ADVENT REFLECTIONS - NAMED by GOD

Robert is my given name but, as you know, I am better known as Robbie.  Robert and derivations of Robert are common in our family - Bob, Bobby, Bertie, Robbie, Robert and Robert are all names of relatives.  The rest are names derived from Andrew - Andra, Andrew, Drew and Andy.  My middle name is Andrew.

Our name is more than a label in that very often it says something of the family history or even the personal preference of parents.  Very often a name was given to keep in with a well off relative in the hope that the carrying of their name ensured a mention in the will!  In the past a name conveyed something of the person e.g. Cameron quite literally means “crooked nose” and Robert means “bright shining face” or “handsome”.

Our name is also much more than any of this.  Our name is who we are, what we are like and what reputation we may have.  The name of John Proctor is synonymous with reputation, openness and honesty in Arthur Millar’s “The Crucible”.  The bottom line is that the character embroiled in the Salem witch hunts refused to tell lies in court to save his own life.  The stance he took was based on his religious views. He was a pious man, and a had a desire to maintain his dignity as a human being.  He was also thinking about others on trial, in that a confession which would have been a lie would have dishonoured those who had been on trial and, in standing for the truth, forfeited their own lives.

“Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them you have hanged! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”

(“The Crucible”, Arthur Millar)

“I am” is the name that God used of himself when Moses was hesitant about going to Egypt to set the Israelites free.

“God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM.  This is what you have to say to the Israelites:  ‘I AM  has sent me to you”.

(Exodus 3: 14)

What does that actually mean?  It means that they could depend on God and that we can also depend on God.  No matter when or where, no matter the circumstances, God is there.  God is by our side.  His strong arms are around us and beneath us.  His peace is resting gently upon us.  His love inspires us and hugs us from within.  The Advent promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ brought, and continues to bring to life, is that he is our God who is with us.

All the various names given to Jesus both in the promises of the Old Testament and in the New Testament itself testify to who Jesus was and is, Immanuel which means “God is with us”.  Dotted about John’s Gospel are the “I AM” sayings which connect Jesus with God and which he brought to life in his teaching, preaching, living, dying and rising again.  These reflections look at some of the names of the one who continues to offer constancy that we need in our ever changing lives and the ever changing life of the world in which we live.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”   

(Hebrews 13: 8)