The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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"I have called you by name"My son and his partner are shortly expecting their first baby, and have been looking at names for their baby. Their list seems to change almost on a daily basis. In a recent Sunday newspaper there was a headline, ‘Would you call your baby Ikea?’ Apparently people are choosing more and more obscure names for their offspring, naming children after their favourite brands of clothes and goods. Apparently parents choose these names because they want to give their child a unique ‘selling point’ or brand or identity. Our names are important to us. We inherit our surname, our family name, from our parents. Our parents then give us our Christian name, or first name. Often these names get shortened or we are known by our nickname. But when we are called by our name we feel special, and important. And perhaps one of the most beautiful passages in the Old Testament is in Isaiah 43. when God says, ‘I have called you by name: you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you……For I am the Lord your God……you are precious in my sight and honoured, and I love you.’ God has called each one of us by name, because he loves us. We are unique and precious in his sight; each one of us is special to God, we don’t have to have some fashionable or obscure name to stand out in the crowd or to be recognised. And in this passage God also promises to be with us when we are overwhelmed by the events of life, when we are afraid or anxious. So whatever life may throw at us we can be assured that God is with us, he has called us by name and he loves us. Judy
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