Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Reading: Romans 10:8b-13

Romans 10:13 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

            Names have power. The masters of African slaves took away their ancestral names and gave them Western names. Concentration camp inmates had their names taken away and replaced by tattooed numbers. How deflated and unimportant we feel when someone forgets our name! Names have power. When Moses wanted to know God’s name, God answered with the puzzling ehyeh-asher-ehyeh, “I-will-be-there-howsoever-I-will-be-there”. Orthodox Jews call God simply Ha-Shem, the Name. We do not know God’s name. We have no power over God; we do not magically conjure God’s presence or compliance by saying God’s name. And yet, God’s promise is clear, God’s promise is inherent in this name: I-will-be-there. And that is the name on which we call.

O God of the desert, you have promised to be present to us in times of trouble. May we remember to call on your name also in times of joy. Amen

• Learn the names of three people in the congregation. Learn the names of three people in your neighborhood or building. Learn the names of three plants that grow only in your part of the world.