Feast of the Holy Name of OUr Lord Jesus Christ, January 1, 2014

Preached at St. Paul's Cathedral, for Holy Name 2014

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Probably many of you have seen the 2010 film, The Queen, starring Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II. The movie opens with the recent election of Tony Blair as Prime Minister in 1997.  In an early scene, very soon after his election, Blair travels to Buckingham Palace, to meet with the Queen, and for the Queen to ask Mr Blair to form a government in her name.

The Queen’s deputy private secretary informs Her Majesty that Mr Blair will soon be arriving, and the secretary and the Queen share a brief exchange.  Her secretary tells the Queen:

I spoke to the Cabinet Secretary who said he was expecting the atmosphere at Downing Street to be very informal. Everyone on first name terms.

At the Prime Minister's insistence.

The Queen responds:

What?  As in ‘Call me Tony?’ and she then puckers her face in distaste.

Of course, that scene is supposed to introduce you to the personality variances between the new Prime Minister and Her Majesty, and it is pretty effective at doing so.  But, it also portrays a theme the film will explore: the interplays between intimacy and privacy.  And, this interplay is established by the way one uses one’s name.

Today’s commemoration is a bit of an odd duck in the liturgical calendar: we typically celebrate things in the calendar based on events or based on people.  For example, we have feast days commemorating Our Lord’s baptism, His Passion, His Resurrection, His Ascension, His Transfiguration, His birth.  Or, we celebrate the lives of the saints, or of the angels.  There are only a few times when we have a feast to celebrate an aspect of our faith or an attribute of Our Lord, rather than an event.  So, we have Christ the King, we have Holy Cross Day, we have Holy Name.

The Episcopal Church has kept today’s feast since its first prayer book in 1793, though under a different title.  The current title of the feast day, a change reflected first in the 1978 prayer book, is the Feast of the Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  And, as many of you know, when the prayer book changes something, it’s a big deal.  We express our theology in the way we pray, but most especially in the way we pray in common.  Therefore, when the Book of Common Prayer changes, it’s a way of saying to us: pay attention.  Look at this.  There’s something shifting, or being revealed, or being examined in a new way here.

There’s something about Our Lord’s Name that we need to explore.

So, it should be straightforward, right: we have a feast for His name.  His name is Jesus.  Jesus is derived through first Greek then Latin corruption of the Hebrew name Yeshua.  It was a fairly common name, both in the time of Our Lord’s life, as well as in Old Testament times; it is cognate with the name Joshua, the name of a great Hebrew hero.  We have a window commemorating Joshua, in the back of the nave.  Joshua, Yeshua, Iesus, Jesu, Jesus: they mean Yahweh saves.  But, does it sound like we would get a feast day just for etymology?

The collect for today points to the importance of today’s celebration.  The collect begins: Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of salvation.

It ties together some important themes, especially themes in this season: gifts, incarnation, names, signs of salvation. 

Before Christ, God came to humanity through various means: evening walks in the garden, voices in dreams and burning bushes, the law, the prophets. Before Christ, God came through signs of salvation.

When Moses asked God his name, he answered: I Am who Am.  He answered: I exist.  God’s name was all of existence.

But, in the fullness of time, God in Christ, changed the story.  At Christmas, at what we celebrated last week, we heard the news of the Incarnation.  In Christ, God came to humanity in Himself.  In the Incarnation, the incomprehensible God became limited, accessible, subject to humanity.  In the Incarnation, the unutterable name of God as portrayed in the Old Testament, a name that was so vast that it encompassed all of existence, in the Incarnation, God changed His name.  He took a meaningful name, but a name that others shared.  In the Incarnation, God became mundane.

Probably most of us, when we worship here at the Cathedral or in other parishes, have experience using both Rite I and Rite II, both the modern and historical language that is used in the Book of Common Prayer.  And that’s likely how we think of the two forms n the prayer book: one uses the language of the first prayer books, uses Elizabethan language, and one uses modern English, and that is mostly true.

However, I’d like you to consider a small topic where the difference in language is not just about the historical period, not just Elizabethan or modern.  There is a subtle difference in the two Rites, a difference that is often overlooked.  And it centers on a few words we use when addressing God: Thee, Thou, Thy.

When the modern Rite II was translated, the language was updated, and words and phrases that are no longer in common parlance were brought up to code.  Thee became you.  So, for example, we still use Rite I language in the Our Father, and we say hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.  But in the rest of Rite II, we say things like: We give you thanks, O God, for the goodness and love which you have made known to us in creation.

In modern English, in Rite II, there is only one word, you, while in the Rite II language, there are two words: Thou and you.  Languages changes, words are added or contracted.  Now we only have one word to convey something, 450 years ago we had two words.

So, what is the distinction between Thou and you?

Thou is used to address God.  You is used to address the assembly of the people, or to address an individual.  For example, the Lord be with you is used for a group of people, and in distributing Communion to an individual in Rite I, the priest may use the words The Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ keep you in everlasting life.

 So, at first it sounds like Thou is used for God, and you is use for mortals.  It sounds like Thou is reserved for the Almighty, a word that has accreted some formality or solemnity.  A special word, a special name.

However, it is the exact opposite.  In Elizabethan language, you is the formal term, used for a group of people or for an individual in a formal setting.  In polite company, one would use the word you to address another person.  Thou is the informal presentation of the word you.  Thou is what is used only for those in close relationships or families, what is used for friends and familiars.  Thou is relationship; thou is intimate. 

The Holy Name of Jesus extends that intimacy, too.  Jesus is the intimate form of God; Jesus is the Thou.

We profess a saviour named Jesus, not a saviour named Mr. Christ.

We profess a name that allows access, a name that gives intimacy.  In Christ, the private life of God’s life is exposed.  In Christ, God says ‘Call me Tony’.

So, at today’s Feast of the Holy Name, the Church says: pay attention.  Look at this.  God is among us to show intimacy.  And, to show us the sign of salvation in intimacy, God in Christ comes among us as vulnerable.  In Christ, God says pay attention.  Look at this.

And there was risk to that intimacy; it led to the Passion.  But, God in Christ endured Passion and death, and intimacy did not end but was expanded, expanded through the Resurrection.  In Christ, God is saying: pay attention.  Look at this.  In intimacy, in relationship, I am made flesh and come among you.

And so, we become like unto Christ, when we are intimate and in relationship with others.  We become like unto Christ when we allow others into our lives, and when relationships bring grace and are signs of salvation to others; when we become another person’s Thou.  We become like unto Christ when we allow others to call us by our names, and when we meet them as those we are called to love, and when we share our name with others.

The Church does not celebrate today only the Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we also celebrate our own holy names, we celebrate that in Christ, God has made our names, our intimacy, our relationships to be signs of our salvation.