Psalm 29: The Voice of the Lord!

June 3, 2012    Psalm 29:  The Voice of the Lord!

Isaiah 6:18                   Psalm 29          Romans 8:12-17          John 3: 1-17

The voice of the Lord is over the water,

The voice of the Lord is power;

The voice of the Lord is splendor;

The voice of the Lord cracks the cedars;

The voice of the Lord strikes with fiery flame

The voice of the Lord rocks the desert;

The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forest bare!      

How many of you have been in a tornado?  Most, I would guess.  We don’t live in the tornado belt but we have certainly seen our share of storms.  I remember one summer when my children were small and we were staying at my parents’ cottage in Houghton Lake.  We had gone over to my brother’s cottage, a simple A-Frame on Lake St. James, for the afternoon to swim when a storm approached.  There being no basement, I gathered my three children around me and sat against the middle wall where we could look out the sliding doors and watch the storm.  We watched the dark clouds and the crashing lightning and heard the clash of thunder all around us.  It was a source of wonder.  When the storm finally passed, we packed our car and went back to my parents’ cottage.  On the way we had a chance to see the full damage of the storm.  Even though the radio announcer claimed no tornado had been sighted, still we saw trees torn up by the roots, up-ended, power lines knocked down.  It took almost a week before power was restored.  I was reminded of this event as I reflected on today’s psalm.  The voice of the Lord cracks the mighty cedars, the voice of the Lord up-ends the mighty oaks of Michigan, it twists the maple and the birch leaving them stripped of leaves.  Such is the power of the voice of God.

Psalm 29 is likely to be an early psalm, reflecting on the majesty of God in nature, especially the storm.  It begins with an introduction calling all to worship:  Give to the Lord the glory due his name; it calls to all creation, especially all of the heavenly beings.  Then it expands on the wonders of our God whose voice is so powerful that all say, “Glory.”  The KJV translation says that the voice of the Lord causes the hinds to calf, to give birth out of fear (9) such is its power.  The psalm ends with the reminder that our God is in the heaven, all is right in the world.  Despite the fearsomeness of the storm, God’s people need not fear. 

I imagine this as a dramatic reading with clanging cymbals and drums each time the priest declares “The voice of the Lord.”  The psalms are dramatic words of God’s people.  They are not meant to be read in a lifeless monotone.  While I did not see any indication of such a dramatic acting out of the psalm in the commentaries I read, I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to imagine that David who danced before the Lord, Miriam who danced with timbrel and tambourine, might not act out this reading with great dramatic force as re-enacting the sound of thunder and the storm.  The priest would read with great effect, stirring the people to wonder at our God who commands the wind and the rain and the storm, and yet feeling safe within God’s temple, as I hope my children felt safe within my protecting arms during the storm.  The voice of the Lord is proclaimed seven times.  This is no chance occurrence.  Seven is the perfect number in numerology, representing the perfection of God.  It is a combination of four, the four ends of the earth, and three, the Trinity.

In our reading from Isaiah we see another rendering of God’s glory and majesty, such that Isaiah was only able to catch of glimpse of God’s hem.  Then Isaiah saw angels, seraphims surrounding God.  Our reading is the call of Isaiah, however it follows a different pattern than other calls where God commands and the prophet objects.  In this case, Isaiah overhears a question posed by God and unhesitating, responds, “send me.”  Inspired by the sight he has just seen, Isaiah rushes in and volunteers, a common occurrence during a religious experience.  We are so caught up in the experience that we are ready to give up everything without counting the cost.  It was only later that Isaiah hesitates, asking “How long?” 

In response to the vision Isaiah cries out, “Woe is me, I am doomed!  For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips.” (6:5)  At the sight of God, Isaiah recognizes the state of the world, a state of sinfulness, and his own state of sinfulness before God.  His sinfulness is purged through a glowing ember touched to his lips.  The world is in a state of sin.  We have separated ourselves from our God through original sin in the Garden.  As one commentator states, “But sin in this case is more like the notion of pollution than specific human actions, even though human action might have prompted the pollution in the first place.  The result of our actions is that we and our everyday world are polluted, and, furthermore, we have evolved in such a way that we actually need a polluted environment to maintain our lives.  God, on the other hand, is not polluted and hence is fundamentally separate from us and our world.”  (Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B after Pentecost 1, p. 21)   God is holy but did not abandon the world, rather God entered back by way of the Temple in Hebrew thought.  But it is dangerous, this mixing of the holy and the unholy; they are not compatible.  “Thus the holiness of God is dangerous for anyone and anything in the profane world, and the Temple with its liturgy is meant to provide a means by which the dangerous presence of God can be channeled safely into our world.” 

Fire is an important theme in this passage.  It is fire that purifies, just as we see fire in our psalm.  But where the passage from Isaiah emphasizes the separateness of God from impure humanity, our psalm looks at the presence of God.  We are to look for God, not in nature, but in worship, in the safety of the Temple.  From the safety of the Temple we can hear God’s word.

Our God is far too awesome for us to imagine.  God is found in nature, in worship, in the wind of the Spirit, in Jesus, God in human form as we are reminded in our gospel for today – for God so loved the world.  Today we focus on the mystery of God as Trinity, three in one.  God as creator whose voice sounds through the storm, God in human flesh, God as Spirit, uniting God and Son, the go-between or middle.  All are reminders of the mystery that is God. 

John Donohue, in his book Beauty:  the Invisible Embrace, finds beauty in music, color, dance, imagination, attraction, even death.  He explores the forms of beauty found in places, things, events and experiences.  In the end he states it is not a question of what is beauty, but “who” is beauty, for God is beauty.  He states, “At the heart of beauty must be huge care and affection for creation, for nowhere is beauty an accidental presence.  Nor is beauty simply its own end.  It is not self-absorbed but points beyond itself to an embrace of belonging that holds everything together.” (p. 193)  Beauty pulls us beyond ourselves; it gladdens our heart yet makes us lonely as we long for that “Other” that is beyond us.  It both is God and points to God.  As Augustine said, “our hearts shall know no rest till they rest in Thee.”

The voice of the Lord is powerful.  His word is a fire that burns, that can destroy or purify, that can bring new life.  His voice is also gentle as a summer breeze bringing healing and comfort; it is the caring words of a father or mother over a child as Paul tells us in Romans. 

The end of the psalm reminds us that God is king, God rules over the world, then there is a blessing prayer:  “May the Lord give strength to his people!  May the Lord bless his people with peace!”  The voice of the Lord strengthens us, but his final word is peace, more powerful than thunder and lightning, a peace the world cannot give, only God can give.  And so we pray for peace, for in the end it is peace that will prevail.  Everything else will pass away but God’s word will not pass away.  May the Lord bless you with his peace.   

Copyright, May 2012, Robertson

Psalm 24: The Earth Is the Lord's

May 27, 2012                          Psalm 24:  The Earth is the Lord’s!

Ezekiel 37:1-14           Psalm 24          Acts 2:1-21                 John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

“Dem Bones, dem bones, dem dry bones, now hear the word of the Lord!”  In the Ezekiel reading about dry bones, we hear how God will breathe life back into dried out bones, wonderful imagery, a field of skeletons getting up and dancing a macabre dance as God brings them back to life and puts flesh onto their bones. God asks the prophet, “can these bones come to life?” Of course, we all know that dry bones cannot be restored to life, however, the prophet, in true wisdom, put the question back to God, “you alone know that.”  And God proceeds to surprise by doing the impossible and bringing life out of death.

It has only been recently that science has begun to explore the spiritual realm, trying to put “God” under the microscope, study religious phenomena using scientific method.  One area of research has been near death our out of body experiences.  In these experiences individuals are technically dead, brain activity and breathing has ceased, and they leave their body and proceed on a journey until sent back into their bodies.  Science has tried to quantify these experiences, come up with some explanation.  They suggest that what the individual sees and experiences are just the brain shutting down, including a review of their life as the brain waves spark and go out.  However some of these individuals relate what happened around them at the time they were technically dead in great detail, with great accuracy.  In one such case, the person related being out of their body, leaving the operating room and flying above the hospital where she saw a tennis shoe on the roof of the hospital.  Upon returning to her body and relating what had been seen, staff went on the roof and found the shoe.

One aspect of these experiences that I find comforting is that in leaving behind broken bodies, their bodily spirit is whole; the blind could see again, the deaf hear again, the lame walk.  What a wonderful confirmation of what Scripture tells us about life after this life.  Our bodies are restored like new flesh being put back on dry bones, life being brought out of death.

Our psalm for today reminds us that the Earth is the Lord’s, it’s not ours; we are but temporary residents of the earth.  Written in three parts, it is meant for a procession, something that would be very appropriate for the celebration of Pentecost.  Some churches celebrate this day with a procession with red banners and flags, symbolizing the coming of the Spirit upon the apostles.  First section is comprised of the first two verses, reminding the listener of the God of creation who first brought forth life upon the earth when God’s spirit swept over the water and God breathed life into creation.  All creation belongs to God for God is the creator.  He founded the earth and established it. 

It’s not us who created God, contrary to what some may say, but God who created us.  The evidence for God is everywhere.  Some scientists point to discoveries and claim them for their own, but they are only finding what God has planted upon the earth.  As one commentator states, “Science is a sort of treasure hunt, with scientists as the hunters—all honor to them; but the originator of the treasure is God.”  (Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 4, p. 133)  They would never have been able to discover anything had God not made it.

The second section, verses 3-6, recounts who the true worshipper is.  It asks the questions, who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?  Who shall stand in his holy place? Reminiscent of Psalm 15:1-2ff where the answer to this question is, “He who walks blamelessly and does what is right, and speaks truth from his heart. . .”  The answer here is simpler, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully.” (vs. 4) Those whose hands are not stained by murder or theft, or taking a bribe or other sins; those who do not sin with their hands or hearts shall enter the Temple.  Such a person will be blessed by God, his cause will prevail.  In a ritual setting, the priest might pose this question about who is worthy of entrance into the Temple, then conclude that those gathered possess these qualities, “such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.” (vs 6)           

The procession moves on to the gates of the Temple where the people call out for the gates to be opened, singing back and forth in an antiphonal song where one side sings one verse and the other the next.  In triumph, at the words “Who is the King of Glory?  The Lord of hosts!”  The gates are lifted so that all may enter.  And what are the gates that need to be lifted?  Perhaps the gates of unbelief.  The procession is complete and all those who are worthy, who believe in God the creator, shall enter in.

In our reading from Acts of the Apostles, the apostles are hidden behind locked door out of fear, their own gates that need to be lifted.  With the coming of the Spirit, the doors are opened.  The Spirit breaks through the locked doors, it can’t be kept out.  Filled with the Spirit the apostles open their doors and Peter begins to preach.  It’s as if a light has been turned on, Peter and the others have been changed in a way that frees them from fear.  They see the world in a vastly different way thanks to God’s Spirit.

Part of the nature of an encounter with God’s spirit is that it changes us.  As Barbara Bradley Haggerty notes in her book, Fingerprints of God, after examining numerous studies of religious experiences: “I began to perceive a theme.  Simply put, when you bump against the spiritual, something changes.  First, your brain begins to operate differently, even at resting state.  Second, your interior life is transformed.  Your priorities and loves, how you choose to spend your time and with whom you choose to spend it—all that changes in blink of an eye.”  (pp. 276-7)

According to scientist Dean Radin, 96% of the universe is “dark matter” or “dark energy.”  We don’t know what it is.  This means that all of our theories and supposed knowledge is based on just 4% of the observed universe.  And yet there are those who claim emphatically that there is no God.  Foolishness.  They think themselves wise when they are not. Myself, I prefer to leave room for mystery, acknowledging that what I do not understand far exceeds what little I do. If there are mysteries to be discovered, it is because our God put them there at the beginning of creation.  Not only is 96% of our universe dark matter, much of our brain is.  We only use a small portion of our brain.  If we used all of our brains, what wonders might we experience. 

Jesus tells the disciples in our reading from John how they cannot understand what he is saying but when the Spirit comes they will understand.  It’s like a light bulb waiting to be plugged into a source of power.  When the Spirit comes, the light goes on and the apostles are changed in ways they couldn’t have imagined before this.  There is still so that we don’t know, don’t understand.  There is so much that is dark matter, so much within our own brains waiting for God to light it up as he did at the first

Pentecost. 

This weekend, besides being the Christian celebration of Pentecost, we remember those who have died that we might have the freedoms we enjoy.  Our readings for today are messages of hope, that there is more to this life than we know, that God can restore our loved ones, if not in this life, then in the next when he will breathe the Spirit back into dry bones.  No-one who lives a life of service and love, whose heart is pure, is lost.  Their sacrifices are not forgotten, were not for nothing.  They have entered the gates of the Temple.  For the rest of us who continue on this procession through life, may God’s healing love keep us on the way that leads to you until that time that we stand at the gate and knock, confident that are God will open to us.

Copyright May 2012, Robertson 

Psalm 21: Queen for a Day

May 13, 2012, Mother’s Day              Psalm 21:  Thou dost set a crown of fine gold

Acts 10:44-48             Psalm 21                      1 John 5:1-6                John 10:9-17

“Would you like to be queen for a day?”  Remember Queen for a Day?  Old tv show, beginning of America’s obsession with big winning game shows.  Four women were selected out of the audience and told their hard luck stories.  One who received most applause won the title along with a dozen roses and many prizes.  Show ended with host saying, “Wishing we could make every woman queen for every single day.” 

Well, what would you say if I told you, you already are queens and kings, not just for one day, but every day?  All of you in retirement with your silver hair and long life!

Psalm for today is another royal psalm.  Psalm 20 was the prayer of a king going into battle.  Psalm 21 is prayer of celebration after the king’s victory.  The two could possibly refer to the same event.  Written in two parts, verses 1-7 addresses the Lord, verses 8-12 are addressed to the king.  The psalm starts with the king rejoicing.  “You have given him his heart’s desire,” the psalm continues.  God gave the king everything he desired; he gave him many blessings, a crown of gold, and long life.  Verse 3 states you met him with goodly blessings – image of returning warrior being greeted by cheering throngs and then having a crown or other symbol of success placed on head.  An old Gaelic saying states that “he is a king who is well.”  The crown could be a symbol of God’s blessing through good health.  As one commentator states, “Morally, health is holiness; to be well is to be ‘good all through.’ That crown of pure gold is within the reach of all of us poor ‘slaves that would be king.’” (Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 4, p. 113)  The king asked for life (vs. 4) and God gave it to him, length of days.  Each of you, having made it to 80, 90 and beyond, have that length of day.  Even more than that, God makes him most blessed forever, making him glad with the joy of his presence (vs. 6) – the promise of life with God forever in heaven where we will wear a heavenly crown.

At verse 8 the psalm shifts its focus and addresses the king, proclaiming more victories, not only over his enemies but their descendants as well.  The verses are problematic in their violence and vengeance, creating a challenge for the reader.  You won’t find these verses in the common lectionary for such verses are routinely avoided.  Walter Brueggemann, speaking at a conference at Western Theological Seminary encouraged listeners to wrestle with such difficult passages rather than avoid them.  All of Scripture is helpful and thus worthy of our attention.  So how do we deal with such difficult passages? 

For some insight, let’s look at our passage from Acts of the Apostles.  This passage is often referred to as the second Pentecost as the spirit comes to the Gentile community.  In order for this to happen there needed to be some changes.  In verses preceding, there are two visions.  First Cornelius, a devout and God-fearing man, has a vision of an angel who told him to go to Joppa to a man called Peter.  Peter then has a vision of a large sheet filled with all types of animals.  Peter was told to slaughter and eat.  Peter resisted saying he had never eaten anything profane or unclean.  The voice responded, “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.”  This happened three times.  While Peter was still pondering the vision, the servants Cornelius had sent to find Peter, appeared at the door of his house.  The Spirit instructed Peter to go with them and so Peter journeyed to Cornelius home where he stayed despite Jewish law against Jews associating with Gentiles.  “You know that it is unlawful for a Jewish man to associate with, or visit, a Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not call any person profane or unclean.”  Thus the stage was set for the conversion of the Gentiles.  The issue here is not is about whether food is clean or unclean.  Rather it is about contextualizing the gospel, “and the need for Christians to see the saving activity of God in cultural contexts that are unfamiliar to us.” (Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, Lent/Easter, p. 152) 

Why do we resist passages that do not reflect our own worldview?  Because of cognitive dissonance.  Cognitive dissonance is a psychological term that basically addresses the brain’s tendency to dislike contradictory messages.  The brain is a cognitive miser, meaning it likes to conserve energy, doesn’t want to work any harder than it has to.  These contradictory messages means the brain has to work to understand them and may even be forced to change its opinion.  So sometimes, rather than do this, we will simply dismiss information that we don’t like, or, we believe what we want to believe.  It can be hard to break through this resistance.  In the case of Peter in Acts, it took a profound vision from God to get him to be open to possibility that Gentiles can also be saved.  Profound religious experiences have a way of getting us to see reality in a different way, change long held beliefs.

So let’s look at the cultural context of our psalm.  Second portion of psalm could be interpreted in a variety of different ways.  People are praying for the king.  They are praying for a complete conquest, one so complete that the king’s enemies would be wiped off of the face of the earth, it would extend to their children and their children’s children.  Early Hebrew nation had little concept of an afterlife.  They did speak of Sheol as this shadowy place, but for most part, focus is on the here and now, this life.  Immortality for the Hebrew community lies in the community, not in a life after death, which makes Jesus’ resurrection even more profound.  A common Hebrew blessing would be for children and children’s children for countless generations, hence God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars.  And so, a Hebrew curse would be that there be no generations, thus no immortality for enemies.  While it sounds terribly harsh to us, especially within the context of a prayer, it would not seem that way for the Hebrew community.

Another way to look at it would be in terms of God as the king and the last judgment when the wheat will be separated from the chaff.  God is the one to destroy evil from the face of the earth, wipe out all of the seeds of evil, even to the last generation.  The fiery furnace could be the fires of Gehenna.  In this sense they are praying for God to prevail and wipe out all evil from every generation. 

In a spiritual sense, if we are to free ourselves of sinfulness, we must not only root out the big sins, murder, adultery, theft, but even the smaller ones, the off-spring of sin, thoughts that lead to un-kind and evil actions.   In this sense we pray that God will put all evil thoughts to flight.  Psalm ends with a confirmation of the writer’s belief in the strength of God to do all these things and praise of God.

Our gospel from John picks up where we left off from last week with the vine and the branches.  Jesus tells us to abide in him, or remain in him.  What does it mean to abide in Jesus?  Many of you know my friend Marcy who is currently under Hospice care.  When another friend asked her if she had any new insights as she faces her final journey, especially in light of her years of ministry and being with others during similar times, she said, “I don’t know that I have any great insights.  God’s abiding love is with me.”  What a great gift, to not only know God loves us, but to experience that love, feel it.

How do we experience that love?  Through others and the love we feel for them.  To be loved, to be aware of God’s abiding love, surely that is the greatest gift of all, the greatest crown to wear.

Each of us already has a crown waiting for us in heaven.  It is a crown of love.  In that we have loved and been loved, there is a crown awaiting us.  There are cheering crowds in heaven above, waiting to welcome us home and place this crown on our heads.

Today we celebrate mother’s day.  Our mother’s have an important role to play in making us the people we are, in helping us be open to God’s love.  In that we have been loved well as children, we will be able to love as adults, both receiving and giving and growing in God’s abiding love.  And so, let us wear our crowns well.  Wishing we could make every woman, and every man, queen or king for every single day.  We can!

Robertson, copyright May 2012 

Psalm 20: What's in a Name?

May 6, 2012                Psalm 20:  We boast of the name of the Lord

Acts 8:26-40               Psalm 20                      1 John 4:7-21              John 15:1-8

What’s in a name?  A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.  So what’s in a name?  Our psalmist would beg to differ with this statement.

Psalm for today, 20, is a royal psalm (other royal psalm 2, 28, 45, 72, 101, 132, 144).  Format is similar to a lament.  A king is about to go into battle, he makes a request of God (vs. 1-5) then thanks God already in his confidence that God has heard him and will grant his request.

Psalm starts by calling upon the name of the God of Jacob, not Baal, not Zeus, the God of Jacob.  It makes a difference.  In early times it was thought that divine names had power, i.e. the name of Yahweh, I Am, was not to be spoken.  Later names became regarded as representative of God, almost a second self.  And still later it was considered a mediator.  The name, God of Jacob, identified him as Israel’s God, the God who had delivered his people and whom the king expected to deliver a victory today.  “In biblical thought a name is not a mere label of identification; it is an expression of the essential nature of its bearer.  A man’s name reveals his character.”  (Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 3, p. 500)  “As such, a name is regarded as possessing an inherent power which exercises a constraint upon its bearer:  he must conform to his essential nature as expressed in his name . . . Hence a change of name accompanies a change in character.” (p. 501-502)

“To know the name of God is to know God himself as he is revealed.” (p. 502) no light matter.  It made a difference what name we use – remember shouts of “Heil Hitler” in nazi Germany? It is important that we call upon the right name.

In vs. 2-3 we see that the king is offering burnt offerings in the sanctuary, the king goes to the Temple to present his cause before God.  As one commentator states, “The only causes, therefore, for which we may fight are those which we can take into God’s house; the only swords we can draw are those which we can lay on the altar.  We cannot expect help from the sanctuary if what we bring to the sanctuary is hateful to the Lord of the sanctuary.”  (Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 4, p. 109)  A helpful guide for those who would go into war – is this truly a just cause?  Is this a fitting cause to present before our God?

Verse 4 in KJV reads “Grant thee according to thine own heart and fulfill all thy counsel.”  In the New American Bible, “Grant what is in your heart, fulfill your every plan.”  Not my will, or the king’s will, but your will, the king prays. A prayer of abandonment to divine will.  The king humbly asks that God’s will be done.  An interesting prayer for a king going into battle, shows him to be a man of great faith and trust in God.

Verse 5 we see name of God again.  We are to set God’s name on our banners to indicate that we are marching under the banner of God.  Soldier going into battle go under the banner of their king or country.  Our soldiers go under the banner of the American flag.  It’s important to know whose banner we are marching under.  Ignatius in his spiritual exercises asks us to make a choice – are we under God’s banner or Satan’s.  Important choice to make for as we chose, our actions will follow.

Verse 6 shifts to thanking God in advance for victory.  Everything that could be done, has been done, the king is ready for battle.  Now it is up to God.  Reminiscent of saying, “Act as if everything depended on you, pray as if everything depended on God.”  The king puts his trust in God, so much so that he thanks him in advance.  The king surrenders to God’s will.

In verse 7 we see how some put their trust in, or rely on chariots and horses, but we trust in God.  Revised Standard translation says they boast on their chariots and horses, but we boast of the name of the Lord, relying on God’s name again.  As Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 10:17, “whoever boast should boast in the Lord.”  The king puts his trust in God, that the enemy will eventually collapse and fall.  Even if we fall, we will get back up again.  Psalm ends with a final, confident appeal to God.

This psalm is a beautiful prayer of trust in God.  The king going into battle, does all he can to be prepared, he makes offerings at the Temple, then places himself under the banner of the name of the Lord, trusting in God to give him victory. 

So what’s in a name?  In our reading from Acts of the Apostle, we hear the story of the Ethiopian eunuch who is baptized by Philip.  Prompted by an angel, Philip goes to a road in the wilderness from Jerusalem to Gaza.  There he sees the Eunuch, seated in a chariot and reading from the prophet Isaiah.  The spirit further prompts Philip to go up the Eunuch and ask him if he understands what he is reading.  “How can I, unless someone guides me?” the Eunuch responds.  At this Philip proceeds to teach him about the gospel.  The Eunuch is so touched by Philip’s words that he wants to be baptized immediately.  And so Philip baptizes the Eunuch and goes on his way.  The early church baptized in the name of Jesus, thus testifying to the power of a name, the power of words, the power of the gospel.

In John’s gospel, we hear Jesus, the great I am, saying “I am the true vine.”  Last of seven "I Am" statements:  bread, light, gate (for the sheep), good shepherd, resurrection & life, way, truth and life, true vine.  All reveal an aspect of who Jesus is/who God is.   When Moses asked the burning bush God’s name, God’s response was “I am.”  Jesus’ use of this term would not be lost on those following him, it was why he was brought before Pilate and the Sanhedrin, because they claimed his was blaspheming in saying he and the father are one, claiming for himself the term “I Am.”  As Jesus says in John 8:58, “before Abraham came to be, I AM.” 

Jesus is the vine, we are the branches, the Father is the vinedresser who prunes back the branches lest they stray too far away and die.  The vinedresser knows just how deep to cut back the branches in order for them to bear the best fruit.  I’m no good at this.  When I prune back bushes in the yard, the best I do is a little off the top.  If we try to prune ourselves, we won’t cut deep enough.  As soon as it hurts we shout, “enough!”  We say, take away anything but that, God; that hurts too much.  We don’t readily give up that which we have become accustomed to, which we think we need.  But God, the good shepherd, knows what we need and so knows precisely what is necessary if we are to bear good fruit.  As branches, we need to stay close to the vine yet it is so easy to go our own way, stray off in various directions, we need to remain under the name of God.

In I John, John continues to speak of God’s love, saying that God, who is love, abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God.  “So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.” We see yet another name for God, another aspect of who God is – love.

If we are going to call upon a name, it’s important we call upon the right name.  If we are going into battle, it’s important we know under whose banner we fight.  Jesus is the God of Jacob, the God of Moses and Elijah, the great I AM.  And this God is love.  What’s in a name?  A lot.  So if we are to boast, let us boast of the name of the Lord..  Let us do everything under his banner, putting our trust in God, abandoning our own will for God’s will, staying close to the vine. What’s in a name?  Everything, for that name is Love.

Copyright, May 2012, Robertson