Names are important

 

“brfxxccxxmnpccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116” won’t pass in Sweden. (It’s pronounced “Albin,” by the way.)

“Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii” failed in New Zealand.

“@” has been rejected by Chinese officials and “Ovnis” (which means “UFO”) was banned in Portugal.

The Danes have an official list of 7,000 names from which children can be named, and special permission must be acquired to deviate from the list. One child in Japan won’t be signing his name “Akuma,” thank goodness. The word means, literally, “Devil.”

Last year Pope Benedict pleaded with Catholics to abandon silly names for their children, urging them instead to “give your children names that are in the Christian calendar.”

So much for “Heavy D” and “Ferrari.”

By the way, it has been reported that the same judge in New Zealand that ruled out “Tula Does the Hula from Hawaii,” a name actually given to a 9-yearold girl, also ruled out “Fish and Chips” (twins), “Keenan Got Lucky”, and “Yeah Detroit.”

You can however, name your kid “Speedy” in Germany, or “Pluto” or “Monkey” in Denmark.

I guess finding a name a child can live with is a big deal for parents. Or at least it should be, apparently. My parents wanted a name that was easy, not likely to be shortened, and not likely to be relegated to nickname status. I suppose they did alright. I was “Dale” until I got married, then I became “Honey.”

Then I got a career and became “Pastor.” Once I got called “Pastor Honey” inadvertently in public, but that blew over after a couple years. I think I hear “Pastor Dale” most often.

Names are important. Sometimes they come to us from others and we have little or no control over them, but sometimes we name ourselves. “Fretful” once lived down the street. She was always concerned about whether everything was going to go the way she wanted it, or whether she was going to have to clean up “someone else’s mess again.” She usually meant “Angry Guy” or “Careless Kid.” It was hard to tell which one bothered her more.

I love it when I run into “Kindness.” And everyone needs a friend named “Dedicated,” I think. It is good to be “Wise.”

“Wise Guy,” not so much.

Sometimes we name ourselves by our dispositions, our personalities or our relational and social habits. Have you ever given thought to the name by which you introduce yourself to the people around you who may not know your legal name? It’s worth thinking about. Just ask “Jerk” how hard it is to keep a friend and “Worthless” how hard it is to keep a job. But everybody loves “Gracious” and “Helpful.” Names are important.

Even more important than the name itself, or how we define our name, is the place where our names are ultimately recorded. The Bible unveils a future seen where all the dead, great and small, stand before a great white throne, where God sits to judge all he created.

Books are brought and the deeds of all men are expounded before God, set out to be justly judged. The book of life is opened as well. And the dead are judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And, regardless of the good or bad they had done, “if anyone’s name was not found in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15)

My point in drawing your attention to that passage is this: you can be named “Fretful” or “Angry” or “Matilda” or “Mergatroyd,” but what matters is if your name is written in God’s book of life. So, then, how does one get one’s name in the book?

By faith. By faith in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to excise from the books the report of wrongdoing that is written against each of us. Jesus offers in his death to take upon himself the full measure of our guilt and shame and give us eternal life as a reward of simple faith and trust. By faith in Jesus his name gets written in our book and our name gets written in his.

That’s the Good News.

Pastor Dale McIntire has served as pastor of the Cornerstone Community Church in Grand Marais since April of 1995.