The Feast of the Holy Name
January 1, 2006
The Rev'd John Merz
The Text: Philippians 2:5-11
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
Did not regard equality with God
As something to be exploited,
But emptied himself,
Taking the form of a slave,
Being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
He humbled himself
And became obedient to the point of death--
Even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
And gave him the name
That is above every name,
So that at the name of Jesus
Every knee should bend,
In heaven and on earth and under the earth,
And every tongue should confess
That Jesus Christ is Lord,
To the glory of God the Father.
In any case, on other days in the church year we gather to celebrate/ ponder/ struggle some aspect of our faith lives: the Advent focus is repentance and preparation so the words of the Prophets are before us each week: chiding and challenging us.
Christmas Eve in winter darkness, we confronted the utter mystery of the incarnation right here in the middle of the chancel, in the body of the infant, amid dolls and dioramas which literally gave/gives physical shape to our faith, gives it a kind of tangibility:
In his legs, his feet, his nose, his skin, his hair, his growing mind; in the actions of his life and loves we see the exemplar of life and faith fulfilled-- its texture and growth revealed.
But today, on this Feast of the Holy Name —- a day recalling circumcision and naming, two acts that literally bound Jesus to his people Israel, actions cementing his identity as kin and heir to the covenant-- we do something quite different and elegant in its utter simplicity: we gather to give thanks that the deep mystery of God has a name and identity; that with breath and tongue we give that mystery shape and voice: Yshua, Joshua, Jesus, “he saves.”
It is a moment to celebrate the identifiably, approachability, availability and proximity of Jesus to us in worship, prayer and all of life. The wonder or scandal (depending on how you look at it) of God bending low in flesh and clay and bone to call a human body home:
Therefore we do not invoke the name of Jesus to protect us from the vagaries of chance, bring good luck or save us from exposure to the worst that life can offer. That is what seems to be happening in many forms of American Christianity: Jesus is a name used to cure every ill, but exactly what it signifies is so personal (everybody has their own personal Jesus) it is unclear what if anything is really signified other than the apotheosis of one’s self interest.
Jesus name is not a talisman of magical thinking. Rather, meditations upon Jesus name offers us an approach to all life and loves bruising and know them to be held within God’s intimate lived experience: nothing’s outside that compass of that holy care, nothing’s outside the experience of that holy name.
That is what we recount bluntly year after year revisiting the stories of Jesus and his life-his chosen life-among a crowd of fishermen, prostitutes, tax collectors, adulterers, the sick (how strange it is that he just loved the people who were flawed, weak and lowly…what is that about?!), he goes to the outer reaches of pain and loss brings it to the center, rushing toward all of that, toward you and me—Vulnerable, temporary, flitting, decaying though we may be. Jesus loved, hallows and cherished all of human be-ing even through the cold chill of death:
Now an excursus about the Name: The Eastern Metropolitan Anthony Bloom has powerful little book entitled Beginning to Pray, in it he explains how a person with no experience with prayer at all can get started. This question is something that as a Priest I am often asked: “How do I pray?”, “How to I make my prayers more effective?” (A question I confess to find a bit too purpose driven). Bloom says that what you can do is start by simply crossing yourself when you wake up and saying the name of Jesus. Or just wake up and say “Thank You”. Thank you for the given-ness of life. In another place he writes about the practice of the Jesus Prayer. This is perhaps the oldest prayer in the tradition practiced by monks out in the desert back in the first centuries of the Church. The prayer goes, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner”. Or if that is too much you can say “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me”. Or if you’re pressed cut it down to “Lord Jesus Christ”. The really serious monks actually just say the name of Jesus and break it down by breath to the two syllables: Je (on the in breath) Sus (on the out) until finally the name falls away and one breathes and is in pure contemplation of God. Another example of the name of Jesus in prayer is the morning prayers of the Church. We do them her each day, and communities all around the world, shortly after sunrise join in as well. In these ancient prayers the officiant begins with the words “Lord open our lips” and the people respond (their first words of the day), “And our mouths shall proclaim your praise,” the first words of each day ought to be words of thanks. How often we just start of the days with a stream of words that amount to nonsense, complaints or worries about this and that. It is a matter of putting first things first really (And last things last too). It is a matter of setting our priorities right.
And finally the fittingness of this remembrance of the Holy Name on this first day of the year, the symmetry of it, is brought home me by the words of a Bach Cantata. New Yorkers have been treated as we always are at Christmas with something called the Bach Fest hosted by WKCR. It is 10 or so days of nonstop Bach (Bach around the clock as it were) and it is stunning for the sheer volume and variety of his extraordinary music. I would say catch it this year but the fact is that it is literally coming to a close as I stand in this pulpit. Nonetheless during one of the Cantata request hours they played an aria that was composed for Holy Name and was first performed 278 years ago his very day. It is entitled““Jesus soll mien erstes wort” (Jesus is my first word) and it goes like this: