Sermons In Time

What's in a name?

From June, 1975

I want for us to focus on baptism in the context of Psalm 139.

I was asked to baptize a young child, and as I planned this event with the parents, it was understood the young man had been adopted as a member of their family. The focus of that baptism was on the realization that there is a strong similarity between baptism and adoption.

As Protestants, we tend to not lift up the sacraments to a level of understanding and appreciation they deserve. So, we lift up baptism today. When a child comes into a home it's a brand new experience for everyone. There is excitement and wonder. There is uncertainty about how things are going to go. There are changes of plans that come when a child comes into a home. There are changes in relationships. All of life as it has been is no longer there. You have to deal with a new set of relationships between husband and wife, parents and children, between brothers and sisters. When that new life enters the world, you realize for some deep and mysterious reason, you are responsible for what happens to it. It is a responsibility that weights heavily upon us as persons, as parents, as adults. We all have memories of our own childhood, of the experiences we had, and what our relationships with our families were. It is in this context of a new life coming into the world that Baptism is an affirmation. As a sacrament, we are making an affirmation of what God has done and is doing. Baptism and communion center on the cross, and in God's action on the cross. It is an affirmation of God being in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto Himself. It is a way of expressing the new life that has taken place in his faithfulness to God's purposes. When we come to the communion altar and receive the bread and wine, symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, we are saying that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, redeemed us, loved us, and made us new persons. In the sacrament of Baptism, from the very beginning, there is an affirmation about the very nature and spirit of God. Baptism is an affirmation, not of who we are or what we have done, but what God has done in Christ Jesus and ex expressed to every child born, every living human being. That affirmation makes Baptism a sacrament. In our tradition, our understanding of the Faith, we are saying when a child is born and is presented at the altar for Christian Baptism, there is an affirmation about God's Grace expressed to that child long before that child was ever conceived, born, or even dreamed of.

So, as the child is presented there are some things that do happen which are very important. I would like to share just five of them in this message, and put them in the context of Sacrament.

1. First, the child is given a name. What name is given this child? It is a Christian name. It is a Christ-ening ! It is placing upon the child's life the name of Christian. In the history of our forefathers, there was a great deal of time spent in choosing the right name. A name that was not only pretty, or a name that was popular, but a name that also expressed what that child would become. Recently I read of psychologists who have said that on the basis of a name, a lot of personality is developed. If the name is "Butch" - expect an ornery little boy! If the name is "Janet" expect one who is sweet and graceful and lights the candles on Sunday! There is a great emphasis placed on the meaning of the name itself. For example, when we chose "David" for our oldest son's name, it was symbolic of David in the Old Testament. When we named our second son, "Steven" (although spelled differently), it was the name of the first Christian Martyr.

The poet could say, " a rose by any other name smells the same" but when I say a rose there is a fragrance which come to your mind. If I say "Sunflower" there is a difference aroma altogether. And it doesn't smell like a rose! So, we have a particular association with a name that brings memories from the past - about who we are and where we have been. From Adam to Darwin we have spent great energy finding and naming the flora and fauna of the world, giving a name to that particular fruit or growth or animal or person. We have a great need to know who and what. So names are given with great intention.

2. A name gives identity Sometimes I get letters and they are left unsigned. - they are anonymous. No matter how important the message may be, or how much I would like to follow through or find out about the matters brought forth in the letter, it goes into the waste basket immediately. If someone has something to say or share, they need to share it in the context of who they are. An unidentified letter just not reveal enough information. It is from an unknown, a nobody. All of us can look back across the years and say, "Yes, because of who I am, by name, I can tell you about who I have been, where I have been, and about the history of my life." To stand here and say, "I don't know who I am. I can't remember anything about my past." You would be concerned about what is happening to me. You would know that I was suffering from amnesia and a part of who I am would be unknown.

Recently, I had a person say, "Do you know Ken Short?" I said, "Yes, he's my brother." They said, "We are from Nebraska and we know him." I said, "Oh, how do you know him." They said, "He lives in our town in Nebraska." I said, "No, that's not my brother. He never has lived in Nebraska" Obviously, we knew two "Ken Shorts" We had put together two different identifications. So, name and place, and family are important. If I were to call out several names in the congregation, you and I would identify those individuals very easily. When someone calls us by name, it lets us know they know us and are important to them.

One woman, years ago, said one of the reasons you don't remember me is that I'm no longer active in the life of the church. I don't work in the kitchen anymore, I don't teach, I don't attend meetings of the Board, and so you don't remember me. You never know my name. I said, "I'll never forget it again Mrs. Kirkham" And I have not. I don't remember another person in the group.

3. We give a child a Christian name in Baptism. We are also saying to whom they belong. They are a part of a family, they belong to the Church, they are a child of God. They belong to the family of God. There is a belonging which comes in saying, "You are one of us." Here is where adoption is extremely important to me. There are many children, young people in this Church who have been adopted. I think it is a marvelous experience. In baptism, we are really saying that from the child is born, it belong to God, it belongs to the family, it is raised in the context of the Church.

We don't say, "Now what we're going to do is bring you into our family as a very young child. We're going to let you live with us for a few years and if things go well and we like you as you develop, then what we'll do is talk it over together, and if you like us and we like you, we will give you our name and make one of our children of you." Can you imagine such a thing in adoption? That's not the way it's done.

Before the child is old enough to know it's right hand from its left, it's told you are one of us. We give you our name now unconditionally! That identity, that belonging is there. There is no way the child can completely get away for the influences of that family. There is no way it can turn its back on who it has been and who it has become. In "Fiddler on the Roof" one of the daughters marries a gentile - and in the marrying, the father says, "My daughter is dead." But even though he has turned his back on the daughter who chose to turn her life away from the family, when the time came for them to separate, you know the ache and the pain that she and her husband are having, the pain in that families life, and the father says to her, "May God go with you." The bond cannot be broken!

4. The ties that bind are not just family. They are also ties of community, of caring and living together, of sharing life with each other. The Church literally takes upon itself the responsibility for what happens to the life of the child. If something goes wrong, or if there is a problem that is faced through the years, the church does not turn its back on that child, but rather must turn toward the child and give support and caring in the hour of difficulty. You belong. You are one of us. Here is where Psalm 139 speaks so clearly: God knows our uprising and our down sitting. He knows all about us and it is in this context of knowing that God still loves and cares, and redeems. We are not cast away from his presence. He comes to where we are and embraces us and takes us unto himself.

5. Finally, there is a corporate commitment we all make. It's like Hannah of old who brought the child Samuel into the presence of God and said, "He belongs to you." Take him - he is not mine, he is Yours. I deeply believe it is an important reality in our lives. We really do not "own" them! They are a gift of God to be shared and nurtured and cared for, but also allowed to grow up and be their own person. It is sometimes very painful to see our children grow up and grow away from us. It is even more so if they don't! I guess the thing that I want to be constantly reminded of is that devotion and that commitment I made in their nurture was not to hold them to myself, not to use them or to keep them as a possession, but to know that they are God's children. It's their life and they share it. And we share it. And by sharing together we are all enriched. Lord, You know everything I do. You have given us a name. You've given us the privilege of belonging to you. You have loved us. We thank you for the newness of life that comes in the birth of a child. That comes in taking a child and making it a part of a family. We thank you for the family of God. Amen

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