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Known By Name Exodus 33:12 23; 1 Thessalonians 1:1 – 10 Marie Dorion was considered an indomitable woman. Of the Ioway tribe, she accompanied her husband on the Astorian trading party with its historic trek from St. Louis to the Columbia River and Pacific Ocean in 1811. Mrs. Dorion decided she was not going to be left behind in St. Louis for the 3 – 4 years her husband planned to work for Astor. Taking cues from Sacagawea (the strong Native American woman married to the interpreter for Lewis and Clark), Dorion knew a woman could be helpful to the men on this long trail. Her story, written by Jane Kirkpatrick in A Name of Her Own, includes a fairly desperate relationship with a husband who never calls her anything but ‘femme’ – woman. He never uses her given name, Marie. Abusive — especially when the whiskey would be opened, her husband even mocked her when she pleaded to be known by a real name. Ultimately, Marie Dorion’s strength and perseverance won her the respect of her husband and the other traders. She and her sons were the lone survivors of that trading party and interestingly then was known by a bourgeois name: Madame Marie Dorion. Her name became an important one in the history of the time. In our culture, using and calling one by name is a courtesy. In humiliating and despicable relationships, such as slavery, names (of those in servitude) wouldn’t have been used. This practice would allow for power advantage. Even now, the demeaning use of ‘girl’ or ‘boy’ is a way to assert one’s assumed advantage over another. To be known by one’s name is not just a nice happening or endearment, it is an issue of justice and respect. In middle eastern culture, the sharing of one’s name comes with even more wrapping. Name sharing comes only after a relationship has developed. One would never immediately ‘give away’ one’s name nor think about asking for the name of another. Some of this is tied to the understanding that a name, itself, holds defining meaning for a person and, therefore, has inherent power. These realities are important to know as we look at this morning’s passage from Exodus, which alludes to God knowing Moses by name. We might quickly jump over that with the assumption that sure, God knows Moses by name…God knows everyone by name – what’s the big deal? Well, it IS a big deal to know and call one by his or her name. It meant that God knew everything there was to know about Moses. Moses had been leading these Israelites around in the desert for a bit of time. Enough time had elapsed that the Israelites had rebelled – had built the golden calf while Moses was away on the mountain (talking with God). Enough time had elapsed that when Moses came down from that mountain conversation and realized the people had been running wild while he had been gone that he threw down and broke the two stone tablets with the ten commandments written on them. Enough time had elapsed that not only was Moses livid with his people, but knew that God was even more so. Enough time had elapsed that a plague had visited the people. And enough time had elapsed that God had sent word that Moses should take the people (the stiff-necked people) and be on their way, and that God was not going to go along! Moses — who had not requested this job of leading the Israelites, who had all sorts of reasons to not want this job — found himself in a dilemma. His people had disappointed him. His brother, whom he had left in charge, had obviously disappointed him. But now God was also disappointing him and leaving him absolutely on his own. Moses was stunned. He was probably afraid. He was certainly alone. But rather than whining and calling this situation unfair, Moses reverted to what he knew God had claimed. God had called Moses by name. God knew Moses intimately, and God was the one who had tied Moses with this people whom God claimed as beloved. Moses was calling in his chips. “If this is true that you are such a loving God, as to have loved me, and if this is true that these Israelites are your people, then you will also reveal more of yourself to me and to these people,” claimed Moses. “You will give us a roadmap of where you want us to go; you will even go with us, and you will give me something of a glimpse of your own nature, your own glory.” Moses was not trying to claim something that was not his. He did not even play up his own needs. He did not take on the victim role. He merely stated the facts — that God had found him in the beginning...had known him intimately by his name...and thereby had initiated the relationship of love that would continue forever. Moses’ insight is the basis, the ground floor, of our relationship with God. We do not do the ‘finding of God.’ We do not initiate the relationship with God. We do not name God before we are named and known by God. Explaining God as theory or concept never works unless one has experienced the relationship, which comes as being found by God. The good news – that Moses knew – is that once we have been found...once we have been named beloved we can expect to continue to have the presence of God accompany us wherever and whenever. And more and more of God’s nature will become known to us. What a rich promise! In the next few weeks we are going to be talking about...you will be hearing about ... you will be reading about...and I will be preaching about the investment of our time, our gifts, our money in ministry. Absolutely essential to those conversations is where we begin. I won’t begin (or even conclude actually) talking about the needs of a church budget. I will speak about our own needs to be giving and generous people. But the foundation of all our conversation is not about anything that we do or even about need. The foundation is that God has first loved us. God has initiated and begun this love affair with each one of us. God has, first and foremost, called us by name — a beloved name — and known us inside and out, including all that we would keep from others and try to hide from ourselves. And when that happened — whenever we first experienced it — we were given the opportunity to realize there are immense privileges accompanying the relationship. Those are that God will not desert us, God will walk with us, God will provide the roadmap for us, and God will even allow us a peek at the awesome glory that belongs only to God. With the natural disasters of today’s world — hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and fires — this image of being placed in the cleft of a rock is interesting because it probably is the one place of safety from everything. The forcefulness of nature’s power will overwhelm us in almost every other imaginable place on this earth. Moses must have been comforted knowing that God cared for him so much as to find the safest place for him to dwell when the revelation of God’s power would be seen and experienced. The rock of ages is that we have been created by, found by, named by and loved by God. That is the anchor of all that we need — all which is necessary. Bottom line for life is the initial premise that God knows us more fully, more intimately than any other creature, and still loves us completely. The name God has for each of us is more complete than any other possibility on this whole created earth. Celebrate that you are known. Celebrate that we are all named and loved. SW |
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