What's in a name

Do you know what your name means?

If your surname is Barber, Smith, Taylor, Hunter, Butcher, Farmer, Scrivener or Fletcher, you have a fairly strong clue to the trade or profession of the founder of your family. If it is Redhead, White, Longshanks, Black, High, Brown or Saxon, you will have some idea of his appearance. Underwood, Meadows, Heath, Forrest, Dale all give an indication of the landscape in which he lived, while countless families are named after the town or village from which their early fore- bear came - Bunbury, Ridley, Calveley to name but three!

First names, too, have their meaning, usually an expression of what parents find in or hope for their child. Amy means loved; John means friend of God; Brian means warrior; Helen means beautiful. And of course many first names reflect parents' heroes or heroines: Biblical heroes like Samuel, David, Luke or Abraham; filmstars like Cary, Brad, Ingrid or Natalie; royal role-models such as Diana or William; football heroes . . . . We could go on.

Names are very important. By our name we are known and through our name we learn something about ourselves: who we are, to whom we belong, something of our family history, even what is hoped for us. It gives us our identity, our sense of wholeness, even, in some cases, our destiny.

It has always been so since God created the first man, Adam (Man), and Adam called his wife Eve (Life).

It was so in Jesus's time. When the Archangel Gabriel (Man of God) told Joseph (He shall add) to accept Mary (bitter) as his wife despite her pregnancy, he also told him to name the child Jesus (Saviour) because, he explained, "He will save His people from their sins."

In that name which is above all other, the whole Christian message is revealed. "It is by the Holy Spirit that Mary has conceived this child," the Archangel told Joseph. Joseph would be an earthly father to Him, but He was in fact the Son of God. He would grow to be a man who one day would identify with all victims of sin, oppression and injustice. Not only that: He would take on himself the intolerable guilt of all the perpetrators of sin, oppression and injustice. In this twofold anguish and double identity He would go to Jerusalem and by the rulers of the state and the leaders of the Temple - representatives of law and religion - He would be crucified, accepting His cruel fate without protest because this was the destiny told in His name, Jesus, to "save His people from their sins."

That is why we approach the manger at Christmas with awe, like Mary pondering all these things in our hearts.

Christmas is so much more than trees, tinsel and presents, so much more than a beautiful story.

It is the wonder of the purposes of God, and of the birth, and the name, of Jesus.

Rick