What's In a Name?

Since the day that we found out Sarah was pregnant, we have been thinking about baby names. It was a great way to procrastinate. It was a great way to envision what our baby would be like and what our lives would be like. We made lists of names we liked, we devised naming rules and trends we thought were important, we borrowed a baby name book from a friend, and we searched for names on countless baby websites. Each week, one of us would ask the other, “So, what names do you like this week?” Now, with Noah James on the outside (born 8/22/08 at 11:21 AM) the concept of names is still lingering with me.
In Ancient Near Eastern culture, that of the Old Testament, naming was a serious action. A name was not just a label, but a mark, description, and determiner of character. What one was named essentially defined one’s character – almost as a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, when Isaac and Rebekah’s second-born twin was born grabbing Esau’s heel, he was given the moniker Jacob, which means, “he takes by the heel” or “he supplants” (Gen. 25:24-26). And so it was with Jacob. He was a heel-grabber and supplanter, replacing the wills of others with his own will. He essentially stole Esau’s birthright and blessing, and he even put conditions on God’s promises – he wanted to be in control. Indeed, it could be argued that Jacob lived always as a heel-grabber until the night he wrestled with God – the night God changed his name to Israel (32:28). From then on, he’s no longer the heel-grabber, but “the one who stove with God” or the witness that “God perseveres or contends” – meanings of the name Israel.
Now, I don’t know exactly what this means for our family and Noah James. We don’t know if his name will indeed mark his character, or in what sense he will be or supplant our rest and comfort (Noah means “rest” and “comfort” and James is derived from Jacob). Perhaps names no longer work the way the Ancient Near Eastern cultures thought. Perhaps we just don’t think of names that way. Or perhaps Shakespeare was right to ponder, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / by any other name would smell as sweet” (Romeo and Juliet, II.2). The great bard suggests that names don’t matter – that identity and character are intrinsic and independent of names. Yet, deep down, it seems that names are important – it’s why Sarah and I spent so long thinking and praying about them.
So, what about us, the people of Faith United Methodist Church? What is in a name? Have we the marks of such a name? Do people see us and comment on our faith? Does faith shine through our every interaction? Are we, indeed, visibly, people of Faith? Likewise, do we bear the marks of John and Charles Wesley, our tradition’s fathers? Do we bear the marks of Philip Otterbein and Jacob Albright, the founders of the United Brethren Church and the Evangelical Church, respectively, also our tradition’s fathers? Are we united, or Methodist, or Evangelical, and in what sense? What makes us so, or prevents us from being so? These are questions to ponder and questions to pray over.
It is important that we bear the name Faith, for it was with deep faith in God that this congregation transitioned from Salem Evangelical United Brethren Church to Faith UMC in 1968. It is important that this community, once characterized as the one of peace, stepped out in faith to unite and bear witness to God’s love. And so it is, even today. We are, and can be ever more so with God’s help and our ongoing perseverance, a people of deep faith.