Nov 2 All Saints and Names 2008 PUMC Rory Swenson
The Bible knows how important names can be
have you noticed how some of the greatest stories of the Bible are about names
Jacob.///back in the book of Genesis is named heel grabber .
.that what his name means
and he lived up to his name
as Esau’s twin bother
he was always trying to grab and get something away from his older brother..
and when Jacob meets God at the river Jabbok
he struggles and wrestles with god or some angel of god of God
but as a result
his name
gets changed to Israel which means wrestling ... struggling with God..
It’s a story about names
Do you know the story about Moses
at the Burning Bush..
Moses wants be a name dropper
who are you God,,give me your name
who
should I say you are ?
and we get the revelation of the divine name
the most holy name is so awesome and undescribable
that we really don’t know what it means
something like I am
or I am who I am
I will be there

now go to the new testament
and the birth of Christ .
.and we get more stories about names
you shall name him Jesus...
he shall l be called Immanuel..which means God with us
I suppose we could sing all kind of songs about the name
"take the name of Jesus with you.."
"Jesus Jesus Jesus there is something about that name
"Jesus the name that charms our fears"
...names
are in the stories
but some of that naming doesn’t happen with a story
sometimes its just a list
Long names
lists of so and so begot so and so..
.. Genealogies...
Mike North and some of you genealogists
just love those lists of names
normally I say
don’t worry too much about that those lists
if you are trying to read the Bible
don’t get stuck on all those names Just move on.
But I probably should not say that
names are important..
. names are about people
and remembering names
remind us that is people
particular who carry the story
it is people who tell the story
it is people who are the story.
..God uses these people in a certain time and a certain place
and sometimes
those names are there
just to say that yes ...thats exactly the point
God uses people who had names
God doesn’t keep a list of people called anonymous
We are not just numbers
we are not just faces in the crowd... god know our names.
personally uniquely
God knows your name!
...
we want to know ...that we are known by name.
I remember talking to a young person in church
and I had not been doing a very good job of using that person’s name.
. And this person picked up on that and
said to me do you know my name..
Well I did.
.and I was able to say well of course I do ...you are.... .
.and I said the name..
I realized waht an awkawrd moment this was
....if I had not known the name
and I gotta tell you that sometimes in the quickness of the line at the door
coming into church or going out the door
I ve been known to call somebody by the wrong name...
Couple weeks ago I called Patty ..Pam
and it bothers me
I usually catch myself..
But its too late.
When I ve done that...
forgive me..please
Names.
And the reason we want to wear the names tags is to help us learn each others names..
now
there is another story in the Bible
that is about names
another example I want to highlight
. And this one is found in the book of Exodus
at least that’s what we call it... the book of Exodus
and it the story of the deliverance from slavery
the calling of the Hebrew people out of Egypt ....
the central redemption story of the Jewish scripture.
But they don’t always call it the book of Exodus in Hebrew
its also called the book of Names
because it starts out like this...
These are the name os of the sons of Israel
who came to Egypt with Jacob each with their household
Reuben, Simeon
Levi, Judah Issachar
Zebulun, and Benjamin Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher .....
then it gives a little more information and
it talks about Joseph who served in the courts of pharoah
But then it leads into a story
and it says a new king came to power
or as another version had it
there was a pharaoh "who know not Joseph "
In other word Jospehs name got forgotten.... it didn’t mean anything to this new ruler.
Josephs name meant nothing to this new Pharaoh
And now
he could see how these Israelites had grown
So they got forced into slavery
And the....the ruler. who by the way is not called by name.. In the bible
Decides to do some population control
and he told the Hebrew midwives to only let the girls live
when they were delivering the children
only keep the girls
but now here is the key to the story
two Hebrew midwives
Disobey the pharaoh..
They let the boys live
and we are told who these two women
are by name...
Do you know who they were
Thousand s of years late
r we know there names Shiphrah and Puah...
Do you know how amazing that is
after all thee years form way back then..
over 3000 years ago..maybe almost 4000 years ago Their names are remembered...
Not the kings name..
not the upper class.
.but these midwives..with the Hebrew slaves
They are the ones who God was able to use
and because of Shiprah and Pouah
this boy child,,,Moses..is able to be born//
a footnote here.
You gotta appreciate this
you know
.all this time Pharaoh was afraid of the men
don’t let them keep those baby boys...
But Go ahead and keep the little girls
as if to say ....
what can they possibly do..
There just the women ..we don’t have to worry about the women
. But look who undermined..him .
.it was the faithful women
it was was these women. And their faith..
Who set the stage for the exodus
God used the unexpect.
and we have a God who knows that
pahariah and the power people of the world..like to ignore some types of peopel
but God doesn think like that.
Our God is all about about learning the names of peopel like hebrew midwives.
.and lifting them up in sacred hsitory
In a culture that didn’t care about women ...didnt value women.
God called them by name
and we remember them by name.
.God knows the names of women.
.and is saying to us..learn the names of the women
learn the name s of the people that maybe today
our society is ignoring.
Learn the name of the immigrants..and the poor..
Everybody has name
these names shiprah and puah.. are now holy names
Now.. do you know any other holy names
is there any holiness to your name?
I don’t mean
like... do you have a name from the Bible........ like Mary or Beth or Daniel , John..Issachar Obadiah
I don’t know any little girls named Puah .... it’s a good Biblical name
but.....if you were baptized
We were saying something about your name
It used to be.. That in the baptism ceremony
the minister would ask the question; What name is given to this child?
And so in some ways
baptism was also a naming ceremony
but if you look at the instructions for a baptism ..in the United Methodist book of Worship
it says that Im not supposed to baptized you with your surname
Don’t use the last name...
It says just the first name and the middle name.....why is that
Do you think the idea is
that we are being joined to a larger family
we have a new family name
that is greater than all the other family loyalties and kinships and identities..
We are into something bigger than just being
an Olson or a smith or Chung or Alvarez

we are becoming Christians
it’s a christening
at the baptism
naming you...forming you..changing your identity in the family of Christ
it’s the deeper identity..
that overcomes ..
all the family names..all the nationality and ethnic names
..and bring us together in this new name.
In Jesus Christ
I am not just a swenson
I am Rory Lee
baptized in the name
hear that?
baptism is in the the name
of the father and of the son and the holy spirit

my name... is connected to another name
Holy Name
that who we are are.
Named in the calling ....belonging and the vison of god
and in baptism
we are asking you
and asking the church
to remember
your real name .
.your holy name...learn your name
live up to your name
grow into your spiritual name

I heard of a mother who had a little boy whose name was Jackson,
four years old or so.
And every night as she tucked little Jackson in bed,
after they’ve said their prayers,
and just before she turns out the light,
she says,
"Now Jackson,
let me remind you who you are."
And then she will go through this long list of superheroes,
. "Jackson, you’re my Superman.
You’re my Power Ranger.
You’re my Buzz Lightyear.
You’re my Rescue Hero
. You’re my Lightning McQueen."
And little Jackson would just lie there with a big smile on his face,
taking it all in.
One night,
the parents got home late,
and the mother put little Jackson to bed in a hurry.
She didn’t take time to go through the long list of superheroes.
And a few minutes later,
she heard this voice calling out to her from upstairs
, "Mommy, mommy."
And so she runs over and yells up,
"Yes Jackson, what’s wrong?"
And little Jackson says,
"Mommy,
you forgot to tell me who I am."

In the name of Jesus Christ we get to here God always telling us who we are
who you are
who I am
and it is a spper anem...a powerful wonderful name
youare a child of God
beloved... Called
claimed...
People of light and eternity..saved by grace.
Known by name...
As we read the names on this memorial roll this year..
I know how holy and sacred this is...
I have thought for weeks now
as I looked ahead to this Sunday
I thought
oh its going to be hard to read those names again this year
..because these are not just nameless people
these are people that I too got to know
and I got to know their families...
I know some of the stories that go with these names,,
,we know how God used these people in some way
to touch lives
to grow the church
to share the love of God..
we are going to be praying the names
thanking god for the names
holy names
in the communion of saints
And we remember then
by name
in the loving holy name of Jesus Christ

Amen

*I have lost the source of the Jackson and names story....when/if I find it again I will cite it. And if you, reader. finds it, please let me know.