I wonder if you would try a short and simple experiment with me. I invite you to think about your name. Say it to yourself a few times. Take a mental note what that feels like. Now try to imagine it is not your name and try out a different name (Charlotte, Rodney, Olivia, Owen, Jack, Jane). What does that feel like? It’s hard isn’t it? It’s hard because a name is an expression of the essential nature of a person.

I think the Hebrew understanding of ‘name’ is onto something. When a Jewish person thinks about a person’s name they don’t just think of a physical body. They think of the person plus his or her environment and more. A person is not only their physical body but their environment, their relatives, their families, their work. Everything about that person is included in their name and so your name can end up growing quite big in a lifetime.

And your name has a beginning. Let’s think about the names we have been given. Is there anybody here who’s name reflects something that happened around your birth? My niece was born on Christmas Day 24 years ago and her name is Angela. Is anybody named after a member of your family? How about named after a famous person? Maybe your name just sounded good to the people who named you. Sometimes your name will reflect your reputation. Isn’t that what a reputation is, your name writ large?

Would anybody like to change her or his name? It is hard to change the name you were given because if you did then you would have to change too.

While we’re on the topic of names did you know that God has a name too? When we say the word ‘God’ we really don’t know much logically of what we’re saying—really (think about it). This is God’s name: YHWH, but nobody can pronounce it. Whenever YHWH is written in the Bible you will probably hear  Adonai, Jehovah. This word, God’s name, in Hebrew is unpronounceable.

Today is a time in the church when we remember the names we are given. It is named Baptism  Sunday and we remember and think about Jesus’ baptism and our own baptism. If you have not been baptized then you are invited to think about Jesus’ baptism. You may have heard a minister tell you to remember your baptism. For years I wondered what that meant, because I was only two months old when I was baptized and I don’t remember that. But there are many things, many, many things to remember about your baptism. There are four main things to remember:
1. We are formally made a member of the holy catholic church.
2. We remember the promises we made to God that we would follow in the way of Jesus.
3. We remember that baptism is not ours. It belongs to God and so there are many things about baptism that we can’t understand, only God can. Mystery is a part of baptism.
4. The last thing and probably the most important thing is that when we are baptized we are given what seems like two names but really only one big one. If you were baptized as a baby the minister asks your caregivers/parents, “What is the name of this child?” And they told the minister and the minister said your name out into the congregation when he or she poured water on your head. Some of you probably cried when you felt the water and some of you didn’t do a whole lot of anything when you received your new name, BELOVED. When you were baptized the church celebrated the love of God for you and the church also celebrated the love for all people of every age, baptized or not. By having water poured onto your head does not make God love you but it gives us in the church things that we can touch and see to celebrate God’s love for all of us. So when you are baptized you are called ___________, BELOVED. As Jesus came up from the water of his baptism he heard the word BELOVED. In Hebrew the word he heard was  (pronounced yah-DEED).

Every year at this time and whenever someone is baptized in this church God wants us to remember baptism. Remembering is so very important because it is really, really, really easy to forget our name BELOVED. Little (and big but mostly little) things that happen to us during the day make us wish we were different: smarter, taller, richer, stronger, wiser, more popular. God gives us such a fantastic name, BELOVED and we go searching for loopholes in it. It’s like God is saying, “Wow! I can’t believe I made such a brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous person!” And what do we do sometime? We knock God and say, “Uh no God this one you made is not that brilliant, not that gorgeous, not that talented. This one can’t control his emotions. He/She gets too angry. He’s/She's not very smart. Who are we to deny what God has created? Something else we do is to work too hard. We get afraid that we’re going to make a mistake and so we try harder to please people so they won’t get mad at us. But what God wants us to remember to do is to get excited about the life we have been given. Close your eyes for a minute. Think about the person you love the most, most, most. Imagine that that person is gone. Imagine what that is like. Now open your eyes and as soon as you can look at that person and when you see them know that you are seeing a miracle in front of you.  Tell that person that you love them. Give them a smile. A woman on the Air Canada plane that plunged and swayed this past week on its way to Toronto and thankfully was able to recover itself, said a prayer: “Make this fast. Don’t make it painful and take good care of my family.” Why wait for a crisis? Open yourself to the blessings of life right now. Tell your loved ones how much you love them now. Another thing we need to remember in our baptism is to play more. That’s what the water is for. Water is something we can touch and feel and even taste. Spend more time with people under 6 years old and with people over 70. They know how to play. These are just a few of the things that prevent our name BELOVED from sinking in. There are a million more things that prevent your name BELOVED from sinking in. And so I am passing out these cards that read:

______________________BELOVED 
You are God’s BELOVED and precious
child and you are beautiful to behold.

Remember…
Be one who is able to forgive. Live with wisdom and with gratitude in your heart. Above all, clothe yourself with love and let  the peace of Christ rule in your heart. And whatever you do, do everything in the name of Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God.

I invite you to think of a place in your life that makes you forget your name BELOVED. Perhaps you have been shamed into thinking there is something wrong with you. Place this card in that place. Perhaps your hands don’t work the way you want them to. Place this card on your hands. God calls all of us and each of us BELOVED and that means ALL of US! EVERYTHING about us is BELOVED.

I asked that the font be moved here in the middle of the sanctuary because this is where our journey of faith begins. Our baptism marks the moment we hear our name BELOVED. You are invited to come forward to remember your baptism, or to remember Jesus’ baptism if you have not been baptized. And the way we will remember is that I will re-trace the cross that was marked on your forehead when you were baptized, or if you wish to offer the back of your hand for that it would mean the same thing. I remind you that this is not a baptism. Baptism is not a repeatable act. This is a remembering of the baptism of Christ and perhaps your own baptism. I will do the same for those baptized or not. I will say the words, You are a beloved and precious child of God and you are beautiful to behold. When you are at the font I invite you to imagine that this is the River Jordan and as you cross this river, think about leaving behind all of those things that prevent your name BELOVED from sinking in. And on the other side of the river you are invited to move to the bread and [unfermented] wine to receive God’s great gift of love, broken and poured out. Please move to the bread, take and eat it, then move to the wine and take and drink. Then place your empty cup in the basket.

Come, DEARLY BELOVED. Come and remember! Come and eat! Come and drink!