Day: January 1, 2020

“What’s in a name? The ancient people believed that knowing a person’s “true” name gave one control over that person. Which is one reason why people on social media use pseudonyms. It’s easier to say what one thinks if people do not know who you really are. Having power over another may be why the name of God has been elusive throughout the ages. YAWEH, I Am, Elohim, and Lord are all ways that ancient people knew God, and sometimes avoided saying the name of God out of respect or awe of, or fear for, the power of God’s Being.”

“And that Jesus is named as part of the rite of circumcision is significant. It reminds us of a very particular set of circumstances: I am who I am saves by being born into an oppressed religious minority, under the boot of foreign occupation, to a modest family in a small town on the hinterlands of the Empire.”