Advent 2: What's in a Name?

December 8, 2019 Luke 1: 26-38

Deborah Laforet Luke 1:39-56

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“What’s In A Name?”

“What’s in a name?” asks Shakespeare’s Juliet to her Romeo.  “That which we call a rose  by any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title.

Juliet’s words seem to imply that names are irrelevant and do not describe a person’s character or personality or shape who they are, but I’m not sure I completely agree with her, or maybe I should say, with William Shakespeare.  Names carry weight.  If I picked up a book about a character named Moses, I might expect to hear about someone who led people from enslavement or about a leader in a wilderness.  Or if someone were nicknamed Madonna, I’d wonder if they were musical, risky, or a heavenly mother.  If I met someone in politics with the last name of Kennedy, I might immediately make the connection with the Kennedy family and their reputation.  Names ares significant and they go with us our whole lives.   

If I asked, everyone here would have a story around their name, whether it be their first name, middle name, last name, birth name, adopted name, or nickname.  You would have stories of the names of your children or the names of your parents or other family members.  Names hold power.  When Jeff and I first started attending a United Church as young adults, the minister remembered our names the second time she met us.  Jeff still talks about that to this day.  Our son recently changed his name.  He felt his first name didn’t fit him anymore and chose to be called by his middle name.  For him it signified a new start in life.  In a way, he followed in my footsteps when I changed my name from Deb or Debbie to Deborah for almost the same reasons.  

Juliet’s words may have had some wishful thinking behind them as Romeo was from the Montague family and she from the Capulet family, bitter rivals.  Thinking Romeo’s name had little meaning was a way of denying that the feelings they held for each other would not get in the way of those family politics.

When I Googled the importance of names, it’s amazing the number of articles and websites that came up and the number of books that have been written about names.  One article from the New Yorker talked about the effect of names on politicians or company names on the stock market.  Wikipedia had a number of references to the importance attached to names in religion, mythology, and fairy tales.  Remember Rumplestiltskin, a character whose downfall was in the discovering of his name?

Names in the bible, whether it be names of people or places,  usually carry significant meaning.  Adam, the first name in the bible and the first human created by God from the clay of the ground, comes from the Hebrew word “adamah” with means earth.  The name Moses is an Egyptian word that means to draw or pull out, referring to Moses being drawn out of the Nile by the Pharaoh’s daughter.  The word Israel, the name Jacob was given and also the name of a nation, means to wrestle or struggle with God, which is appropriate when you read the bible and read the stories of God’s struggle with the people and with the people’s struggle to remain faithful to God.

Our weekly book study for Advent this year is on a book called “Light of the World” by Amy Jill Levine.  Levine is a Jewish theologian on the Christian Scriptures and is a professor at Vanderbilt School of Divinity in Nashville.  In the book, she explores the names in the Christmas stories in our bible.  The Christmas story in Luke begins with an elderly couple who have not been able to have children, Zechariah and Elizabeth.  They are blessed with a child and he will grow up to be John the Baptist.  Elderly infertile couples are no strangers to the bible.  This is a common theme.  “Zechariah’s name,” Levine writes, “based in the Hebrew word for “remember,” helps us draw the connection between Israel’s story and the new story about to unfold.”  She writes that “Elizabeth’s name, referring to God’s fidelity to promises made, portends fulfillment of the ancient covenants.” Both names create a connection to what was before and what is coming.

Then we have Joseph, who was betrothed to Mary.  In the gospel of Matthew, in the genealogy of Jesus, we read that Joseph’s father’s name was Jacob.  Does this ring any bell for you?  In the first book of the bible, Genesis, Jacob had twelve sons and one of them was Joseph and Joseph is a dreamer.  And now in this new story, we have another Joseph, and this Joseph also is a dreamer, a dreamer who encounters angels in his dreams.  Coincidence?

Then, Levine focuses on Mary.  Levine makes the connection with another famous Mary, or Miriam, in the bible, the sister of Moses.  If you remember, Miriam watched after her little brother when he was placed in a basket and put in the Nile, in an attempt to save him from Pharaoh’s edict to kill the male children of the Hebrew people.  When Moses was drawn out of the river by the Pharaoh’s daughter, Miriam was clever enough to run to her and tell she her knew of a woman who could be the child’s wet nurse, and of course, she was referring to her own mother and the baby’s mother.  We continue to hear about Miriam throughout the Exodus story.  We never hear that she was married or had children, but we know she is the first woman in the bible described as a prophet.  She is also a poet who offered up a song after God parted the waters for the people to go through safely.  Levine describers Miriam as poet, prophet, and protector.  Might we also describe Mary, not just as wife and mother, but also as poet, prophet, and protector?

Most when they think of Mary only have the nativity image of her, the one where she is bowed before a manger, either holding her baby or watching over her baby in the manger.  She is peaceful and demure and maybe thoughtful.  Others may also imagine her at the foot of the cross, watching as her son breathes his last.  But what of the Mary that courageously said yes to the angel who said she would be pregnant, not by her betrothed but by the Holy Spirit?  What of the Mary who travelled to see her cousin Elizabeth and broke into a song of thanksgiving to her god and of justice for all people?  And what of the Mary who raised a son that was prophesied would one day cause a sword to pierce her soul.  

Poet, prophet, and protector.  Wife and mother.  Holy Mary, mother of God.  Names carry weight.  Names may seem random and insignificant, or may seem less worrisome than sticks and stones, but they hold power.  This week we heard the US president call the Canadian Prime Minister two-faced, which may seem petulant to some but may cause some ripples when the government finally begins their session.  Those people oppressed in history could tell you stories of names used over the years that have been hurtful, belittling, and abusive.  We also know though that names can be inspiring.  What do you feel when you hear the name Terry Fox or Martin Luther King, Jr, or Nellie McClung?  How do parents feel when their child first calls them mama or dada?  What about when someone finishes their many years of education and is called “doctor” for the first time?

I’ll admit that names don’t stick in my brain so, as a minister, it’s a skill on which I am constantly working as I know how important it is to greet people by name, especially those in hospital, or shut-in at home, or those who have lost loved ones, those who feel lonely or forgotten, or misplaced.  It’s why people hesitate to say thank you to a long list of people in fear that they will forget a name, and yet, the hearing of your name is special and some might say it’s worth the risk of forgetting one.  

The angel named Mary.  The angel Gabriel said “Do not be afraid, Mary. for you have found favour with God.”  Having your name spoken means you are remembered, you are important, you are valued.  

“What’s in a name?” asks Juliet.  Well, Juliet, I think there is a lot more to a name than you might think.  

May you hear your name spoken by angels and humans like.  Upon hearing your name, may you feel honoured, remembered, and significant.  May you be named with love and respect and may you name others with the same.  Amen.

Deborah Laforet