WHAT’S IN A NAME
On our secular calendar, January 1 is New Year’s Day, a time to resolve to begin the year anew.
On our liturgical calendar, January 1 is the day we honor The Holy Name of Our Lord. Previously called the Feast of the Circumcision, since the 1979 Book of Common Prayer Revision the day is now the Feast of the Holy Name.
Mosaic Law required that every male child be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. Jewish tradition today calls this ceremony the “bris”; and it is also the day the baby is named.
The Gospel of Luke recounts that Mary and Joseph took their child to the temple in Jerusalem for this sacred ritual, after which the baby received his name. Of course, we know that Gabriel had already decreed his name to be Jesus. In Hebrew, Jesus means one who delivers, one who saves, one who heals. Jesus lived into his name; his life purpose was to deliver, to save, to heal.
So I began to wonder about our names. Many of our names hold deep meaning, sometimes etymologically, sometimes for family significance.
My name, Judy, derives from the Hebrew Judith, which means one who is blessed.
Years ago, a life coach guided me to write out my life’s purpose. I chose to include the meaning of my name with the purpose that God was calling me to do. Later I summarized it in a Haiku, a 17-syllable Japanese poem structure:
Blessed One Who Brings
Peace and Joy to Broken World
With humor and fun
Although I may not fully live into this purpose, it’s a good reminder of God’s call for me.
What’s in your name? How does your name reveal your life’s purpose? What is God’s call for you?
Let us pray a prayer for the Feast of the Holy Name (Prayers for the Pilgrimage, p.55):
O Lord, you who were nicknamed by angels and mortals, grant us the grace this day, we pray, to live into our true name, that name that is written on a white stone, so that we might live fully abandoned to you and fully given over to our neighbor in love. We pray this in the name of Jesus, the One whose name is above every name. Amen.
Happy New Year,
Judy Q+
