Sunday, December 22, 2013

Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Advent: December 22, 2013

Sermon for Advent 4: December 22, 2013


PREACHER: Pastor Carrie Smith

“What’s in a name?”

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The website BabyCenter recently released its annual baby name report, including a list of the most unusual names of the year. This year’s list includes, for girls: Blip, Fairy, and Kiwi. For boys, the list contains: Ajax, Cheese, Danish, Egypt, Jag, Panda, and Rocket. That’s right, I said “Cheese”. Someday, there could be a little Senator Cheese or Pastor Cheese or Doctor Cheese in your life.

Oh, but wait: it gets better! On this same website you can search for other unusual names from past years. You can find out, for example, that there have been multiple babies named Swag, Hotdog, Butterbean, Phone, Freak, Poopy, Superman, Mushroom, and Elbow. Actually, in 2009, there were three babies named Elbow. One has to wonder if Elbow had a brother named Kneecap and a sister named Bellybutton. Or, maybe he had a twin named Macaroni…

What’s in a name? Does it matter what we are called? Naming my first son Caleb was easy: his was the only name (and I mean the only name!) Robert and I could agree on. In fact, we joked that if he turned out to be a girl, he would simply have to be Calebina, because we couldn’t imagine agreeing on another name.

Some of you know already how our second child, Zion, was almost (but not quite) named Micah, with our plans thwarted when we got to know our pastor’s son, who was 14 years old and also named Mikah. But I don’t think I’ve mentioned how, once we got around to choosing “Zion” as the alternative, we got stuck on a middle name. This baby was due to be born 2 days after Christmas, so Robert and I thought it should be something Christmas-y. This would have been easier for a girl—you could always go with Noelle, or Holly, or Ivy, or the ever-popular Mary. It was a little harder for a boy, but even so, we were very excited to tell some friends we had decided on… “Emmanuel”. Zion Emmanuel Smith.

To say our friends reacted badly would be an understatement. “Oh, for the love of all that is holy!” they said. “This baby is already growing up as the pastor’s kid. Can you at least give him ONE normal name? Don’t do that to him.”

Yep…And that is how our second child became Zion ROBERT. Also, he was born nearly 3 weeks early, on December 8, which sort of ruined the whole Christmas-cutesy thing anyway.

So, what’s in a name? How much does it matter what we are called? In the birth story of the Messiah that we heard this morning, baby names are everything. The author of the Gospel of Matthew says “This is how the birth of the Messiah happened” and then instead of telling about the labor and the contractions, the story begins with Mary and Joseph’s engagement, some surprising pregnancy news, and then a dream in which an angel gives Joseph baby-naming advice. After suggesting he put “Jesus” at the top of the list, the angel goes on to repeat a prophecy from many centuries before:

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means God with us.”

“You shall name him Jesus” and “They shall name him Emmanuel.” Have you noticed? In the Bible, no one seems to consult baby name books or websites before bestowing names upon people. Names in Scripture more often come from angels or from dreams. Names are even changed after close encounters with God. In this case, the baby born to Mary and Joseph receives two names: Jesus is the name Mary and Joseph will give him, following the angel’s advice. Emmanuel is the name the world will give him. 


They shall name him Emmanuel, which means God with us.” Just as “Christ” isn’t Jesus’ last name, “Emmanuel” isn’t his middle name. “Emmanuel” is rather a description of Jesus’ life and ministry. It’s a title that speaks not only of Jesus as baby in a manger, but Jesus as healer, as itinerant preacher, and as prophet. This moniker, “Emmanuel”, tells us something special about this baby: it reveals that wherever Jesus is, God is present. Jesus is “God with us.”


Remember, the hope of a child being born who would be called “Immanuel, God with us” didn’t begin with this angel’s announcement in Joseph’s, but was spoken through the book of Isaiah long before. This was a hope that carried the people of God through exile and oppression, through times of persecution and famine. To understand how the hope of “God with us” could be so powerful, consider for a moment the value of presence. No, not “presents” like we have wrapped and waiting under the Christmas tree, but presence.
Consider the experience of trying to talk to a customer service representative on the phone or through online chat, and how sometimes you would do anything just to have a real person to look in the eyes and ask your question. Can I get an Amen? Or, consider the modern miracle of Skype and FaceTime and email. These innovations have changed life for those who live or travel or work overseas, because now we can see and hear each other instantly and (nearly) for free. No more Airmail or telegrams or, even worse, weeks with no contact at all. But ask any grandparent whose grandchildren live in another country, or anyone whose spouse is deployed overseas, about the value of “presence”, and they will tell you that the ability to hug and touch and feel a loved one is far better than cyber communication across the miles. Amen?

“God with us” means God is present with us. God keeps company with us. The church-y word for it is “incarnation”. The Gospel of John puts it this way: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) The writer Frederick Buechner makes it plainer: “Moses at the burning bush was told to take off his shoes because the ground on which he stood was holy ground (Exodus 3:5), and the incarnation means that all ground is holy ground because God not only made it but walked on it, ate and slept and worked and died on it.” (“Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC” p. 43)


When the angel told Joseph this baby would be called Emmanuel, God with us, it was more than helpful naming advice. This was the announcement that the hope of God’s people was about to be fulfilled: God was coming near. The divine, holy Other would soon have skin on. God, the almighty, creator of all things, would not be living in a land far away or housed in a place or time any more special than this one. The birth of the baby called Emmanuel means that this is a holy place, right here. This is sacred time, right now. This is God’s tabernacle, wherever two or three are gathered in his name.

And sisters and brothers, this is what it means for you that this particular baby, born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger, is the one who is called Emmanuel, God with us:

If an animal’s feeding trough is a holy enough place for God to hang out, then so is your car, and your living room, your dinner table and your work cubicle.

If an unmarried, teenage girl is holy enough to carry God within her womb and in doing so, change the world, then so are your hands holy enough to do God’s work for the sake of the world.

And if a newborn baby’s body—crying, hungry, wiggly and needy—is honored and respected by God as holy ground, then so is your body to be honored and respected, treated as the holy temple that it is. And, to take it a step further, if the incarnation means that all ground is holy ground, then so too is every body a holy body: Yours and mine. Able and differently abled. Black, white and brown. LGBTQ & A (and every other letter of the alphabet for that matter). “God with us” means God is with all of us, no exceptions.

Dear friends, the next time we gather together, it will be to celebrate what has been spoken by the prophets, revealed in a dream to Joseph, and announced to Mary by the angel Gabriel: That the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’ Be not afraid--the king shall come! All earth is hopeful, the Savior comes at last! Mary and Joseph named him Jesus. We call him Savior, our light in the darkness, prince of peace, and our long-expected Jesus, come to set the people free. We call him Emmanuel, God-with-us. Thanks be to God, for the most precious gift of presence. Amen.





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