Let us pray: O God who names us, who claims us, and is who is with us always, make yourself known to us today in these words, through the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.
“I have called you by name, you are mine.”
I’ve learned the names of thousands of students over my 22 years of teaching. There’s something very powerful about being able to call someone by their name, to recognize them. As a teacher, this was crucial, especially to know who to “call out” for behavior that was not appropriate, to know who was or wasn’t present or sitting in their assigned seat, to be able to talk to colleagues about students who needed help, to greet students by name in the halls, at lunch, at athletics, performances, or other events. To know someone’s name is a powerful thing, to recognize them, to see them and to acknowledge them. To know someone’s name is to be connected to them, to be in relationship. When we take the time to learn someone’s name and do our best to remember and pronounce it correctly, it shows that we value them. Please don’t worry if names don’t come easily to you, some people have a gift for it and others of us have to work hard at it. In graduate school at the U of O when I went to visit one of my professors, I noticed that he had photocopies of each of our ID pictures taped on the wall by his desk.
I was impressed that he was taking the time to learn our names. I could tell that he cared.
In today’s lesson from the prophet Isaiah, God speaks to the Israelites during their time of exile. God calls them by name and reminds them who they are and whose they are. “I have called you by name, you are mine.” During the time of their present troubles and in their troubles to come, God calls out to them, recalling their relationship through the power of naming. And God reminds them of the promise to walk with them.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you, when you walk through fire you shall not be burned…” Notice that God said WHEN, not IF. WHEN troubles come. We’re in them right now and we’ve been in them for nearly two years now. Whether our collective world, nation, or community-wide troubles, family or friends’ troubles, or our own individual troubles: physical, mental illness, depression, anxiety, substance abuse addiction, loss of job, broken relationships, WHEN troubles come, God calls our name and says to us, “I will be with you. Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you…Do not fear, for I am with you.” WOW! Such Good News! Such an important reminder for each and every one of us. Isn’t this the most basic thing we all need and are long for?
You are precious. You are honored. You are loved. You are precious. You are honored. You are loved. Make this your mantra. I am precious. I am honored. I am loved. God is with me. I am precious. I am honored. I am loved. God is with me.
We hear this same affirmation in the gospel story of Jesus’ baptism today. God sends the Holy Spirit to let everyone gathered near the river that day, including Jesus, and all those who would come to hear this story, that the Creator of the Universe names and claims Jesus. “You are my child, the Beloved: with you I am well pleased.”
I wonder, can you place yourself in this story? Can you enter into the waters of the Jordan, dunk your head, come up, water dripping down your neck, wipe your eyes and hear the awesome voice of God calling you, naming you, affirming you? You are my child. I claim you as my own. You are valued. You are worthy. You are loved. With you I am well pleased. You make me smile. You make me proud.
Each of us who has been baptized has been named and claimed by God in a formal and ritualized way. We have been joined with Christ, “Christened”, receiving our Christian names. Baptism with water and in the name of the Trinity, the Book of Common Prayer tells us, “…Is full initiation into Christ’s Body the Church. And this bond is indissoluble” (BCP, p. 298). You are claimed, you are named, you are beloved.
One of my favorite parts of the baptism ceremony is the chrismation, the marking of the cross on the forehead with oil blessed by a bishop and used specifically for this occasion. Calling the person to be baptized by their name, the priest anoints them and says, “…You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever.” Sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’ own for ever.
Today as we celebrate the baptism of Jesus, we will renew or baptismal vows, our promises to live our lives in light of our new names, new status, and new community. Faced with this awesome outpouring of God’s love for us, like Jesus, how we will now carry out our ministry in the world? How will we bring this message of God’s claim on our lives, God’s love and value for each person, and God’s promise to be with us, to others? With God’s help, we will: strive to come together, as safely as possible for all, to continue to seek and follow Jesus in that long line of faith passed on to us from the first followers of Jesus, we will gather to worship, pray and share in the Eucharistic feast, the breaking of bread.
With God’s help we will: resist evil, and when, when we hurt ourselves or others, we will say that we’re sorry, ask for forgiveness, and give it, and do our best to return to following God’s way of love.
With God’s help we will, by what we say and by what we do let others know how valuable they are, how worthy of dignity, how beloved just for who they are as human beings.
With God’s help we will look for Jesus in everyone and treat every person AS IF they WERE Jesus, we will work to love ourselves, and to love our neighbors, ALL of them, with the same love that we receive from God who calls ALL of us beloved.
With God’s help we will become aware of the injustices in our world, and we will work to end their sources, proclaiming by word and deed that every human being is worthy of dignity, worthy of care, comfort, and love. We will, with God’s help.
Because of who we are, named, claimed, beloved and accompanied by God, we are called to go forth into this world in the power of the Spirit, as Jesus did, to bring God’s love to others, to call them each by name.
Amen.
