Showing posts with label Holy Name B. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holy Name B. Show all posts

Sunday, January 1, 2012

What's in the Name of Jesus?


Holy Name              January 1, 2012  
Ex. 34:1-8            Ps.8        
Rom. 1:1-7           Luke 2:15-21  


  Today is a day we mark on our secular calendars as New Year’s Day.  Also, today is the First Sunday after Christmas, but on this year, the Feast of the Holy Name falls on a Sunday.  And when a feast of our Lord falls on a Sunday, it takes precedence over the Sunday on the Church Calendar. (That is some liturgical trivia that you are thrilled to get).  The older name for the Feast of the Holy Name was called The Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord. And that event is an elective surgery that no 8 day old boy would elect if he could speak,(“Rabbi, you’re going to do what?”) Since we would have to explain the meaning of Circumcision to our young children, the Feast of the Holy Name is a more comfortable name for this feast. So it is the eighth day of Christmas, but following the Jewish custom the son of Mary and Joseph was presented to be circumcised but also he was given his name on that day.  The eighth day was the day that Mary attained the required level of ritual purity after giving birth.  The custom of naming was adopted in baptismal practices of the church as well, for at a baptism a person receives ones Christian name.  That is why baptisms are often called christening because one of the meaning of christen is to receive ones name.  Although the literal meaning of christen is to be made to be “in Christ.” Or to be anointed with the oils of chrism.
   When we name a child we do so for many reasons.  We may want to connect a child with the past.  Sometimes we name after a father, mother or family member.  Sometimes we name after a friend.  Some people name based upon how a name sounds.  Some people like to invent new names and new spellings of names, emphasizing that their child is unique, special, one of a kind. My child is going to be a “one of a kind” just like a one of kind snowflake; and sure enough my child certainly goes on to prove that there is no one like him or her.   Native Americans often named their children after a contemporary event that occurred at birth.  From the Hebrew Bible, we know that places and people were named according to the narrative of significant events that occurred at a place or with the birth of a person.  Names were given in response to people and places that were seen as signs of God.
  Do you know what your name means?  Are you living up to your name?  My name means “lover of horses,” and Philip of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great was a great horseman.  I really have never lived up to my name….it’s not that I dislike horses.  I have never spent that much time with horses to be able to develop a special love for them. I think that my parents probably had Philip the Evangelist in mind when they named me; probably not an Episcopal priest.   The failure to live up to my name has made me even more presumptuous; I use the shortened name “Phil,” which means, “lover.”
  In the case of Jesus; his name was given to Mary by the Angel at the annunciation.  So on the occasion of his circumcision he was given the name of Jesus or Yeshua.  Meaning in Hebrew: The Lord God Saves.  God saves.  God is our salvation.
  So today we ponder the meaning of the name of Jesus:  God saves.
  Salvation is not necessarily all that it is cracked up to be.  Many people don’t use their garages for their cars because they save everything.
  Our memories save quite a bit too.  And many of our saved memories come back to haunt us if we experienced trauma in our lives.
  We know our life is transitory and much is passing away.  But do we really want someone who can save everything?                     Maybe we should consider the word saves as meaning: God rescues.  Probably rescues is closer to the meaning intended than a common
notion of the word save.  Some Christians think that saving and salvation refers mainly to being saved from hell after one dies.
  I think that the notion of redemption is probably closest to the meaning of the name of Jesus.  God is our salvation.  God is our redemption.
  You and I know that everything that we have done and everything that has happened to us makes up who we are now.  While we would like simply to erase some of the past deeds and events of our lives, we know that all of these deeds and events are saved because these very deeds and events constitute who we are right now.
  The notion of redemption is that God embraces and accepts our lives as they are and then helps us to come to a positive outcome without regretting what we have actually done or had happen to us.
  To me this is the most positive notion of salvation, because it is not based upon denying the facts of our lives.  It is a redemption that says in spite of everything that we have done or has happened to us, we can use all of it to make good positive decisions for our future.  And we are not ashamed of our past life, because we have integrated the events of our past life to be used to help us minister to others.
  Let us embrace the holy name of Jesus today, not just as a name, but as a functioning spiritual reality of our lives.
  God places before each of us a vision of ourselves in future states as more fully integrated and spiritually mature persons.  All that we will become preserves what we have been but it also does so with integration and wisdom regarding all of the experiences of our life.
  The Holy Name of Jesus shows us the personal salvation to which each of us is called.  The experiences of the present and past may not yet be integrated or may still seem without purpose.  But by faith in the Holy Name of Jesus, we can know that we are on the path to realize the full purpose of our lives.
  I do wish each of us events in 2012 where new purpose of our past lives is discovered.  And I wish for St. John the Divine Episcopal Church further discovery of why received our name as a parish 55 years ago.  And in the Holy Name of Jesus, I wish you a Happy New Year.  Amen. 

Aphorism of the Day, March 2024

Aphorism of the Day, March 18, 2024 With language we have come to explore the behaviors of the world towards us in the continual development...