Today’s Scripture Reading (February 8, 2018): Romans 16
We are told
that names have power. Bob Marley once remarked, “Bob Marley isn't my
name. I don't even know my name yet.” The idea is that a name is
something into which you have to grow. I have
often heard sculptor’s comment about the mystical image that is hidden in the piece
of wood or rock that is about to be brought under the artist’s various tools. Because
of this, it follows that the task of the artist is not to create something out
of his imagination, but rather to reveal the form that is already there inside
of the medium. Maybe a name involves a similar mystery. Maybe what we
should be doing is blessing our children with a temporary name, and then allow
them to grow into whatever name that it seems might be right for them. Or maybe
not.
When I was a teenager, my family moved from
the city to a small town in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. And I
decided that such a move needed a change in me. I decided, with my parent's blessing, to exchange my first name,
Garry, for my middle name, David. From this point forward I would be known as
David Mullen. But the name didn’t take. Admittedly, the big problem was that I couldn’t seem to remember to answer to David.
It just wasn’t me. I was Garry. And so after a short struggle, I returned to
being Garry. Apparently, I did know my name, and it wasn’t David.
Biblically, there are stories of people who
have changed their names, because names are
supposed to possess some kind of power.
So Jacob (the name means supplanter or schemer) becomes Israel (the Prince who
prevails with God), Simon (a hearing) becomes Peter (the Rock), and Phoebe
becomes – okay it doesn’t always work like that.
Sometimes it seems that the name changes, but
sometimes the one that we came with is good enough. Phoebe is likely the
carrier of this letter to the Romans. She is a deacon in the church at Cenchreae,
the King James rendering of this name, Cenchrea, is incorrect. Cenchreae was a
port of Corinth just across the Isthmus to the east of the city. But maybe what
is most significant about Phoebe is that she is a Christian leader who receives
a high recommendation from Paul, and yet she seems to be very comfortable with
her name. Phoebe is the female derivative of the name Apollo, and despite the
name’s close association with a pagan God, neither Phoebe nor the early church
preacher, Apollo, saw any need in changing their names.
Sometimes it appears that a name is just a name. And instead of
our name informing on our character, we give meaning to our names by the way
that we live our lives. And so I am Garry, and whatever meaning that I might
want to give to that name, whether for better or worse, is up to me, just as
the meaning given to your name is up to you.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 1
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