How did your parents choose your name? Do you know? As living beings, our naming affects us in surprising ways. Think of your own name. Say it to yourself. If you are willing, let us say our names out loud. Listen to the sound of your name. "Barbara". Do you now how your name was chosen for you? Were you named after a parent or a relative that was especially remembered in your family? If you are named for a particular person, that person's life may have an influence upon you consciously or subconsciously. You may feel special connection with that relative. Other people in your family might expect you to be similar to that earlier person with your name. It can be inspiring or confining. On the other hand, if your parents went to the baby books for ideas, you might be in the situation I was in finding four or five others in your grade school classes with the same name. This can result in some confusion, at least by the teacher, about who you really are.

In some languages, names are more obviously descriptive than they are in English. On one of our church mission trips to the Owyhee reservation in Idaho, I met a Native American girl whose last name was "Kickingwoman". I didn't get the full story of how that name came about or how long it had been in her family but it does bring a picture to mind. The Chinese culture includes beautifully descriptive names such as Shuen-ya, which means "mystical or spiritual Asia." That is the name of 6-year-old Charlotte Young who is growing up here at Westminster and whose grandparents live in China. From northern China, Edith Hobb's Mandarin name is Chih Wua, which means "wonderful blessing." We are so used to hearing most names in the English language that we sometimes overlook their meaning. A common last name, Smith, describes someone who works with metals. The Johnson family descended generations back from someone named John. Christian means son of or follower of the anointed one, the Christ. Has your first name had an influence on who you are becoming? The name of our 10:00 lay reader, Matthew, means "gift of God". His parents surely agree that he IS but do you suppose he knows that he is a gift of God? Other names of people in this congregation include Emily, meaning "ambitious or industrious"; Michael, whose name is the question, "Who is like God?"; Megan means "strong"; Katherine means "beloved"; Jonathan means "The Lord is gracious," and Martha means "a lady, ruler of the home".

In Book of Genesis in the Bible, God named the first person Adam, which, in Hebrew means "human being". God asked the first human being to give names to all the animals, giving them their label and identity. Many years later, Abraham, whose name means "father of the multitude" and his wife, Sarah, conceived a child when they were almost 100 years old. In God's wonderful sense of humor, God told them to call their baby Isaac which means "laughter".

Names are so important to us. We feel special when a new friend recognizes us and calls us by name. Though names don't force us to be a certain way, they are an aspect of our identity. When we name a baby, we are welcoming that child into our family, into a heritage. In baptism, we ask the parents to say out loud the child's given name. There may be hopes and dreams all wrapped up in that name and there always is a history that goes along with our surname.

In the same way, God names us, identifies us, calls us, welcomes us. Through the prophet Isaiah, God says to us, "Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine." (Isaiah 43:1) How wonderful to know that always we belong to God. Even in the best of times there are moments among friends and family when we don't entirely feel as if we belong.

The wonderful author, Madeleine L'Engle, opens these words up for us in A Wind in the Door*, the second book in her famous trilogy. You might remember Progo, the cherubim, who as a Namer knew the names of all the stars in the universe. When he told Meg Murray of his reason for being a Namer, he explained, "If your name isn't known, then it's a very lonely feeling." Meg asked him what she was to do as a Namer. Progo closed his eyes and gave it some long, silent thought. Then small puffs of mist-like smoke rose swirling around him and he said, "When I was memorizing the names of the stars, part of the purpose was to help them each to be more particularly the particular star each one was supposed to be. That's basically a Namer's job. Maybe you are supposed to make earthlings feel more human." Progo went on to tell Meg that the only way you can do that is with a thing called "luff."

So…when Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant, he was very concerned for her and worried about how the community would react. He loved her. He knew the laws of the Torah and the punishment that she could receive. While giving his plan serious thought, he fell asleep and was visited in a dream by an angel; not a cherubim but an angel. Instead of naming Mary as an adulterer as Joseph thought she was, the angel named her as the handmaiden of God, which gave Joseph a new life with this young girl that he loved and the baby that would soon be born. In Bethlehem, a little village outside of Jerusalem, Joseph gathered with his aunts, uncles, cousins, and his pregnant fiancée to be registered, to be counted in the census, to have their names added to the list kept by the Roman government for the people of Israel were all living under Roman control during the reign of King Herod. That list of names was not meant to help people feel more human but to add them to a data bank to be certain they had the opportunity to pay their taxes. Now, if you or I had a dream anything like the one that Joseph had, we would think we had been walking in the hot sun too long. However, Joseph, without questioning, did just what the angel had told him to do. He took his wife to his home. There, Joseph named his newborn son, Jesus, "God Saves". Joseph assumed the role of the human father of Jesus and welcomed him into his own family whose heritage went back all the way to King David, king of Israel 1000 years before.

On that first Christmas was born a vulnerable, precious baby who became the hope for the future. It is hard to believe, really. When Joseph first learned of the name from an unnamed angel, the baby was still growing in the body of Mary - small, maybe only the size of your fist — and unable to breathe on his own. He was a baby much smaller than Jocelyn Marie Borden who will lie in the cradle for our Christmas Eve pageant. Yet, his name, his identity would be "God saves" or "God helps". As he grew, people would call him, "God is with us" — Immanuel. Joseph and Mary knew that this baby had changed their lives. A few shepherds and some lost foreigners heard the message and found him. Yet, most people had no idea until he began to grow and become the particular person he was named to be. This Christmas present to all humankind, wrapped in a human body, began to say and do radical things that changed lives. He healed people who were sick in physical and emotional pain. He spoke to people that everyone else ignored. He said things that didn't make sense then and don't make sense now. "Blessed are the gentle…," "Blessed are the poor and hungry…," "Blessed are the peacemakers…," "You are the salt of the earth." "You are the light for the world." "Give to anyone who asks you." "Love your neighbor — but that's easy. Anyone can do that. I tell you to love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of God for God causes the sun to rise on the bad as well as the good."

As we come to know this man, Jesus, we realize that God never wants us to be lonely on the schoolyard or lonely in the Financial District or lonely in a house of worship. Jesus shows us that God promises to be with us when we notice something happening that is unfair and we take the risk to step in to change it, whether on the schoolyard or in the Financial District or in the church. With his being, Jesus shows us how important it is the be the "salt" and the "light" that God created us to be, that God named us to be, as Progo named each star into being the particular star that it was supposed to be.

So, we call ourselves Christians and are invited to live into that name, to let it be our authentic identity. God's Christmas gift to us is Jesus who calls out to us in so many ways saying, "I want you to be YOU and to partner with me to build God's kingdom of love and justice and peace." Though we so easily stray from the person God calls us to be, we know in Jesus that we are forgiven and welcomed back into God's love and life, again and again and again. Immanuel. God is with you. Blessed Christmas to you.

* L'Engle, Madeleine, A Wind in the Door p. 78, 99