It's Only A Name

I believe one of the most difficult jobs of parenthood is choosing a name for your unborn child. There are books and websites to help us all figure out what to name our child. Many of us spend time search family records so that we can give our children a name that reminds them of their family or the name comes out of a shared experience by the parents. Regardless of how we select a name it is still one of the first ways parents begin to influence their child’s life. A name tells the world who you are, where you come from and to whom you belong.
Waiting to meet the child you name
Photo by Christopher Lukanich
In today’s scripture reading, God not only knows the names of Abram and Sarai but he changes them to remind them how they are now changed. When God promises to bless them and their descendants’ but he gives them a reminder of this promise. They are new people because of their new relationship with God so they have new names that suit their new roles.
Name changing happens a few times in scripture to indicate a new relationship with God. Jacob becomes Israel. Simon is later called Peter. Saul becomes Paul. Each time a name is changed it is due to a new understanding of that person’s role in God’s kingdom.
This practice of name changing continues even today. Women or couples change their last name after they are married. A monarch often changes their name at their coronation and religious leaders like the Pope take on new names when they are made Pope. We all take on titles that indicate our roles in the world.
Names & Titles Change As We Change
The name change that occurs with Abraham and Sarah shows us that God knew them and claimed them as his own. The same is true at Baptism. A simple word that proclaims that you are marked as “Christ’s own forever.”
Regardless of how we come by our names God know us by name and uses our name to call us.

Today’s Scripture: Genesis 17: 3-5, 15-16

Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

Conversation Starters: 
  • Tell your children how and why you chose eavh of their names.
  • What does your name mean to you?
  • Do you believe God knows your name?
  • How does your name tell God who you are?
  • How does the fact God knows you by name make you feel?
  • I wonder, would God give you a different name.

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