"In our concern for simplicity of speech, I would also like to raise the matter of the naming of our [church buildings/fellowship groups]... I know that naming is a way of describing the distinctive emphasis of a group, but I am concerned that we do not claim more than we can possibly deliver. The usual pattern in the Scripture is to give a new name to someone after his or her transformation has occurred."
There’s that bit in Revelation that talks about being given a new name on a white stone. Perhaps because only in the new heaven and earth will our own transformations be complete. In addition, because only God knows us, inside and out, surely better than our parents did when they named us after only having met us! The names God gives would be weighty, like a stone, because these names would reflect the summation of His knowledge of us.
Why is naming so significant, especially in the Scripture? Do you feel defined by your own name? I have come to enjoy my name very much. I like how it is spelled, I like what it means. (I was always hoping there was some grand significance to why my parents chose my particular name… but ended up disappointed in learning such was not the case.)
Look at the church around the world – replete with different names. Communities identify themselves with some “idea” or “group” or even “person”… why? Because they want to be associated with that idea or group or person. It’s a witness, an identification, even a level of conformity. But what if they name it out of a desire to be associated with that good thing, but then fail to be that good thing? Or if the group or person they associated themselves with fails to live up to their expectations, tainting their own name?
Let’s consider these questions through the example of marriage. The wife traditionally takes on the family name of her husband. What does this mean? Sure, there is this association for the society to know that these two people are married, they live together, they are committed to each other, etc. It’s an external witness, yes. But isn’t it also internal? More specifically, isn’t there an internal transformation in each person? Isn’t the wife saying that the name she is taking on is a name worthy to take? One that is respected, honored by others, a word that when heard brings the quality and character of its owner to one’s mind. But there is trust… the wife has to trust the man bearing that name. That he would have a good reputation, that others would have praiseworthy things to say about the man who bears it, and that these things although only shadows would accurately reflect the substance of her husband. This trust, this relinquishing of one identity for another, is an internal movement just as it is an external one.
To take a name on oneself, there should be also a striving to not tarnish that name, but to only bring more honor and respect to the family by one’s conduct and character. The husband must likewise trust the wife to be able to bring honor and respect to his name. (I’m thinking of Proverbs 31 here.) He likewise must know her character, her substance, to be able to want her to be identified so closely with him and be a part of his family. (What constitutes the respect and the honor is another discussion; for me I would say, respect and honor stems from living a life that brings glory to God.)
I know nowadays reputation, heritage, and honor are somewhat foreign concepts, and my thoughts may seem antiquated and irrelevant. But I feel there is significance to names and the process of naming. Foster thinks so too. The naming of a community, a church, must be done carefully… and as he said, only after one knows the quality of that community, what God does in and through that community…. Just like a woman only will take on the name of a man after she knows something about the quality of that name and the person with that name.
So where is simplicity in all of this? I think we find the simplicity in stripping away all the trappings of labels, some which may be inaccurate and complete misrepresentations, devoid of meaning or substance, unreflective of one’s true nature. Taking on a name is about knowledge; let our priority be in knowing ourselves, as individuals and communities, which necessitates knowing our Creator. We let God speak His words, and let the process of naming come from Him, rest on Him, and not on our innovation or desires to be, or appear to be, something we are not yet, never will be, or never should be.