develop persistent, strong, and deep blessing in our lives. That blessing will extend to others.

God’s Spirit multiplies all that we offer and is part of healing the world, even in fire and flood.

“I have loved you from the beginning. I will love you as others come and go. You are indeed My Beloved, so rest, be still and know.” –Irish Folk melody, public domain; lyrics by Laurie Newman