Known by Name

Grant that when we hear God’s voice we may know the one who calls us each by name.

-from this Sunday’s opening collect

In his play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare wrote,

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.”

Romeo says this because his last name and his beloved Juliet’s last name represented a poor match, since their families had been enemies for generations. He was wishing that their names were not keeping them apart, and so he is making the point that people are who they are, regardless of what they are named. This is true.

In 1957, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim premiered an updated version of Romeo and Juliet called “West Side Story,” in which Tony, an Italian-American and Maria, a Puerto Rican immigrant, are in the same predicament. Their tribes, too, are enemies. But in West Side Story, Tony can’t stop saying Maria’s name.

“The most wonderful name in the whole wide world - Maria! Say it loud and there’s music playing. Say it soft, it’s almost like praying. Maria!”

Each person’s name says something about them and their name is unique and special. It is a sign affection and love to call someone by their name. This is also true.

Everyone is given a name at birth. Some people love their name and some wish they had a different one and some go ahead and change their name sometime in the course of their lives. But no matter what it says on your birth certificate or driver’s license, everyone has one true name planted deep within, and THAT is the name God knows you by - your most intimate and real name. And it is a lifetime journey to discover and claim and trust that deep name as you learn to live into who God created you to be. May we come to know the one who calls us each by name.

The readings for Sunday are here. Hope to see you then.