A New Name for a New Day

Isaiah 62: 1-5 & 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11

Roger Lynn

September 25, 2016

(click here for the audio for this sermon)

My name is Roger. That’s what people call me. It is how I think of myself. I’m a “Roger.” I can’t really imagine being a “Jeff” or a “Ted” or a “Jim.” For most of us our name is one of our most important possessions. 

And yet, for all the importance we attach to our names, most of the time they still don’t carry the kind of depth of meaning that has been associated with names in other cultures and other times. In the world of the Bible, for example, names were often understood to be a reflection of the essential nature of that to which the name was attached. Names had meaning. Dramatic changes of circumstance or status were often marked with a change of name. Abram and Sarai become Abraham and Sarah. Simon becomes Peter. Saul becomes Paul. Even today we see remnants of this understanding in places like the Catholic Church, where the person who is elected Pope takes on a new name. 

Sometimes the names we carry around are doing us more harm than good. These are not usually our actual names, but rather the names we use to think of ourselves. The people to whom the prophet Isaiah was writing had this problem. They had been down for so long they had come to believe that was just who they were. Names like “Forsaken” and “Desolate” described the mood. It was not who they really were, but they had long ago lost sight of that reality. And so it is that the prophet offers them the astounding good news that they no longer have to live with such names. “You shall be called by a new name that the mouth of God will give.” (Isaiah 62:2) Instead of “Forsaken” they will henceforth be called “My Delight is in Her.” Instead of “Desolate” their land will now be called “Married.” Better times are coming, says God. And so they are given a new name for a new day. 

In his letter to the church at Corinth the apostle Paul doesn’t talk about names, but he does talk about gifts. And if names are a reflection of our essential nature, then Paul’s understanding of gifts amounts to much the same thing. He speaks about the variety of gifts which God gives, and then he declares that “to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:7) Paul’s understanding is that God has given to each of us gifts intended to better enable us to contribute to the well-being of the world. “Blessed to be a blessing” is an ancient way of putting it.

For the people to whom Isaiah was writing, the reality which was reflected in their “new” name had, in fact, been true all along. But they had gotten so buried underneath all the other “names” they thought were true that they had forgotten who they really were. For the people in the Corinthian church, their gifts had always been present in their lives. But they had forgotten to notice, or failed to see them as gifts, and certainly had lost sight of the ways in which they might use those gifts for the benefit of everyone. In both cases they had to be reminded. They had to be called back to the truth of who they were. They had to be given a new name.

And so it is that the question comes to us. What names are we carrying around which do not serve us well? What variations on “forsaken” and “desolate” have we taken on as self-identifying descriptions of “just the way life is”? What gifts have we forgotten to notice? What gifts have we downplayed and de-valued? Such questions come to us both as individuals and as a community. Maybe the name from which God is seeking to release you is “too busy.” Or maybe it is “not enough.” Or perhaps it is “sinner.” Whatever it is, I submit that God is offering you a new name for this new day. Maybe your new name is “abundance.” Or possibly “beloved of God.” Or perhaps “reflection of God’s peace.” You will recognize it because it will enhance your living rather than detract from it. It will open you up rather than close you down. Pay attention and I believe you will begin to hear God’s new name for you.

And it is equally important for us to listen as a congregation. In our current cultural climate, where mega-churches seem to be the order of the day, it is easy to take on names like “not big enough” or “too few children and youth” or “scarce resources.” I stand here today declaring to you that God is calling us to begin living into a new name. Listen carefully and I believe you will hear names like “sufficient” and “welcoming to all” and “bountiful.” In this changing of the seasons, when summer shifts into fall, as we enter into a time of visioning and discernment, it is a new day which lays before us, and we will not fare well if we attempt to meet it weighed down with old, debilitating, and false names.

The truth of the matter is that we are a gifted people who have been abundantly blessed by God with all that we need and more to face whatever challenges might come our way. God is calling us to receive our new names and to live into the truth which they proclaim. “There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Christ; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.” (1 Corinthians 11:4-6) May we open our hearts, our minds, and our lives so that we might be prepared to fully recognize, receive and live into the life which God has to offer. Amen.