Have you thought how important and how powerful your name is?
As a child when you’re being called back to the house to be told off and your full name is being used.
As a school child being called up, for a nice reason, to the front of the hall by the Headteacher.
As an adult when you see your name in print, or you are welcomed into a new team, or even a phone call from someone in authority who you didn’t think knew you
When people use our names it encourages us to think that they know us and being known is incredibly powerful and important. It helps us to relate to people, it helps us to connect with them and it helps us to feel valued by them.
But names have another superpower too. They help us to defeat those things that scare us or worry us.
When we are sick with something we do not know, we are afraid of what it is and we are powerless to fight it.
When we name it, we gain the power and the position to see it, know it, deal with it and stand above it.
An illness named becomes something we can fight against. A bully named becomes something more human and less indestructible.
A sadness named becomes something we can sit with and know that it will lessen in time. A worry named becomes something to plan for, get through and work around.
And today there may be many things that you need to name, to gain power over and to stand over.
When we name something, there is something else that we can do that adds to our power and adds a cape to our superhero costume – we can share it with other superheroes we know. There is a reason that we say a problem shared is a problem halved because as we share the name of the thing that fights against us, we halve its power and double the eyes, double the strength, and double the love that will get us through.
In the Old Testament, God’s name was rarely used, and only written down when absolutely necessary as it was a powerful name to use.
In the Gospels, Jesus tells us to call on His name when we ask for things, His disciples were sent out with the power of Jesus’ name.
And Paul in his letters to the churches repeatedly reminds them that it is in Jesus’ name that we are gathered and blessed.
The Bible reminds us that we are called by God, made in His image, made by Him and known completely by Him. His name halves our fears and doubles our hopes when we pray shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters in Christ, with our colleagues and friends, with our families and those closest to us.
Today – name those things that worry you and share its name with someone who can help you worry less.
Name the things that strengthen you and bring them a little closer to you as you build your strength.
And name the Lord of your life and give Him the power to support you through this trying time.
My Name is Dominic, I am fearfully and wonderfully made by God, He has called me and helps me and He comes when I call.
I am a child of God and I have amazing people around me – in Heaven and on Earth - who want me to win today. I know the same is true for you.
Have a great day. Name the weekend and claim it as a good thing!