Pentecost 2 (NL2) – Lord’s Prayer Sermon Series John B. Valentine
Matthew 6:1-13 June 2, 2024

“HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME ...”

Did you ever realize that God has a name?

Seriously. I kid you not. GOD HAS A NAME!

You know ... last week we began our summer sojourn through the Lord’s Prayer ...

And as I hinted at last week ... there’s a difference between names and labels ... is there not?

• Label says “greatest-ever basketball shooter who plays for the Golden State Warriors” ...
• Name says “Stephen Curry”.

• Label says “first female Supreme Court Justice in the United States” ....
• Name says “Sandra Day O’Conner”.

• Label says “the current treasurer of Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church who works WAY too much to ensure our congregation’s fiscal well-being” ...
• Name says “Steve Swanback”.

Labels talk about your ability or perhaps your accomplishments ... but a name speaks to your identity.

A label is about what you do ... a name is about who you are.

And God ... like you ... has a name!

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As some ... if not many ... of you know ... I’m kind of fascinated by names.

In part by the meanings of our names ...

But more importantly ... because names have power.

Names are magic words that have power over us.

In fact ... it could well be said that there is nothing that can have a more profound and powerful effect on you than your name.

So ... for instance ...

• If I say "Hey, woman" ... roughly 50% of those of you in this room would prick up your ears a little bit .... while the other 50% would assume ... “Phew ... he’s not talking to me.”

• If my label got a bit more specific and I said "I'm talking about this woman who’s sitting up here in the choir" ... even less of you are going to listen ... but maybe you up here in the front will squirm a bit more.

• But if I say... "Diana Riveness" ... I know that one of you ... one of you in particular is going to mentally ... if not physically ... snap to attention.

Really ... watch what happens when I start speaking individual folks' names ......

Those of you whose names I just named ... did you notice it? How it felt a little different?

That's because names have power.

Having our name called out somehow calls us out of ourselves ... it calls out our own individual identity .. . and FORCES us to listen.

Which gets me back to my point ... God has a name ... and that's a big deal.

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You see ... we live in a world where ... for the most part ... people don't really think that God
HAS a name.

We’re told that it’s “exclusivist” to pray for something ‘in Jesus’ name’.

We’re reminded that it’s “politically incorrect” to pray in the name of ‘The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.’

And so ... to avoid such behaviors ... we settle for labeling God rather than naming God.

We imagine God as being:

• the sum total of the highest and best aspirations of humanity ... or maybe

• the embodiment of some primitive moral code ... or perhaps

• the epitome of love and joy and hope and peace.

And we forget ... or decide it's not important ... or maybe just choose to ignore ... that God has a name!

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You see ... one of the greatest ... and certainly one of the under-appreciated ... stories in the whole of the Bible is that quirky encounter that takes place in the Book of Exodus ....

Wherein Moses is about the business of discovering just who God is ...

Wherein God Almighty ... the Creator of heaven and earth ... reveals God’s holy name.

The way that story goes ...

God has been training Moses up for the task of leading his people out of slavery and into freedom ...

But Moses keeps coming up with every excuse that he possibly can about why he isn't the right guy for the job.

Until finally ... in a fit of exasperation ... Moses just snaps ... and says:

“Okay Lord ... how about this.

• When the Israelites ask me who it is that has dreamed up this scheme whereby they’re going to flee to the wilderness .... and then to freedom in the Promised Land ... what am I supposed to tell them?

• Who am I supposed to say that you are?

• Who am / supposed to tell these people is the one who has cooked up this idea?"

You see ... Moses comes to the realization that this God with whom he is talking doesn't just have abilities ...

No ... this God also has an identity. This God is a peculiar God with a peculiar way of doing things.

So God says to Moses ... "This is my name ... this is what you can call me: I am who I am."

• "I am who I am" ...
• "I will be who I will be" ...
• “Jehovah” ...
• “Yahweh” ...
• The Lord ... as it gets translated in most Bibles.

In part that name is a riddle ... it’s a declaration that God's IDENTITY is whatever God wants it to be ...

That this “I Am” God is sovereign and free ... untamed and unbounded.

But then again ... God entrusts God’s NAME to God’s chosen people ...

So that they ... that we ... can know that we can call on God when we need to ... and that God will listen ... pay attention ... precisely because we have a name to call on.

It’s this radical paradox that this radically all-powerful God entrusts God’s very self to us.

That this radically all-powerful God gave us and gives us a certain power over God!

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Anyhow ... the reason for all of this talk about names ... and the name of God ... is that we’re on Week Two of our walk through the Lord’s Prayer.

Which formally locates us in the First Petition ... that request ... “Hallowed be your name.”

And it begs of us the question ... “What exactly does that mean?”

So we know that God HAS a name ... and that God shares God’s name with us ... but what exactly does it mean for us to hallow that name?

After all ... according to Mr. Webster ... to "hallow" something means "to make it holy” ... “to set it apart” ... “to make it special” ...

And it certainly would seem that God is able to make sure God’s name is hallowed and holy ... and set apart and special ... without any help from us!

So why does Jesus teach us to pray "hallowed be your name"?

Maybe because ... as Martin Luther once explained ... "While God's name is certainly holy in itself ... we pray in this prayer that we may keep it holy. "

We pray this prayer not in order to make God's name holy in some grandiose objective sense ... but rather to make God’s name holy in a particular subjective sense .... that God’s name might be holy TO US.

• When WE set that name apart ...
• When WE treat that name as special ...
• When WE acknowledge that that name is holy ...

It’s not so much that God’s life is changed but that OUR lives are changed.

In a certain way ... it seems to me that this First Petition is a request that God might help us to reset our moral and ethical compasses to align with those of God ...

That we might get on the same page with God ... rather than asking God to get on the same page with us.

You see ...

• We hallow God’s name each and every time we acknowledge God’s goodness ... and actually mean it ...

• We hallow God’s name each and every time we sing or speak God’s praises ... and actually mean it ...

• We hallow God’s name each and every time we give God His due ... and actually mean it.

• We hallow God’s name each and every time we allow God’s Word to shape our lives and our living ...

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You know ... back in the day ... back when I was a student at that not-insignificant institution located just over those hills out there ...

I had a classmate from South San Jose who was the first person in his family to ever go to college.

Anyhow ... I was with him one night at a party ... as college students are wont on occasion to participate in ...

And he approached by a not-unattractive coed with a not-uninviting offer ...

An offer to which he simply and straightforwardly replied "No, thanks."

Well ... needless to say ... those of us who watched that interchange had a hard time wrapping our heads around what we’d just witnessed ...

Actually ... we had a hard time not choking on our respective beers! ...

And wondering how anyone could have said “No” to that ...

Until he explained ...

“I was talking to my mom earlier today and I was reminded that she cleans seven different houses three nights a week and every weekend to help me be here.

In fact ... I’m really only here because of her ... and her sacrifice for me.

In fact ... she's probably cleaning one of those houses right now.

And I know she’d be disappointed in me if I said ‘yes’ to that offer ...

And I know that I’d be haunted by it in the future ... whether or not she ever found out ... because I’d feel like I’d just cheapened her efforts.”

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Needless to say ... that was probably the best lesson in human integrity that I learned that whole academic year.

But ... more importantly ... aren’t his words a reminder to all of us?

• That we’re only here because of God’s amazing gifts and amazing sacrifices to us and for us?

• That we hallow God name each and every time we attempt to live into God’s priorities and embody God’s values and sing God’s praises?

• And that when we don’t ... we don’t?

Think on these things. Amen!