Sunday, January 27, 2008

What's in a Name?

Abwûn (Aramaic)
"Oh Thou, from whom the breath of life comes"

Charlie's sermon today was largely about how we address the unmentionable name of "you know who" (YHWH). He did a good job keeping it to 15 mintues, although I thought it was a strange leap from today's Gospel readings. He was fair in that he did not stand up and ask us to change our personal prayer language (which is heavily influenced by our Church upbringing) to some new-age politically correct terminology. I am glad that Charlie takes the word "Lord" as his preferred, private way of praying to "you know who." The word "Lord" puts us in our place, just as "Master" or "Adonai" might, but "Lord" is the way we have been raised. I would hate to see the Lord's Prayer changed to "Jesus' Prayer Instructions." How about changing "This is the day the Lord has made" to "This is the day that came from an amorphous something." Or how about "Bring forth the royal diadem and crown 'Him/She/It' Tetragrammaton of All."
This sermon marks the last sermon to be heard in the aging walls of the Church of Our Saviour for we are about to undergo major renovations which should last 6-9 months. We left the sanctuary today after singing the Doxology (and we didn't change the "G" word), which I hope will serve as a blessing on those old walls.

1 comment:

  1. Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, I found today's sermon a bit too esoteric to suit me. The connection between the sermon and the readings was tenuous at best but--as they say--all's well that ends well. And today's worship service ended very well indeed. The sung Doxology is a truly magnificent way to send the parishioners out into the missionary field.

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