What’s in a name? The answer to that question in this day and age just might be "not much." I mean if someone tells you their name, we're more liable to forget it than remember it for names no longer tell us anything about that person like they once did. But then an incident from my past comes to mind and I’m again reminded how names can still be special. Years ago, shortly after moving to California from the East Coast in order to attend Bible college, a friend called me up to see if I’d be interested in taking one of his kitty cats off his hands; he’d had a litter of Siamese kittens and was anxious to get rid of most of them. Having just moved into a small house with another student, I thought it might be nice having a feline presence on the premises although I wasn’t exactly what you would call a “cat person.” And so within an hour, I drove down to his house and picked one out to bring back with me. 

On the way home, I realized I had to have a name for this cat- after all, you can’t have an animal living with you without SOMETHING to call it by. That’s when I thought to myself, “who better to consult about a name than God.” But before asking for God’s help in this, I laid down two prerequisites, two criteria- that any name would have to have both a literary AND a biblical association since literature and the Bible were my two great passions in life. Driving my 1960 Mercury Meteor down the California Freeway, I picked up that cat with my free hand and prayed, “Lord, I dedicate this kitten to you and I only ask that you give me a special name for it.” At that moment, a word suddenly popped into my head, the name “Ariel.” Now I knew that Ariel was an airy spirit in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” and several years earlier, I had read a biography of the English poet Shelley with a title of the same name, but I had no idea that it held any kind of BIBLICAL significance. Still, I thought fulfilling one of my two requirements was sufficient enough to declare my prayer successfully answered. I then offered up a quick addendum to my prayer with “Lord, I hereby name this cat ‘Ariel.’ May Ariel remain a faithful disciple of yours as long as it shall live. Amen.” My housemate on the other hand, not especially enamored with cats nor impressed with its name, had his OWN name for my cat- he simply preferred to call it “White Trash.”

One week later, I was at a Bible study which someone was conducting on the book of Isaiah. He asked all of us to open up our Bibles to chapter 29, the first verse. As I sat there and read it, all at once, I received a sudden shock. You see, the text began, “Ho Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped!” and it was in reference to the holy city of Jerusalem. But the amazing thing was not that I now had proof that my cat’s name had a BIBLICAL association, it was discovering that “Ariel” was Hebrew for, now get this- “LION OF GOD.” In other words, my little kitty cat--the same that I had prayed over the week before as I was driving down the California freeway--was in fact a “lion of God.” Now I don’t know about YOU but I tend to believe that God is often involved in such so-called “coincidences.” Looking back now, I somewhat suspect it was God’s way of assuring me that I wasn’t ALONE out there but that he’d be looking after me the entire time. Despite finding myself some three thousand miles from home, undertaking a calling I wasn’t at all confident in nor one I fully understood, I could take real comfort in knowing that as long as Jesus was on the journey WITH ME, there was nothing to fear, even if I sometimes felt lost and had no idea where the path would lead. I’m now convinced those are special moments that God builds into our lives, instances he never wants us to forget!

Now when you immerse yourself in the world of the Bible, you discover that, unlike today, the names of people, places, and events are ALL significant and pregnant with meaning. A person's name revealed something of one's character or history and was not simply a moniker or device to identify someone by. Thus, Abraham was "the Father of many nations"; David was the "Beloved One"; Peter, "the Rock"; and Jesus--most meaningful of ALL–signified "Savior." This was no less true of God himself. In the Old Testament, Moses asks God for his name because the people would surely ask him, “What is the name of the God who sends you?” God's only reply was "I am that I am- THAT is my name." By this, God was intending to make clear that he was the eternal and everlasting Lord of the universe who deserved the utmost respect and reverence. God's name was SO holy that it was forbidden for any Jew to even PRONOUNCE it. It appears in our Bible as “Jehovah” but even THIS is the result of guess-work.

Only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, was the whole name (known only to the high priest) uttered in the Temple in Jerusalem. And when the name came out of his mouth "in holiness and purity," those who stood near him prostrated themselves, and those who stood afar said, "Blessed be thy name for ever and ever." The name was pronounced ten times during worship, and yet even before the people left the Temple, all of them would forget the pronunciation. His name was filled with mystery, awe, and wonder; it was Israel's most sacred possession. To approach or address God casually without ascribing to him the reverence and honor he was due was to not only show disrespect towards God, it detracted from his holiness and reduced him to our OWN level- the Creator made commensurate with his creation.

With all the gains that modern man has made in the past 500 years, ESPECIALLY in the areas of knowledge, science, and technology, many moral observers say it is precisely this sense of the immense mystery and power of the divine that has become sacrificed so that NOTHING seems sacred any more. Whether you agree with them or not, they mourn the fact that the SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE has become diminished by the high rate of divorce and the proliferation of broken homes in our society; that the SANCTITY OF THE HUMAN BODY no longer exists as we think nothing of exploiting our nakedness across millions of television screens, magazine centerfolds, and internet pages; and the SANCTITY OF THE SOUL has been lost as persons openly parade their most guarded secrets and intimate details of their lives for all the world to hear on programs like Access Hollywood or Jerry Springer. They say we have become a nation of voyeurs and exhibitionists where NOTHING is off limits any more- persons willing to sell our souls to the highest bidder for a brief fifteen minutes of fame, or so they say.

Not even the CHURCH has escaped this charge. A.W.Tozer, a popular Christian author, wrote at great length about the life of the modern church and maintained that its greatest loss was the loss of reverence for God. He firmly believed that God would honor any group of believers who genuinely honored HIM. However, wherever God was rendered irrelevant in the life of his people; when churches became little more than social clubs in the community and God's authority, person, and power were ignored, then death and decadence had already set in- the church was no longer the People of God. Well if this is true, then The Lord’s Prayer teaches us that to hallow God's name means to honor God himself, and if we have no reverence or respect for God, then the REST of our petitions and prayers will have been mouthed in vain. 

To be obedient to this first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we FIRST need to hallow God's name in our THOUGHTS. It’s an axiom of human psychology that as a person THINKS, so does he or she ACT, therefore, we need to keep our thoughts pure and wholesome. This is, of course, a tall order. There is probably nothing harder for us to do than to discipline our thought-life, for this consumeristic culture of ours bombards us with constant distractions, using every form of seductive advertising for everything from soft drinks to automobiles, whether on radio, television, or in our daily newspaper ads. As Paul cautioned the church at Philippi: "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Phil 4:8).

SECONDLY, we need to hallow God's name in our WORDS. When you think of it, a word is actually a miracle of sorts. In an effort to communicate a thought or feeling, our brain sends a signal to our diaphragm which, acting like a pump, forces the air in our lungs up and out between two little reeds in our throat called a voice box. By modulating the volume of air and manipulating it with our lips, we then send that unique combination of sound waves through the air. Once intercepted by another person’s ears, these sound waves are then transformed into electrical signals which travel to the brain where they are then analyzed, thereby eliciting some kind of response. In this way, our THOUGHTS are transformed into WORDS through which we are able to express what we want or how we feel from one person to another and that, when you think about it, is truly a miracle. 

Thus, for me to stand in this pulpit and preach to you from God's Word--the Bible--as I am doing this morning is to participate in the marvel of communication- in this case, of sharing with you the heart, the mind, and the feelings of God. We form words and they in turn form us. We are our language and we tend to be what we speak. But there is also much POWER in words. Yesterday, the latest issue of The Christian Century—a leading magazine on church and society which I’ve subscribed to for many years--arrived in my mailbox. In his introduction to it, the publisher--Peter Marty--mused on the power of words and their responsible use by Christians and the church. He says:

I think a great deal about language, particularly given my vocation. When I climb into the pulpit, I regularly contemplate the responsibility. All I have are words. I don’t have a paintbrush, welding torch, or stethoscope. Only words. Once those words leave my tongue, they’re gone. There’s no retrieving them. Either they form people into creative and faithful beings or they fall flat and merely inform. Or worse, they take down.

Marty is right about their power, their ability to hurt as well as heal- words have started wars but words have also had the power to end them. We can wound or destroy those dearest to us with a single utterance like, “I hate you,” or we can awaken confidence and joy in them with a simple phrase such as “I love you.” This is why there has been so much concern over our own President’s speech at times. The fact is that when HE speaks, people all over the world pay attention, and when he uses words so recklessly, so carelessly--especially when he does something which seems as harmless as tweeting—the consequences can be ENORMOUS and affect persons more than just himself!

When I was a minister in Waterloo, Iowa, a local man was convicted of killing another man after some name-calling broke out; he eventually received the maximum penalty of life in prison. He apparently became upset when someone used a racial slur during a party they were both attending. He and his friends left the party only to return soon after with knives in their possession. An argument erupted and when an innocent bystander stepped in to break it up, he was stabbed to death. When I heard about it, my first thought was “whatever happened to ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” which we used to say as kids?” Now that young man will be spending all or the bulk of his years behind bars, a wasted life indeed, all because a word was too casually or thoughtlessly tossed his way and he responded with an act of deadly violence. Thus instead of recognizing communication as a divine miracle, rather than using language to reveal the glory and beauty and love of God, we carelessly use this gift as a weapon thereby discrediting both ourselves AND God. If we think on those things which are true and honest and just and pure and lovely, let our speech reflect those thoughts, and in this way, we hallow God's name with our words.

And THIRDLY, we are to hallow God's name in our RELATIONS WITH OTHERS. The fact that God HAS a name and is willing to reveal it to us is one of the most revolutionary ideas in all the Bible and it has the most radical consequences. We know from personal experience that when you encounter a person and learn his or her name and this person in turn learns yours, then there is an immediate bond established; there is a space of intimacy and familiarity created. You’re no longer strangers because you now know the most important thing about each other- your names. And by discovering that person’s name and entering into a dialogue with him or her, something amazing slowly begins to happen. The walls of formality and suspicion begin to come down and you start to look at that person differently; you start to regard that person as a kind of friend, addressing him or her with a dignity and worth and freedom that didn’t exist before. This is why the very first question one ever asks of a stranger is “what is your name?” for in the exchange of that initial bit of information, you’re NO LONGER strangers. The possibility for more information being shared and of a new relationship being created is thus opened up. 

Well God could have treated humanity as just one more part of his creation, as one more object among many others- that is, as “strangers.” INSTEAD, God chose to REVEAL his name and thereby enter into relationship with us. He exalted us over the rest of the creation and conferred upon us a dignity and a freedom unlike anything else in the universe. He chose to love us and care for us even when we proved disobedient and unfaithful towards him. God did more than create the heavens and the earth. More importantly, God created a permanent BOND, a relationship of love and trust between himself and us. When God told us his name, he thereby introduced himself to us and declared that we are no longer strangers but intimates whereupon he is now our Father and we are his children. And if God is the Father of us all, then we become brothers and sisters to each other- ALL of us, and that same dignity and worth and freedom we have received must be accorded to them AS WELL.

And WHY is this so radical? Because it means that in the same way that God revealed his name to US and opened up a space to create a real and lasting fellowship between US, so are we to continually extend that same opportunity for relationship with OTHERS. We are to treat ALL persons--friend or foe, rich or poor, young or old, black or white, gay or straight alike--with the same openness and dignity and respect that God treats US with, and when we do, only THEN do we “hallow” or make his name holy. Where we are always building walls between ourselves, God is always tearing them DOWN. Thus, we are to overlook all those meaningless differences, to disregard all racial barriers or class distinctions, and recognize how by God’s grace alone–by the revelation of his name to us--we have been accepted and forgiven and called into relationship with HIM and with EACH OTHER.

But one final point needs to be made. It is important to note that "Jehovah" or "Yahweh," that holiest of all names used by the Jews for God does not even occur in the New Testament. The N.T. writers used the Greek word "Kyrios" for the word "Lord," and Theos" for "God," but the sacred name of the Jews does not appear ANYWHERE between the covers of Matthew and Revelation. We do not see that holiest of names because God made a NEW covenant with his people, and with it he revealed his TRUE name. The mystery, the awe, the wonder concerning the identity of God is a thing of the past. There is a NEW name under heaven by which persons may have a true knowledge of God and enjoy a real relationship with him, and that name is "Jesus Christ." NO MORE did high priests alone have access to that name for we have ALL become high priests and that name is now upon EVERYONE'S lips. NO MORE did the Jews have to return to the secrecy of the Holy of Holies to hear that name uttered for the secrecy is gone! The Good News of God's saving love in Jesus Christ has been revealed and is now being proclaimed to every culture, every race, every land. For this reason we worship him, as we do God, and we gladly sing: