{"id":261,"date":"2020-10-26T20:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T00:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=261"},"modified":"2020-12-07T20:31:05","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T01:31:05","slug":"hallowed-be-thy-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/26\/hallowed-be-thy-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Hallowed Be Thy Name"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When it comes to receiving meaningful names, some of us are winners.  Others are losers. 

Then there\u2019s the family with both a Winner and a Loser.

In 1958 Robert Lane and his wife, who lived in public housing in Harlem, New York City, became parents of their sixth child.  Dad, in a joyful mood, decided to name his little boy Winner.  Three years later the Lanes became parents again.  This time, at the urging of their oldest daughter, they named their little boy Loser, even though they were entirely happy that he had come into the world.    

For sociologists who study the long-term impact of both hopeful and \u201cdowner\u201d names, this was a dream scenario.  How would these brothers turn out?

So far, Winner has been the loser.  His criminal record began at age 19 when he was arrested for aggravated assault.  Since then he has been arrested at least 30 more times \u2013 for breaking and entering, domestic abuse, grand theft auto, and a string of other offenses.  Winner has spent much of his adult life behind bars. 

Loser, meanwhile, has been living large.  He received a scholarship to attend a Connecticut prep school.  He graduated from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, where he excelled at varsity football.  In 1984 he became a member of the New York City Police Department.  Along the way, he has never concealed his name or tried to change it.  His cop friends call him Lou. 

Americans may be comparatively casual about names. and the jury is still out on their long-term effects on our lives.  But that\u2019s not the case on the pages of Scripture. 

Names are carefully chosen to express destiny (Abraham is the \u201cfather of nations\u201d), character (Peter is \u201cthe rock\u201d), theology (Elijah means \u201cGod is the Lord\u201d), and memorable experiences (Jabez means \u201cPain,\u201d which describes his mom\u2019s struggle 3,000 years before the invention of the epidural). 

Then there\u2019s God\u2019s name, which figures prominently at the beginning of the Lord\u2019s Prayer:  \u201cOur Father, who is always near us, hallowed be Thy name<\/strong>.\u201d   Or as countless Sunday School children have prayed over the years, including one confident little boy at our church, \u201cHoward<\/em> be thy name.\u201d 

Since 1611, when scholars crafted the King James Version of the Bible, \u201challowed\u201d has become an archaic word.  To \u201challow\u201d means to sanctify something \u2013 to treat it as holy and deserving of profound respect. 

All Saints Day (November 1) honors the hallowed<\/em> men and women of Christian history \u2013 those who, according to Catholic and Anglican traditions, have become saints.  October 31 is therefore All Hallows Eve.  According to Celtic tradition, \u201cHallow-e\u2019en\u201d is a \u201cthin place\u201d on the calendar \u2013 an annual intersection of the visible and invisible worlds.  Since less-than-saintly spirits were thought capable of generating fear and chaos on Halloween, villagers might wear masks to scare those demons back to hell. 

In his Gettysburg Address<\/em>, Abraham Lincoln described the area around that Pennsylvania hamlet as \u201cthis hallowed ground.\u201d  The three-day Civil War battle in July 1863 had forever transformed the significance of the those otherwise ordinary hills, woods, and fields.   

That\u2019s the thrust of Jesus\u2019 prayer:  \u201cMay your name, Father, take on an ever-deepening significance and meaning every time we hear it.\u201d

In Bible times, names were associated with identity, character, and reputation.  Some of that sense endures today.  When Clarence Thomas sat before the U.S. Senate in the hearings that ultimately confirmed him as a Supreme Court Justice, he was asked why he was putting up with what was then unprecedented public scrutiny.  He answered, \u201cI\u2019m here to get my name back.\u201d  Thomas\u2019 name was still the same on his driver\u2019s license.  But his reputation had been savaged.

Names carry baggage.  They become heavy with associations. 

Consider two five-letter names that will appear in every national newscast today: Trump<\/em> and Biden<\/em>.  Very few of us are neutral about those names.  When you hear them, you may feel a surge of fear.  Or pride.  Or hope.  Or revulsion.  Political operatives have been working overtime trying to associate their candidate\u2019s five-letter name with success and glory, while associating their opponent\u2019s five-letter name with corruption and despair.

So what\u2019s at stake in the Lord\u2019s Prayer?  Jesus is teaching us to pray, \u201cFather, may your name be freighted with all the honor and respect you so richly deserve.  May your public reputation skyrocket.\u201d

We might be tempted to think, \u201cThat\u2019s very nice.  I hope that happens.\u201d  And then move seamlessly on to the rest of the prayer. 

But we\u2019re not off the hook.  We ourselves are being called to be the answer to the prayer that Jesus is teaching us to pray. 

The suffix \u201c-ian\u201d generally means \u201cthe people of\u201d or \u201cthose who represent.\u201d  A Brazilian represents the biggest country in South America.  Many of us assume, without giving it a great deal of thought, that Brazilians are joyful people who love soccer and steakhouses strongly endorsed by the Atkins Diet.  How about Sicilians?  Those who represent Sicily like deep-dish Sicilian pizza and \u2013 weren\u2019t they connected somehow to the Mafia?  People tend to associate Brazil and Sicily and lots of other places with their impressions (often superficial) of the people who grew up there.  

Then there are Christians<\/em> \u2013 the people of Christ. 

Because of those who bear his name, what do people associate with Christ?  Is it kindness, generosity, love, and grace?  Or quarreling, bigotry, hypocrisy, and judgmentalism? 

All of the above, perhaps?

Christians represent the five-letter name of Jesus.  Incredibly, he has allowed his reputation to remain in our hands. 

The next time we pray, \u201challowed be thy name,\u201d we can know that we are really saying, \u201cFather, give me such grace that when people look at me, they don\u2019t just see my tired, poor life.  They see the work that your Son continues to do in my heart.\u201d

Which will lead them to say, whenever they think about You:  Wow.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to receiving meaningful names, some of us are winners.  Others are losers.  Then there\u2019s the family with both a Winner and a Loser. In 1958 Robert Lane and his wife, who lived in public housing in Harlem, New York City, became parents of their sixth child.  Dad, in a joyful mood, decided to name his little boy… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[85],"class_list":["post-261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-names"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions\/263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}