Mrs Wilson thought there must be a new Postman working in the area.  Every so often she would receive the wrong mail.  The address on the envelope was correct but the name was completely wrong and so very foreign sounding!  It all seemed a little strange because she couldn’t think on any new neighbours for whom this mail might be intended.  She resolved to hold on to the mail in the hope of catching the Postie and pointing out his error to him.

When, one Saturday morning, she did catch the Postie she was surprised to see that it was her regular Postman who was delivering mail and not a new person as she had surmised.  The Postie assured her that there was nothing he could do.  His job was to deliver mail to the correct address and as he had done that it was no longer his responsibility and in any case he wasn’t aware of any new residents in the neighbourhood either.

Mr Wilson had been away on business.  When he returned home Mrs Wilson was soon to tell him of all the mail which had arrived during his absence.  Without warning Mr Wilson’s face went bright red with embarrassment.  The penny suddenly dropped.  Mrs Wilson was aware that her husband had an obsession with the Cartoon character “Hong Kong Fuey”.  Yes the mail addressed to Mr H. K. Fuey was for her husband!  He had gone a step too far changing his name by Deed Poll to Mr Hong Kong Fuey!

We may find the story humorous or even ridiculous, but believe me when I tell you that it is based on a true story!  I don’t think that changing his name did his relationship too much good.

I don’t know if you have ever had a time in life when you have disliked your name, even if you have not disliked it enough to want to change it.  There have been times when I have thought “Kevin” was as stupid name to have.  It certainly didn’t help when the “Home Alone” movies entered into popular culture.  McCauley Culkin’s character was a wee boy called Kevin.  It didn’t take long until the Kevin doll was merchandised around the world.  Numerous people offered to get me a Kevin doll for my birthday or Christmas.  It wasn’t a good time for being called Kevin.  More recently a car loan advert featuring Kev and Bev seated in their new car has only increased the sense of anyone called Kevin being something of a social misfit!

Yet Kevin is the name my parents chose for me.  I’m told it means “Handsome at birth” – as you can see it all went down hill from there!  Truthfully though our name is more important than we might realise – not what our name is but simply that we have a name.

A number of years back I heard of a little girl who had been sadly neglected by her parents.  When social workers asked her what her name was she responded by saying that her name was “Oi”.  I can still imagine her parents shouting, “Oi you, leave that alone!” “Oi, you get up to your room”.  In the processes of being cruel and demeaning toward their child they removed her name and in so doing removed her personhood and her right to engage in social relationships.

Again a few of years back I read the works of Dave Peltzer who again in his childhood years had suffered terrible abuse at the hands of his mother.  The first of his works is entitled “A Child called It”.  “It” could there be any worse way of removing someone’s identity and place and worth than by calling them “It”

Okay, these are cases of extreme abuse but we tend to do something similar when relationships at work or at home or with friends and neighbours break down.  I have friend whose had a long running dispute with his neighbour.  I’ve had a few conversations with him about the situation because it really gets him down at times.  I’m sure in all the conversations we have had he has never mentioned his neighbours name!  Think on the times you have fallen out with someone at work, taken a real dislike to them and all of a sudden we are talking about “Who? Him?” or “What? Her?”  When we remove someone’s name from our conversation we are implying that we don’t wish to know them, we don’t want to be in a relationship with them.

I suppose the converse of that is also true.  Maybe we have new neighbours and of course curiosity gets the better of us to find out who they are.  First chance that comes along we are making introductions, “Hello, I’m Kevin from No. 16, and you are?  Of course once we know each other’s names we have entered into a relationship. The barriers of unfamiliarity have been broken down.

Within the church community the Sacrament of Baptism has often been associated with the naming of a child.  Maybe that is not surprising when the father of the child is asked to give his son or daughter’s full name and through the Ministers words and actions that child is introduced to the whole community.  It is a tender and lovely moment when every individual who belongs to the Body of Christ is afforded the opportunity of entering into a relationship with that child because we know that child by name.  Baptism may have dwindled in significance within today’s culture yet there exists the Civil Naming Ceremony, which is conducted by the Registrar.  It would seem that the process of receiving a name, being given identity and personhood and being welcomed into a community of relationships remains important.

Thousands of years ago when God entered into a relationship with his creation his name remained something of a mystery.  I AM who I AM he said to Moses or the “LORD” is used as a substitute for his name, which was regarded as so holy and powerful that no human being could possibly utter the name of God.  In addition to this it was a common belief that to know a man’s name gave power over him.  You could for example include his name in a curse and bring the wrath and destruction of the God’s to reign down upon him.  This may sound all a little antiquated to us but when we think on the way we still use, abuse or omit people’s names from our conversations then maybe there are still elements of that belief lingering within our psyche even today.

Two thousand years ago when Mary and Joseph brought their son to the Temple they were doing what all parents did; they were following the recognised path in presenting their son for circumcision so that he would come within the relationship forged by God with his Chosen people.  At the same time their son received a name.  For Joseph that task of choosing a name was made simple.  An angel had already told him what the boy was to be called.  And so God’s only son was given the name, which his Heavenly Father had chosen for him.  In some way it needed more than just God on earth in human form.  We needed a means through which to begin a relationship with him and that means was and is to know his name.