I wonder if you like
your name.
Do you take pleasure in
remembering why it was chosen for you, enjoy the sight of your
signature, see it as a good reflection of the person that you are?
Or do you wish your
parents had been more creative, less conventional – or maybe the
other way round...
I like my name – but
DISlike the spelling – though never enough to take decisive action
to change it....
and I've discovered
through years of asking for details as I book in baptisms, weddings
and funerals, that many people feel very strongly about their names
...indeed, they are rarely neutral.
Only yesterday a
baptism dad, asked for his full names proclaimed 2 out of 3 loud and
clear – then resorted to a mumble, so that I had to ask him to
repeat himself twice,til he explained that he really hated his 3rd
name, chosen as a compliment to his grandfather.
And no, it wasn't
Sisyphus or Ebeneezer!
But we do that, don't
we...choose names to honour those whom we love or respect, to
maintain a family tradition, perhaps to keep a memory alive.
Or there's another
approach to naming – when parents choose a name that reflects their
aspirations for their child.
Those virtue names that
are firmly back in fashion...Faith, Hope, Prudence, Felicity...
names that carry hopes
for the future, that try to shape personality and priority by a daily
reminder of some lifetime goals..
Those names can be as
hard to live up to as the other sort, which honours the past..
You see, we often
expect names to carry a message beyond the immediate task of
identification.
There's no denying,
whatever Shakespeare would have us believe, that names are
significant things.
The neighbours who came
flocking to celebrate the birth of a son to Zechariah and hitherto
barren Elizabeth had firm expectations -that the boy would be named
for his father – and in due course, follow him into the family
profession as a priest in the Temple.
Zechariah's name means
“Remembered by God” - but when God not only remembered but
intervened directly in this family's life, the impact left Zechariah
dumbfounded.
In the same way, the
guests at the baby's circumcision found their expectations
confounded.
They had come to watch
a tradition observed, to confirm once more their obedience to the Old
Covenant between God and Israel...but found Zechariah silenced,
unable to express his pride and joy,literally tongue tied....
And Elizabeth – that
older mother who should surely have been proudly celebrating the fact
that her husband's line would not, after all, dwindle and
die....chose that day set apart by tradition, to turn her back on
tradition and name her child John.
The first sign of the
new covenant to come...a reminder that, whether we co-operate with
him or resist him, bemused or baffled...GOD IS GRACIOUS –
for THAT is what John means.
What's
in a name?
Quite
a lot, it seems, when that name is chosen by God – for, of course,
an angel had already told the silenced Zechariah that this was to be
his son's name...and had planted that same idea firmly in Elizabeth's
mind too.
John
– a name suming
up not just
Elizabeth's own perception
of this miracle of belated
motherhood
-truly
this birth has come about by the grace of God alone, - but
also, perhaps, representing
a prayer and
prophecy about that would
happen
later in John's
life...
John
– a child sent to remind us from the outset that God is gracious,
for certainly this is no
ordinary birth – and no ordinary child.
What,
then, will this child become?
wondered
the guests as they heard Zechariah speak at last, his tongue freed to
confirm his wife's startling decision...
His name is JOHN
What
will this child become, what is to be the fruit of this
extraordinary birth, what the future for this baby graced by God?
Today's
gospel leaves that question unanswered, though our reading from
Isaiah gives us at least a clue if we really want to look ahead.
Let's
stay with the birthday for a moment longer, though...for it offers
one further insight into the coming ministry of John.
Had
you realised that, apart from Jesus himself, John's is the only birth
day that the Church invites us to celebrate?
John
the midsummer saint – his birthday exactly 6 months before
Christmas, as a reminder that he quickened, leapt in his mother's
womb, when Mary came calling with her tale of a visiting angel and
some life changing news.
At
that point, his identity as a prophet was made clear – for as he
leapt with joy, he recognised that his young aunt carried within in
her the hopes of Israel and the Promise of God, pointed the way to
the One at whose coming he rejoiced.
John
the midsummer saint celebrated at this season of long days and short
nights because, just in the same way the days draw in from this point
of the year til we reach the winter solstice, so John's own light was
to gradually diminish,
His mission was to
go before Jesus and prepare the way for Him, and so once Christ's
earthly ministry had begun the time came when John had to fade into
the background and allow Jesus His place.
“He
must increase but I must decrease” he said – and in this he
is a model for each of us in our journey of faith.
But
all that lies ahead today...as does his prophetic ministry, clearing
a way in the wilderness, preparing the ground for God...
his
challenging, disturbing preaching in the wilderness
his
imprisonment and terrible death.
Today
we have simply the miracle of his birth
and
the way that his tongue-tied father finds his voice again, and bursts
out in his own stream of exuberant praise that we know as the
Benedictus.
Frustratingly,
we don't hear those words this morning – but they are familiar to
those who grew up with Matins and they are there to be found just
after the gospel we've heard today – in Luke 1 67-79. If you do
nothing else in response to my words, go home and read those...and
ponder the difference that John the Baptist has made to the world,
and what this might mean for us.
What
then will this child become?
His
father seems quite certain of the answer
“And
you, child, shall be called the prophet of the most high
For
you shall go before the Lord to prepare his way
To
give his people knowledge of salvation
By
the forgiveness of their sins...”
That
sounds like a reasonable job description for one whose very name
proclaims that God is gracious...and, unlikely though it may seem,
this wild uncomfortable man, is indeed a model
for
the Christian life.
Receiving
grace, John is called to be a sign of that grace every day, to
celebrate it with others, and to help them to see it for themselves.
This
is no less the task of the Church...our task.
Receiving
grace WE are called to celebrate it with others and to help them to
see it for themselves
His
midsummer light diminishes as the Christ light burns brighter....but
while John lives, his calling is to point others to Jesus, through
his words and through his deeds.
While
we live, OUR calling is to point others to Jesus, through our words
and our deeds.
“He
must increase, but I must decrease!”
More
of Jesus, less of John.
More
of Jesus, less of Kathryn, Mathew, Benedict....whatever name your
parents gave you, you are here today because, in your life as in
John's, God is gracious.
So
give thanks and so live that others may see that through God's mercy
and compassion the dawn from on high has indeed broken upon us.
Live
so that others will come to know that truly God is gracious.
Thanks
be to God!
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