“…he was called Jesus” (NRSV, Luke 2:21)

Such was the Name which God the Son chose for himself when he became Man.  And he chose it because it summed up the whole sublime purpose of his coming into the world – Jesus, Saviour.  So the angel announced to St Joseph, “…you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (NRSV, Matthew 1:21, our emphasis).

And because Jesus, God made Man, is the personal centre of our holy Faith, its beginning and its end, so from that day to this the Name of Jesus has, for each believer, comprehended within its two syllables the whole of the Christian life – its meaning, its direction and its inner power.

As we cannot think of Our Saviour’s Name without at the same time thinking of him, so Christians throughout the ages have treated his Name with especial love and reverence.  Thus the Canon Law of the Church of England confirms ancient custom in expressly ordering the faithful to bow the head whenever the Name of Jesus is pronounced.

Of all that has been written about the Name of Jesus, the loveliest composition is the hymn, often attributed to St Bernard of Clairvaux, but probably written by an English Cistercian monk at the turn of the 13th century; and familiar to us in the translation from the original Latin:

“No voice can sing, no heart can frame,
nor can the memory find,
a sweeter sound than Jesu’s Name,
the Saviour of mankind”.

That wonderful hymn, expressing so tenderly the response of a Saint to the love of Christ, may seem far-fetched to this noisy and materialistic age, but those who truly love Our Blessed Lord today will find its echo within their hearts.

That is something than neither the non-Christian nor the nominal Christian can understand, yet how natural it is.  What very different associations and sentiments, for example, does the name of England evoke from those who know not England compared with what it means to those who owe their nurture and their liberty to this their island home!

So likewise the Name of Jesus can be a living and significant reality only to those who know and love Our Saviour Jesus Christ, for the ultimate meaning of their life here and their hope of happiness hereafter, are to be found only in their Divine Lord who bears that Holy Name.

And what consolation and strength has the Name of Jesus brought to suffering and dying Christians through the ages!   From the first martyr St Stephen, who, when he was being stoned to death, called on the Lord saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (NRSV, Acts 7:59) – from him to the latest dying faithful soul, the Holy Name has brought confidence and peace.

That is due, not to any magical properties nor only to the associations which his Name recalls; but rather to the fact that through the very uttering of the Holy Name in heart-felt prayer, one is brought into immediate spiritual union with Jesus himself to whom one’s prayer is addressed.

There is, however, another side to this.  Whether his Name and therefore he himself are respected or despised by the world around, depends very largely on those who, by bearing the name of Christian, are marked out as being his.  That is to be expected.  For example, foreigners learn to respect or despise England from what they see of English people abroad.  It is often they who give England a good name or a bad name.  It is you and I who give Our Lord Jesus Christ a good or bad name, and we do it by what we are and by how we speak and act.

When we pray, “Hallowed be thy Name”, what we are really asking is that by our worship inside the Church and by our life outside it, we may honour God and in so doing cause him to be honoured, or at least respected, by others.

There are three particular ways in which this is done: the first concerns our relationship to Christ; the second our relationship to one another; and the third our Christian witness to those outside the Church.

Our relationship with Christ is really very simple.  On the night before he was crucified, he put it in one sentence, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (NRSV, John 14:15).  And then he went on to give us two clear and specific commandments for us to keep.

The first was as he instituted the Eucharist: “Do this…” he said (NRSV, Luke 22:19).  And so we “Do this” by taking our part in the Eucharist Sunday by Sunday, year in and year out.  It is our perfectly simple fulfilment of his perfectly simple request.  Therein lies the obligation of our weekly worship – the Lord’s own Service on the Lord’s own day, offered in response to the Lord’s own commandment.

The second commandment, which he gave to us that same night, was “…that you love one another, just as I have loved you…” (NRSV, John 13:34) – that is, with a Christ-like love.  And he emphasised how essential that mutual love is to Christian discipleship by adding, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (NRSV, John 13:35).

As we gather together therefore, week by week in his Name, we should be conscious of a mutual goodwill towards one another springing from our mutual love for Christ.  For, as Christ is the focal centre of the Christian religion, so he is also the focal centre of Christian unity and fellowship.  And therefore that unity and fellowship can only become a reality in any Christian community if its members truly love him and for that reason love one another in him.

Before Christ returned to Heaven on Ascension Day he declared to his disciples what was to be both their duty and high privilege.  “…you will be my witnesses…”, he told them (NRSV, Acts 1:8).  And that is still the duty and the privilege of his disciples in every generation.

What makes us true and effective witnesses of him is the constancy of our worship, the sincerity of our mutual goodwill, and the readiness at all times humbly and fearlessly to stand up and be counted as his disciples, whenever Christian standards and conduct are opposed by the standards and conduct of the world in which we find ourselves today.  People have a genuine respect for those who are not ashamed to stand up for their religious convictions – far more than they can ever have for the timid and shrinking who deny their Master, either by failing to defend Christian principles, or worse still, by appearing to side with those who attack those principles.

And we have it on Christ’s own word that whoever is ashamed of him and his words in what he called “..this adulterous and sinful generation…”, of him or her will Christ himself also be ashamed (NRSV, Mark 8:38).  And that is a truth he made absolutely clear on another occasion when he said, “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven” (NRSV, Matthew 10: 32,33).

As we begin another New Year, let us gather the threads together in Jesus’ own words:

“If you love me, keep my commandments”:

• “Do this in remembrance of me”

• "Love one another as I have loved you”

• "Be my witnesses”