Names. A very special human trait, naming things. In the creation stories, Adam (which could be his name, or could mean a generic man) named the animals. Now, the logic of the names is lost because of the translation from Hebraic to English. Why is a cow called a cow and not a fruit fly? In the second creation story, Adam calls his wife woman and then Eve because she was the mother of all living. That means nothing unless we know that eve as written in Hebrew, means living.

In ancient times, and in some circles still, ones name carries tremendous power. To know someone's name was to have coercive power over them. That strikes me as funny because my experience is just the opposite. Take for example the ubiquitous "they". They say this. They say that. They won't let us. Don't do that or they will get mad. There seems to be some big conspiratorial group called They who hold in their anonymity, great power.

They can be scary. Working in a homeless shelter, I found this very true. I can't tell you how many times I heard well meaning people say that we should help "those people". "They need our help". But God forbid we put the shelter too close to their home because they will cause trouble. They drink all day and foul our fences and walls. They. They. They.

It's easy to fear or hate a nameless group of people. They is safe. They don't invade our heart. We don't make a real investment of ourselves to a cause or a nameless and faceless group. Once I could get someone to come in the shelter and meet Joe, Mikie, Sue and little Laura, I had them hooked. All of a sudden They had a face and a name.

It's easy to ignore the homeless. It's a lot harder to ignore Sue and Jim. See, when we know their name, they have entered into our sacred space. We can't erase their particularity.

Names have tremendous power.

Many societies and cultures give their children names that have a specific meaning. Oh, I know, we can look up our names in a gift shop and learn that Robert means brave. No it doesn't. It means that I'm named for my father who was named after who knows what.

I'm trying to recall the details, but I can't bring it up. But, I heard a man from Africa (Nigeria I seem to recall) who explained that his name meant "I am God's child". He was named that after the tribal priest prayed and received the name from God. It wasn't because the name carried on a family tradition. This name identified this young man's character and he had to live up to that name.

In Hebraic custom, a male child was circumcised and named on the eighth day of their life, which for Jesus, would be today. So, Mary and Joseph being faithful Jews, they had the baby circumcised and named him Jesus which is the name the angel gave Mary. Now, Jesus wasn't a particularly unusual name. It means God saves, or perhaps, savior. Jewish history is full of Jesus'. One of the great messianic pretenders was Jesus Maccabees. Some accounts name Barabbas as Jesus bar Abbas (or Jesus son of Abbas) . But this little baby had to be called savior.

Isaiah told us that the child would be Emmanuel or God with us. Which came true in the life of Savior. Jesus was, is, God with us.

In a very early sermon, I suggested that if Mary's baby hadn't been named Jesus, we'd have to re-write all our songs. At the name of Joe, every Knee shall bow, just doesn't have the same poetic quality as it does now.

Even today, we recognize the inherent power of a name, if not consciously, then deep in our memory. We pray, "in the name of Jesus" or "in the name of God" or, "in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." That means that we pray through the power those names convey.

Jesus being named is in some ways a very significant theological statement. If Jesus is truly God, then for a Jew, his name could never be spoken. But here was God, in human flesh, being open to the power of releasing a name. It was truly an emptying of presumption. Emmanuel was truly among us.

Naming God has never been taken lightly throughout the salvation history of the Jews. To this day, most Jews will not say the name of God, nor even write it out. I'm even beginning to see documents referring to G-d.

When Moses was at the burning bush, he asked God what his name was. And God answered in a very confusing and difficult way. The Hebrew is (and pardon my mangling the pronunciation), "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh" which has been translated I am that I am, I will be there how so ever I will be there, or the one that rings most true to me, I am what it means to exist. I am Being. Most Hebrew scriptures will write this name as YHWH which is pronounced, usually, Yahweh. The Romans translated it Jehovah. But devout Jews will substitute a descriptive noun instead of the holy name when speaking of God. The most common is Adonai which means the Lord. Some orthodox Jews say Ha Shem or the Name.

I think this is important to know when we look at the most common blessing found in the bible. We all know it. The Lord bless you and keep you and so on. It was our Old Testament reading today. In Hebrew, that line is said Adonai barak shamar. It is written YHWH barak shamar. It is the very name of God that blesses us and keeps us. That makes his face to shine upon us. And that gives us shalom.

So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

God was telling Moses and through him, Aaron, that Aaron was to imbue the very power of God onto the people of Israel and God would bless them all. Imagine bearing the name of God in all of our life. Imagine being covered by name of God. To live under God's blessing in our waking and in our sleeping. Imagine having the face of God lifted up to us, giving us peace.

Imagine. And know. For at our baptism, we are given the name that is above all names. The name at which knees bow. The name of our savior. The name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We live under the power of the name of God and his Son Jesus Christ. We are kept as a precious gem in the vault of God's love. We see the face of Christ shining in our lives. We see God looking upon us and giving the peace that the world cannot give.

We have written on our hearts and sealed on our foreheads the wondrous name of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. As Paul writes to the Church in Galatia, we receive adoption into the family of God. We bear the name of God as heirs to the kingdom.

An interesting historical bit. In Hebraic law, a father could disown a son for any number of reasons. That's why the prodigal son story was so remarkable. In real life, that son would have been disowned. There is one exception. If a child is adopted, they can never be disowned.

We who carry the name of Jesus in our hearts and on our foreheads are adopted children of God and can never be disowned.

That's why Paul could say to the Christians in Rome that nothing could separate us from the love of God in Christ.

And all because of the wonderful name of Jesus.