For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:14-16

There is a song by Tasha Cobbs that says God knows our name.  God knows me.  He walks with me. He talks with me she says in God’s presence she is made new.  Because God knows her name, there is an intimacy and connection that develops.  This gives her confidence to face life’s challenges. She says she becomes the victor. 

As I read through the Advent stories and what is happening with Elizabeth Zachariah, Mary and Joseph, I recognize that there is also that level of intimacy between them and God.  Elizabeth and Zechariah goes against the culture to name your son something other than what is the norm.  They instinctively seem to know what to do.  Elizabeth says no we are not naming the baby after his father, his name is John.

One’s name is important. It is what differentiates us from other persons.  In the Jewish tradition, names had meanings which spoke to the character of the person with the name.  I always tell children, that when they speak their names they must speak up and be very clear. They should never mumble their name. 

Your name is who you are.  It is who you are destined to be. 

My name is Hilda.  Its roots are German I believe, meaning war maid.  To be a war maid could not have been an easy task.  A war maid went to war with the men and would fight alongside them. It would require some amount of fearlessness and strong personality.  Hildas are supposed to be brave and courageous. Does it sounds like the description most persons would have of me.

But what does this have to do with being fearfully and wonderfully made?  

John, me you, are not arbitrary works of art.  We were not meant to be nonentities, nor nobodies.  We were not like stones that requires special attention to distinguish one from another. God made us special with a special purpose.  Whether we believe it or not we were named with purpose. God thought about us when God was forming us. 

We live in a world where we are taken for granted, where we form part of a crowd, and we blend in. We are not expected to be different.  In many ways we are expected to conform, to do as everybody else.

But the psalm says differently.  The psalm says all the days ordained for me was written in God’s book.  God has several books. The book the psalmist is referring to is probably the book of life, which we cannot see, we can only experience.  However, the bible which records God’s faithfulness tells us that God calls us to a different standard from the rest of world. God calls us to reflect Godliness in our lives. We express it in our special god given way.  Like Elizabeth and Zechariah we are called to be counter-cultural.  God named us. God knows our name. 

The people in the Advent story shows us that we must develop and nurture that special relationship with the creator.  A relationship in which you can discern what God has written in the book for you.  They remind us that we must be who God has called us to be, as individuals and collectively as God’s people.  God made us. God named us. God knows our name. We must trust God. We each of us has a plan that we must work for God.  Let us not be afraid. But let us live that plan as we understand it. Let us be who God has called us to be.  As always we rely on the strength of God to pilot us; the power of God to preserve us; the wisdom of God to instruct us. “May the hand of God protect us. May the way of God direct us. May the shield of God defend us. May the host of God guard us against the snares of evil and the temptations of the world.  May Christ be with us, Christ before us, Christ in us, Christ over us.”

May we always remember that God knows us by name.