The Holy Name

The Holy Name

Today is the Feast Day of the Holy Name, what we used to call the Feast Day of the Circumcision. It is the day when Mary and Joseph brought their new born baby to the Temple and there he was marked in his flesh as God's own child forever in the tradition of Judaism then and now. He was given the holy name "Jesus" as instructed by the angel. For us and for all down through the ages, his Name is holy.

Years ago while working in community organizing circles in Hyde Park and Roslindale, I happened to meet a Greek fellow who had come from the old country. We introduced ourselves to one another, and I discovered that he had once served as a shepherd when he was younger and lived in Greece. A shepherd in the city of Boston! It was the first and last time I have met a real life shepherd in any city I've worked. It occurred to me that this would be a wonderful opportunity to do some good theological research. 

So I asked him; “What does it take to be a good shepherd?”.

He replied almost instantly in a thick Greek accent; “Three things; First you gotta know each da sheeps’ names. Den you gotta have dogs. You can’t do de job witout you got dogs. Den, sometimes when dey steps outa line you gotta whacken de sheeps upside de head, wit de shepherd’s crook.”

What I had hoped for by way of good theology was in fact good practical advice for a parish priest. You have to know each of your parishioners by name. But to know a name will not be enough, you will have to come to know the person behind the name, the essence of who they are, and you must care deeply for them. Secondly, you cannot do the job alone, and so while dogs won’t help you much, you will need to recruit, vestry, altar guild, ushers, musicians, youth, men and women’s groups and all leaders for all sorts of ministries to make a congregation vital and viable. And thirdly, there will come times when folks will step out of line, their behaviors will become irrational and you will simply have to whack some sense into them with a well placed word or two. I have found the good Greek shepherd’s advice helpful over the years.

This is how it all begins. First and foremost with a name. When you were born you were given a name. In fact, we often pick out the names of our children even before they are born. We bring them to the church for the formal “Christening” a nice old English word that means to be “Christ named”. We are, in fact, Baptized into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. In our Baptism, we are buried with Jesus in a death like his so that we may rise again with Jesus in a resurrection like his. That means to us that as Jesus’ Name is Holy so is yours. Not only is your name holy but so are you. All that you are, all that you have been and all that you ever will be; you are Holy.

The Lord instructed Moses in today’s first lesson to have Aaron bless the Israelites in God's Name. The Biblical scholars call this the “Aaronic Blessing” because it is the one Aaron and all the priests shall pronounce to God’s people down through the ages:

“The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

It is in God's holy name that you are blessed therefore you become holy and you are to treat one another as holy. You are not to ridicule others, or bully them around nor are you to oppress them. The people of God are holy. You are to be a light to the Nations so that they may see the good you do and become holy along with you. 

The holiness code is built into the Law of Moses, because the Law of Moses is the Law of God. “Be holy as God is Holy, says the Lord God” ~Leviticus 20:26. This is why God has chosen us to be his people. So that all nations shall be blessed by the Holy Name.

In the beginning we were created out of the dust of the earth to be holy for God. When God formed us out of the dust he breathed into us the very breath of life. We became living beings. We became something holy and beautiful for God~Genesis 2:7.

And when Moses came to the Burning Bush, God spoke to him and said; “Moses take the shoes from off you feet for the ground on which you are standing is holy ground”. Then in this sacred and holy encounter God spoke and said that he had seen the misery of his people. And then Moses trembled before God as he said “God down and tell old Pharaoh to let my people go.” This is the essence of who God is; God has seen the misery of his people. ~Exodus 3.

When I read this passage I think of the misery of our poor, our young, our sick, and those cast out and rejected by the many. Whether in our inner cities or rural areas it is the same problem. For our youth if they are without work many will turn to violence, gangs and drugs and the vicious cycle continues. Yes, God says not just to Moses thousands of years ago but to us now; “I have seen the misery of my people”. God spoke to Lincoln and said "Let my people go." God spoke to Gandhi and said, "Set my people free." God spoke to Martin Luther King and said, "Bring my people Civil Rights". 

“Go down Moses and tell old Pharaoh, let my people go.” What now? Perhaps give my children jobs. The essence of the Holy Name of God; “I have seen the misery of my people” 

Did Mary not sing as much in her sacred song of the Holy Name?

‘My soul magnifies the Lord, 

   and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, 

for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.

for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

   and holy is his name. 

   he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 

He has brought down the mighty from their thrones,

   and lifted up the lowly; 

he has filled the hungry with good things,

   and sent the rich away empty. 

   ~Luke 1:46-55

The Wise Men gave Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh to the Christ Child, because God had seen the misery of that poor Child and all poor children. If the rich and powerful do not do so willingly, God will require their wealth and take it from them in another way.

Moses asks God; “What is your Name so that I can tell the people who it is that is saying all this?. How can I persuade them that it is You who speaks to me?

God then spoke to Moses and said tell them that “I AM WHO I AM” has spoken to you. If you study the Hebrew and try to understand what happened in that encounter with God, you will discover that God is something more than a copula verb “To Be”. God is Being itself. God is who God is, who God was, and God is whoever God will be forever. God is our Creator and so much more. God brings to pass what God requires of all humankind. And when God spoke to Moses and said that he had seen the misery of his people, God meant business. God was going to plunge himself into human history in such a way as to bring us up out of Egypt as slaves and into the Promised Land of God’s freedom. 

This is God’s Name; “I have seen the misery of my people and I want you to go down to Pharaoh and say; ‘Let my people go!”

God’s Holy Name is much more dynamic than anything we can imagine. God’s holiness will find itself in the midst of human history to bring us Peace with Justice. If the rich and powerful believe that they have amassed their wealth and power because of what they themselves have done, I have news for them. God will speak and God’s will be done. They are in for a rude awakening.

You and I must not bow down and worship Golden Idols that King Nebuchadnezzar has erected for us to worship. You will not fall down and worship any king no matter how rich and powerful, no matter how much he or she may bully you around. You know the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They refused to bow down and worship the golden idol. And they were thrown into the fiery furnace. But God delivered them and they sang the song of God unharmed in the fiery furnace. 

Folks we are in for it. King Nebuchadnezzar or whatever his name is now, will test us in the fiery ordeal which we must now endure. We shall not cower in fear to Pharoah, the Emperor, the King, the Dictator or any other human being. No indeed. We shall sing the songs of God and we shall not only endure, we shall prevail.

This is because the Name of God is “I have seen the misery of my people”. And God will send Moses, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Lincoln, Gandhi, Martin Luther King or all the above. And we shall say to old what’s his name; “Let my people go!”

Sometimes we may wonder, who are we that God should take a moment’s thought for us? The Psalmist asked that question more than 2500 years ago. Look up to heaven and take a good look at the stars at night and listen to these magnificent words from today’s Psalm. 

1 O Lord our Governor, *

how exalted is your Name in all the world!

4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, *

the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,

5 What is man that you should be mindful of him? *

the son of man that you should seek him out?

6 You have made him but little lower than the angels; *

you adorn him with glory and honor;

10 O Lord our Governor, *

how exalted is your Name in all the world!

Our worship and our service to the Holy Name of Jesus is far more than reading old stories from a Bible in church and making our communion Sunday by Sunday. 

If God told Moses to go head to head with Pharaoh who do you think we should be going head to head with to stop the misery of God’s people? 

The poverty, the sickness, the homelessness, the war, the refugee crisis, the persecution of the outcast and the marginalized, the lepers, the prostitutes and the rejects. God has seen the misery of his people. And Jesus loves them all.

Jesus loves us all.

Who do you think God requires us to go to? 

Moses went to Pharaoh.

Jesus went up to Jerusalem and he turned over the tables of the money changers.

Now who do you think God wants us to go face to face with?

Do you think God is pleased that the rich just get richer and the poor get poorer?

Do you think it pleases God that you and I pay our taxes, but that the rich, the super rich and the multi national corporations pay nothing at all. Where is the justice in that? 

The Holy Name of Jesus means more than two syllables. As your name means so much more than a few letters in the alphabet so too Jesus is so much more to us. Jesus comes alive to us in the Sacred and Holy Name of who he is for us all. You know who he is; and you know what he said:

 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

 ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The Holy Name means “I have seen the misery of my people”. Therefore organize yourselves church. Then we shall go down together and tell old pharaoh; “Let my people go”. 

In the Name of God the most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.

Fr Paul

What's in a Name?

What's In a Name?

A New Year has begun for us here at St John's and with it I trust there are many hopes for what lies ahead. You are blessed to have called a your new rector. He will bring with him a lovely family, outstanding scholarship, a down to earth pleasant personality, and also experience and connection to the national church, the worldwide Anglican Communion and beyond. Besides his connection to youth movements within the National Church through the ministry of his wife has wonderful potential for the young people of this parish and gives this congregation much to hope for.

The New Year is celebrated on the Church Calendar as the Feast Day of the Holy Name. For the observant Jew the naming of a child was among the most profound of spiritual moments in life. For Jesus this naming occurred on the seventh day of his life on New Year's Day. Thus we call the day The Feast of the Holy Name. The name Jesus or in the Hebrew, Joshua literally means God is our Salvation. The name means "savior". And the word Christ means "The Annointed One". Jesus Christ is thus the savior, the Annointed of God. 

In Philippians we are told that he was given the Name that is above all names, "so that at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father."

The Prophet Isaiah foretold the Holy Name in these magnificent words as sung by the Angels and as set to the unforgettable chorus of Handel's Messiah; 

"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

In today's Gospel we are told that he will be called a "Nazorean". In both my Pilgrimages to the Holy Land, I was fortunate enough to climb down the flights of archeological history to what is reputed to have been the boyhood home of "Jesus of Nazareth".

The business of the Name is not always easy for some of us. I visited a nursing home of a parishioner in West Virginia one time. Her name was "Ginny" and what a character she was. In her riper years her memory began to slip away and it was the ability to Name people that she began to loose. Upon arrival at the nursing home one day she was sitting next to an elderly gentleman. As she expressed delight when I came into the room to see her, she greeted me with these words;

"Oh hello Fr Paul, I am so glad to see you. I want to introduce you to my new boyfriend."

There was a moment's pause when she looked at him and said;

"What is your name anyway?"

Almost immediately, he replied,

"Geez, I don't know, what's yours?"

She said; "Hold on, I'll think of it in a minute!"

We all laughed heartily. 

Alas such is the human condition.

We are told in today's Gospel of Jesus' flight into Egypt. The Name of Jesus is much more to us and to the world than five letters and two syllables. Jesus, the King of Kings, and Lord or Lords represented a threat to Herod, whether real or imagined. No the Holy Name is much more than five letter and two syllables. Jesus is a Way of Life to us.

As a student of the study of Congregational Development during most of my professional life, I began to notice that Episcopalians and Anglicans call one another names. The name calling can be divisive but the more I studied the dynamic and the more I experienced the encounter with the Christ in one another as a parish priest, I began to notice that underneath the labels we use to describe one another there is a profound unity.

Here for example are some of the labels we use to describe one another.

1. Social Activist
2. Traditionalist
3. Evangelical
4. Intellectual
5. Anglo-Catholic
6. Charismatic

We tend to further subdivide one another into other categories like Liberal, Conservative, Moderate and so on. Truth be told, I came to discover that more than one of these labels applied to me. And in fact, as I grew into the fullness of Christ, I also discovered that behind these labels there is a reality that can bring us closer to Jesus as we grow into him.

Take the Social Activist for instance. Behind the label there is a the search for Justice and Peace and what could be more biblical or Christ centered than that? Jesus began his ministry with the words "I have come to bring Good News to the Poor. At the conclusion of his ministry, he uses these words not just to judge us but the nations of the earth; "Insofar as you have done it to one of the least of these, you have done it to me." Yes, we are much more than Social Activists. We are those who seek Justice for the sake of Peace and we do so in concert with the Living and Risen Christ.

What of the Traditionalist? Is Jesus not there too as he says "Not one jot, not one tittle of the Law will pass until all is fulfilled"? And what is the fulfillment of the Law, but the very words of Jesus as he himself quotes the Holy Writings? "Hear O Israel, you shall the love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.' And "you shall love your neighbor as yourself." "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets". Or very simply; "Love one another!" You cannot get more traditional than that.

The Evangelical? Jesus calls us to repentence. What could be more central to the Gospel than the call of God for a complete makeover of the human soul? A "metanoia" as it is called in Greek; A rebirth from the old way of sin to a whole new life of forgiveness and rebirth. A death to sin and a rebirth to Eternal Life. What could be more to the heart of our Baptism than this conversion moment in the human soul?

The Intellectual? We are known as the Chruch that requires "Thinking" and "Reason". The prophet Isaiah said "Come let us reason together." Did Jesus not spent hour after hour with his followers teaching in Parables and then explaining these parables in the Apoltolic fellowship? In Anglican Theology Scripture, Tradition and Reason are the Hallmark of a mature faith as we hold our lives within the dynamic of this threefold authority. 

The Anglo Catholic? What of the Anglo Catholic? We are a people who love our rituals? Some more so, some less so. Some of the churches I've served relished the sound of the Sanctus bells, and the smells of incense. In West Virginia for instance, my number two son, Joshua, loved to do what we called "360's" as the incense pot swung over his head round and round and round in solemn procession on the high Holy Days. You may notice, I take care as I celebrate the Eucharist to repeat certain rituals Sunday after Sunday. We are a people of ritual. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Birthdays and other celebrations take on great significance to us as a people, and if we don't do something in that certain way, we are much the poorer. We are told that when Jesus fed the 5000 or when he gathered with his disciples for the Last Supper, it was with the same words; he took bread, he gave thanks, and he shared it with his friends. Likewise after supper, he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to his friends. It is in this very ritual that Christ becomes present to us at this altar rail and we go forward from here to make a better world. What could be more Christ like than that? It is in the Anglo Catholic nature of our tradition that we seek to dignify and honor our rituals. 

And finally the Charismatic? Those filled with the Holy Spirit? The third Person of the Holy Trinity? Sometimes this encounter can be disruptive in congregations. But to tell you the truth, Social Activists, Traditionalists, Intellectuals, and Anglo Catholics can also insist that their way of seeing Jesus is better than the way others do. As one who finds himself managing congregations, understanding the nature of the enounter with Christ takes center stage when managing conflict. After all, when understood in the fullness of what the Name of Jesus means as a way of life, these Names we call one another, do not represent comparative modes of Godly expeience, they are rather primary modes of that encounter. 

There's not a one of us whose encounter with God the Father, God the Son or God the Holy Spirit, is better or worse than any other. Each of us is on pilgrimage from the beginnings of our faith until the very end. As Jesus said in yet another Name he uses to describe the reality of who he is for us; "I am the Alpha and the Omega; the beginning and the end". Yes indeed, Jesus the the Author and Finisher of our faith.

The Spirit moment is a powerful moment for the Charismatic. It awakens an experience of that which inspires, guides, and strengthens us in life, and who doesn't need inspiration, guidance, and strength in the lives we lead?

For much of this past week I was running on empty. The demands of Christmas required all that I had to offer and more besides because of the suffering and death that I was required to face in the family along with the usual requirements of being a parish priest. I thought I could sit down on New Year's Day and "crank out" a sermon, if you will. Nothing came. I simply had nothing else to say. My cousin's funeral was the last straw for me. I was spiritualy, emotionally, and physically exhausted.

And then a friend called me on New Year's Day to describe the pain he was suffering in association with passing a kidney stone. Ewww...but something clicked! All of a sudden the Holy Spirit gave me some words, some strength, some inspiration and some guidance and I was off and running again. 

Every day, I take time to pray, to journal, to walk, to take some quiet time just to be with God. And lo and behold, there it is again. The Holy Spirit. 

My dear friends Jesus is so much more than five letters and two syllables. For the Holy Name of Jesus is "shorthand" for the Way, the Truth and the Life. Whether we call ourselves or others Social Activists, Traditionalists, Evangelicals, Intellectuals, Anglo Catholics or Charismatics, or all the above, we are all one people incorporate in the Body of Christ. And we are each and all living the life that brings us to God. 

In the Name of the Holy, Blessed Undivided Trinity. Amen

Fr Paul