{"id":617652,"date":"2022-05-11T13:10:26","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T17:10:26","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-08-10T10:53:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T14:53:25","slug":"whats-in-a-name-pentecost-2-c-june-19-2022","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/sermons\/whats-in-a-name-pentecost-2-c-june-19-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s in a Name?, Proper 7 (C) \u2013 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>[RCL] 1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a; Psalm 42 and 43; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-green-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-green-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm\/?e=DFMS5096294435&#038;light=true\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-green-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-green-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/P7-2022-Cover-FB-1024x536.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-267677\" style=\"width:512px;height:268px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the 1590s, William Shakespeare penned the line, \u201cWhat\u2019s in a name?\u201d as part of a longer soliloquy that Juliet speaks to herself. She discovers Romeo\u2019s family name and is dismayed \u2013 the Montagues and the Capulets have been feuding for years. The boy she is interested in is expressly forbidden to her. And so, she begins to work it through. \u201cRomeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?\u201d she begins. As she goes on, the line comes out, \u201cWhat\u2019s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.\u201d As in \u2013 the name for something or someone doesn\u2019t matter \u2013 it is one\u2019s essence that makes a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This line reverberates through these readings because of their connection to identity \u2013 to names and namelessness. What\u2019s in a name?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The man we encounter in Luke\u2019s gospel is never given a name. He is not introduced through a name or a family bloodline, but through how he is living. This man has been naked, living not in a house but in a graveyard, among the tombs. At times, those in the community have shackled him, tying him up with chains to keep him away from them and to keep themselves safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite this identity, despite the torment he has experienced, which our gospel says is his being possessed by demons, the man still comes to meet Jesus. Perhaps this is the first thing we really know about his identity \u2013 not about the chains which keep him bound or the demons who possess him \u2013 but about <em>him<\/em>. We know that the man has come to meet Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jesus first asks his name, and he answers, \u201cLegion.\u201d This name is not his, but that of the demons inside him. Legion is not the name of the man, but the name of the chains which bind him. Legion doesn\u2019t describe <em>him<\/em>, legion isn\u2019t <em>his<\/em> essence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After learning what constricts the man, Jesus has a conversation with the demons. In the end, Jesus gives the legion of demons permission to enter a herd of swine, causing the pigs to drown. This part of the story is violent; the demons are re-homed in unassuming livestock and the livestock are then killed in a way that might seem cruel or wasteful to our modern ears. But this was the extraordinary measure taken to save this man. The lesson here might be that there is nothing too extraordinary for God when God is fighting for us. God is about our freedom from all things and in all things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The people from the city hear about this miraculous occurrence and come to see what has happened. When they come to the scene, scripture tells us, \u201cThey were afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s pause for a moment here. Before this moment, there was a man living on the outskirts of the city \u2013 a man who was naked, sometimes tied up, and living in a graveyard. That was what the people were used to. It was business as usual. Now, they have heard of something miraculous: that the man is no longer tormented by demons and has been cured. And indeed, when they come to find out for themselves, the man is sitting at Jesus\u2019 feet. And yet it is here, after the miracle, after the healing, that they are afraid. When they realize what had happened, after the whole story about the demons and the pigs was told to them, they ask Jesus to leave, for they are seized with great fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When we think we know someone, it can be difficult to make room for a new identity. The people of the town didn\u2019t know this man, but they were familiar with the legion within him. When that was taken away, a new identity shone forth. And because it was different, the townspeople were afraid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I wonder \u2013 when have we been witness to the miraculous and then been seized with great fear? When have we been too afraid to see someone\u2019s true identity shine through? When have we kept someone in shackles, tied to their old identity? When have we ourselves been bound to an outdated version of who we once were?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Jesus is asked to leave, the man asks if he can come along. But Jesus sends him away, telling him to return home and to declare how much God has done for him. The encounter that Jesus has with this man gives him an identity. He may not have a name, but he is known to the living God. And being <em>known<\/em> by God is being <em>loved<\/em> by God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The encounter with God sets him free. He is no longer confined to the outskirts of his community, forced into isolation but brought back into the fold. When he tries to go with Jesus, he is gently redirected, for it is in community that we become known as our true selves. It is in community that our identities are formed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Paul\u2019s letter to the Galatians, he refers to us as children of God. He calls us into our identity beyond our names, beyond the categories we turn to as ways of definition, claiming our belonging to God as the most important thing about us. In God, we are not divided from one another but drawn closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In God, the man who was tormented by demons isn\u2019t confined to his place among the tombs. He is brought from a place of death and despair into his community, into the life of God\u2019s people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When we have an encounter with the living God, those things which torment us \u2013 those things which keep us shackled \u2013 fall away. Those demons \u2013 self-doubt, judgment, criticism of others \u2013 God calls out and gives us permission to be exactly who we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, what\u2019s in a name? Not as much as we might think. Our identities are manifold, expansive, and individual. But one identity holds precedence over all the others. One identity calls us into a community of love and into relationship with a living God. That identity isn\u2019t one we have to earn or one we can lose. It stays with us from birth to death, no matter what paths we may have chosen: We are children of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This sermon was written by <strong>the Rev. Jazzy Bostock<\/strong>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-ceac5c91-e797-4772-aeff-1b2a07c212f2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Sermon-Proper-7-English.docx\">Word \u2013 Proper 7 (C) Sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Sermon-Proper-7-English.docx\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-ceac5c91-e797-4772-aeff-1b2a07c212f2\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-74a7da08-f5b7-426c-9254-095e541693a3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Sermon-Proper-7-English.pdf\">PDF \u2013 Proper 7 (C) Sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Sermon-Proper-7-English.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-74a7da08-f5b7-426c-9254-095e541693a3\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[RCL] 1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a; Psalm 42 and 43; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39 In the 1590s, William Shakespeare penned the line, \u201cWhat\u2019s in a name?\u201d as part of a longer soliloquy that Juliet speaks to herself. She discovers Romeo\u2019s family name and is dismayed \u2013 the Montagues and the Capulets have been feuding for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43,52,33,1953],"tags":[372],"class_list":["post-617652","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-the-season-after-pentecost","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-proper-7c"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":1953,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":372,"label":"Proper 7C"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/617652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/617652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3477359,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/617652\/revisions\/3477359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}