11th Sunday after Pentecost:

 What's in a name?

  

A Good name…

is more precious than silver or gold.

(Proverbs 22:1)

  

Josh got his dog. I asked, “What did you name him?”  That’s the thing about humans, they have to name things—people and places, dogs and cats. It’s God’s idea: “The Lord brought his creatures before the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called them, that was its name” (Gn 2:19). For the most part, God doesn’t get involved. He just looks on to see how we do.

 Adam saved his most precious name for his wife: “The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living” (Gn 3:20). In the midst of death, she brings life; until that day when another woman brings forth a child named “Jesus because he saves his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21 & Lk 1:31). The man isn’t given a choice in this name. Joseph steps aside. It’s a name too precious to be entrusted to humans.

 But, for the most part, God frees us to come up with our own names. There are some cultural rules; like our family name called our surname or our last name. We don’t have much say about that. It tells a long story about us. But, then we are given the freedom to come up with a first name or our given name—a name given out of our freedom. A name that frees us to make more of our name than our family name—to begin a new story. This given name speaks of our hopes and aspiration for our child. We choose it out of our freedom praying it will become “a good name”—a name written down in Glory (Rv 21:27).