On Friday morning, I caught part of the final broadcast of the Diane Rehm show on National Public Radio. Before she signed off for the last time, Rehm shared a rebroadcast of an interview with Maya Angelou, the late award-winning poet and author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and poems like “On the Pulse of Morning” and “Still I Rise.” Telling a story from her childhood with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas, Angelou remembered how her grandmother wouldn’t let Maya or her brother say “By the Way” because “The Way” was another name for Jesus, and Grandmother didn’t want those children cussing in her house.
On this first day of 2017, the Church celebrates the Holy Name given to Jesus at his circumcision. Following the glittering ball drop in New York’s Time Square or the epic fireworks that filled the sky at midnight at Sydney’s Opera House, and certainly in comparison to the greater festival of the Nativity of our Lord, today’s festival may seem esoteric or obscure. After all, apart from following the second commandment instructing us not to take the Lord’s name in vain, what significance does the name have for us today?
It’s fair to say that I don’t think William Shakespeare’s adage that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” applies here.
The names we give God, and the name Jesus is given, matter because they reveal who God is.
When we sang the psalm earlier, praising God for all creation, we used two different names for God — Adonai or Lord and Master and Sovereign [One]. Descriptive names like these appear throughout Scripture, revealing different dimensions of God’s character to us.
In the Small Catechism, Martin Luther teaches that the Holy Name matters, writing,
“We should fear and love God that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.”
The story of Jesus being named recalls the angel’s instructions to Joseph, as well as the obedience Joseph and Mary demonstrated and their faithfulness to Jewish tradition that would have had their son circumcised on the eighth day after his birth.
Through Jesus we are connected to our ancestors in faith going back generations to David and Ruth and Rahab, to Tamar and Jacob and Abraham.
In baptism, we are adopted as God’s sons and daughters, co-heirs to God’s Kingdom with Jesus. Today’s Gospel and epistle remind us that no identity matters more than the one we are given as God’s children and Jesus’ own brothers and sisters.
But, identifying ourselves as a “family” in church can be problematic. From “The Waltons” to “The Simpsons,” or “The Sound of Music” to “Shrek”, television and movies offer a lot of different ideas about what it means to be family.
“Family gatherings” can be awkward for “distant cousins” who we only see once or twice a year, or the “brothers from another mother” whose traditions might be different from our own.
But, bearing the name Christian, or “little Christ,” we are called to imitate and follow Jesus, who worked at dismantling barriers and reaching across boundaries that tried to shut people out and keep them at a “safe distance.” So in this Holy family, we have to make the effort to invite people, as brothers and sisters in Christ, to join us, and to welcome strangers into our lives.
Families have other challenges, too. I heard several people describing how, this year, their holiday gatherings included “ground rules” that banned any discussion of politics. It’s hard to disagree with the people we love, and it’s harder still to address the conflicts without hurting each other. I’m sure those temporary truces preserved the peace and let families proceed with their celebrations and feasts, and that is valuable.
But, bearing the name Christian, or “little Christ,” we are called to imitate and follow Jesus, who wasn’t afraid to address divisions as he championed the least and the lost. So in this Holy family, we have to make the effort to speak truthfully in the Light of the Gospel.
And, following Martin Luther’s counsel on the eighth commandment,
we are to defend each other, speak well of each other and make the effort to take each other’s words and actions in the kindest possible way.
Although today’s festival recognizing Jesus’ Holy Name may not make any list of the ten most popular New Year’s Day celebrations, it has endured for centuries longer than fireworks and the ball drop in Times Square reminding us that, while human families can exclude others or be broken by divisions, when we are adopted into this Holy family, we receive God’s promise of everlasting presence and His reconciling and healing love.
And when we gather as a family of faith, we celebrate that in the sacraments, God’s promises are joined with the water of Baptism and the bread and wine that we receive in Holy Communion, and remember that, nothing can separate us from God.
Let us pray…
Holy God,
Help us remember you have adopted us as sons and daughters, co-heirs with Your Son Jesus.
Send your Spirit to lead us that our lives would imitate His,
and we would extend Your Love, mercy and grace to all whom we meet.
Amen.
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