Sermon for
January 18, 2004
2nd Sunday after the Epiphany
What Shall I Call
You? Isaiah 62:1-5
What shall I call
you? That’s the question you ask when you have met someone and want to
get to know them better. When you first meet someone you are not sure if
they go by their first name or a nickname or perhaps there is a name by
which they are called that is not at all related to their given name but
is nonetheless endearing to them—a name friends use. So you ask, “What
shall I call you?”
Most of us are called
by many names. From time to time I attend events where prepared nametags
are used. These nametags are very helpful, especially if you are meeting
folks for the first time. But at most of these events the name listed on
my name tag is “William,” so I always have to make sure that everybody
calls me “Bill.” Now you will understand that my name changes sometimes
depending on the context. Recently some of our relatives from Ohio
visited with us here in Roanoke, as you may remember. Now we moved from
Ohio when I was in the fourth grade—you may understand that time has
stopped in Ohio since I was 10 years old. Most of my family there still
knows me from that context. So what did my relatives call me when they
visited recently? Well, of course, they called me “Billy.”!
Most of us are called
by many names. Sometimes names get attached because of a particular
character trait or favorite, cherished moment in a person’s life. I don’t
even want to begin to ask you grandparents all the names your
grandchildren call you! I am amazed how many versions there are, how many
different was there are to say Gramma, Grampa, Mamaw, Papaw, MeMoo,
Mimi….it’s almost like a foreign language! But between the two who
address one another there is no need for translation whatever. Sometimes
the names span generations. When Salina, our youngest, was a small child
and was just skipping everywhere you know what I called her? I called her
the same thing my mother called me when I was her age…the same thing her
mother called her and perhaps on back through the generations: “OK, Hoppy,
Skippy, Jumpy!”
So what shall I call
you? A name endears us to one another and often touches the very depth of
who we are, who we know ourselves to be. I suppose that is why one of the
most hurtful things and one of the most often used and effective means
there is to really get somebody is to call them a name. The children know
and have experienced this very well. And this is not just limited to the
experience of children. Mature adults do it, too—adults may be more
sophisticated about it. You see it may come up in rather polite
conversation from time to time that “he is so arrogant” or “she is so
rude.” It takes its toll—rather than building up and enhancing
relationship it serves to break apart and destroy relationship. It takes
its toll.
I am reminded of the
cartoon strip “The Far Side.”
The scene is a den. Upon the walls of this room are hung all
the way
around the head of
reindeer which have been hunted and mounted.
Seated in the chair
smoking a pipe is a certain red-nosed reindeer. The
caption: “All the other
reindeer used to laugh and call him names.”
It takes its toll, especially if
that name is really a reflection of the heart of a people. The people of
God had a name by which they were known at the time of the prophet. They
had been exiled from the promised land in the far-off place called
Babylon—transported from the land of Israel to what is now Iraq. They had
been carried off from their homeland, the temple had been destroyed, the
wall of Jerusalem had been leveled, and they had been taken away by the
marauding Babylonian army to a place where God was nowhere to be found.
That’s what it felt like to them. It took its toll when they were led
away to exile and their captors required songs and mirth from them saying,
“Come on! Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” It took such a toll that
they hung up their lyres on the willow trees and simply could not sing.
“How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land.”
You they had a name
by which they were known. You didn’t have to ask what to call them—you
could see it on their faces; you could experience it in their dispirited
and downtrodden demeanor. Their captors, their neighbors, all who knew of
their plight and their condition talked about them. Their plundered land
from which they were taken they called “Desolate.” The people of God now
in exile—they called them “Forsaken.” They would talk about the Forsaken
who came from Desolate.
This is the people of
God whom the prophet addresses. The prophet cannot contain himself.
For Zion’s sake
I will not keep silent. For Jerusalem’s sake I will not
rest until her
vindication shines out like the dawn and her salvation
like a burning torch.
V. 1a
The prophet boldly announces the
vindication of the people, their return to the promised land, and the
restoration of the nation.
You shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD
will
give. You shall be a
crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a
royal diadem in the hand
of your God. You shall no more be termed
Forsaken, and your land shall
no more be termed Desolate.. vv 2b-4b
Now throughout Scripture when God
entered into relationship with someone, you could almost hear God say,
“Now, what shall I call you?” God came to Abram and told him, “I will be
your God, you will be my people. Your descendants will number as the
grains of sand at the seashore. Go to a land flowing with milk and honey
where I will lead you. Through you all the nations of the world will be
blessed.” Then you could almost hear God say, “What shall I call you?”
And God gave Abram a new name—Abraham—a new name for a new beginning.
When Jesus was
baptized by John at the Jordan the heavens opened and the spirit descended
like a dove and a voice came from heaven saying, “You are my beloved Son,
with you I am well pleased.” Son of God—a new name for a new
beginning.
What the Scripture
says to you today is that no matter what you may be called, no matter how
you have been known that’s not you anymore.
You shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give.
You shall be called crown
of beauty in the hand of the LORD and a royal
diadem in the hand of
your God…you shall be called “My Delight is in
her.”
God’s Delight!
A new name for a new beginning.
We are all about new
beginnings in this new year:
Two weeks ago we shared in John Wesley’s
Covenant Service, renewing the
covenant God made with Abraham.
With God promise to us, “I will be
your God” we promised again, “we will
be your people.” A new beginning.
Last week as we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord we renewed the
baptismal covenant with the word of
blessing, “Remember your baptism,
and be thankful.” An new beginning.
This morning, as we celebrate again the Sacrament of Baptism and
welcome Sophia Grace, a child of God,
is there anything more
appropriate the church can call
her other than God’s sheer Delight?
As we look to new beginnings in this
new year let us all leave behind every vestige and every excuse and every
reason we can think of or remember that would cause us to doubt who we
are. People of God are not Forsaken. The Church is never Desolate. With
God there are always new beginnings with a new name and a fresh start. It
is simply left to us to listen as God calls us by name.
That’s why the
prophet simply could not contain himself.
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent! For Jerusalem’s
sake I will not
rest!…you shall be
called by a new name!
The good news today is that not just here but throughout the Scripture
when God entered into relationship with someone or with a people you could
almost hear God say, “Now, what shall I call you? Ah, I know! My
delight!”
William G. Davidson
South Roanoke United Methodist Church
