A New Name
This is the sermon I preached on New Year's Day, 1/1/17 at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran Churches. The text was Galatians 4:4-7 . What is in a name? Shakespeare wrote, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (William Shakespeare, "Romeo and Juliet"). When picked on, adults used to tell kids, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." We quickly discover that this is not so! Some labels given to us are such that we may struggle with them as adults. All names are powerful, but Jesus’ name is the most powerful of all. We use names as a concise way to convey complex meanings: being able to call someone by name means you know something important about that person, and being called by name means you are known. On this day we celebrate the privilege and the power of calling God by name, and that name is Jesus. Our texts for today affirm the power of the name we’re given at baptism: chil...