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July 31, 2005
Down By the Riverside
Genesis 32:22-32
The Gathering Place? The Atrium? The Commons? The Great Room? Whatever will you end up calling the wonderful room next to our sanctuary? How will you decide? I suppose you could sell "naming rights." Maybe you'd get a good price to help pay down the outstanding debt. For that matter, you could name…. No, let's not go there. Probably, usage will prevail. Somehow, a name will just seem to stick.
It happened to Jacob. : He got stuck with "Israel." It's a name that has to do with striving. In this case, striving with God and striving with other people. And winning. Time was when a person's name meant something. Lorene, for example, is an American name that suggests "small victories." Margaret has Persian roots, and means "child of light;" and in Latin, "pearl." Eric is one of those Scandinavian names meaning "ever powerful." We don't think of our given names having meaning so much any more. But in Jacob's time, a name was more than entertainment. He was old "grab by the heel," because that's where he'd clutched his twin brother when Esau was on the way out. Their sibling rivalry was from the beginning. After being renamed "Israel" he was no longer the "grabber" but a "prince of God."
Changing your name can be an important move. How many of you remember Alphonzo D'Abruzzo from the hit TV series M*A*S*H? You probably recollect him as Alan Alda. Probably every guy here knows that Norma Jean Baker was Marilyn Monroe. Memorable names may help with celebrity. Some immigrants changed their names so they'd seem "more American" after they got off the boat and passed through Ellis Island. Some famous writers publish racy stuff under different names in order to make a little extra and keep their reputations. Jacob, "the grabber," got changed to "Israel," "the prince of God formerly known as the 'grabber.' Names DO make a difference.
Thing is, Jacob didn't change his name to Israel. Israel was given to him by this mysterious figure with whom he wrestled all night. Makes me think of those restless nights all of us have had. Couldn't sleep. Tossing and turning. Mind racing with thoughts that can't be put to rest. Just stop, for crying out loud. Leave me at peace. What were we wrestling with? Just our own thoughts? Or was another there, wrestling with us?
We're never alone, you know. God made us that way. God never leaves us alone. Sometimes that's a comfort. Sometimes it's not. That night on the banks of the Jabbok River did not start out as a comfort. And the blessing at the end came hard. It crippled him; he walked with a limp from then on. We may imagine, perhaps hope, maybe fear, we're alone with our troubling, troublesome thoughts. That's not God's way with us.
Jacob wrestled and won. His prize was a new name. A new destiny. Things would never again be the same. He was a different person. He was "Israel." Israel is, of course, the name taken on by a whole people; people who look back to the old "grabber" as the founding figure in their history.
All this makes me wonder about names that get given us along the way. You know: our reputation. Some of us set out to "make a name" for ourselves. Jean and Pat are two of our artists. Ernie's a banker. Linda our "habitat for humanity" person. Cal DeVries is a celebrated former pastor. Then some of us just get a reputation, like it or not.
Makes me think about churches, and the reputations they get, and how they get them. Do you know the reputation of your congregation? What is First Presbyterian known for? I'm still very new here, and even by the time I leave I'll know but a spoonful while many of you know truckloads about your church how it's known in your community. Oldest church in town. Architectural gem. The place that feeds people. Where you can get a bus ticket, and use a phone. Those are all part of your reputation. Part of what others say about you. What others call you. Some parts of our reputation we have to live up to. Other parts we have to live down. Jacob, the prince, was also always grasping, deceiving Jacob. You can bet his enemies never let him forget.
I wonder if you all are still in the midst of a great wrestling match. You've wrestled with how you should worship. You've wrestled with what sort of place you should worship in. You've wrestled with whether to move or stay downtown. You've wrestled with raising the money to make it all happen. You're wrestling with what to call that wonderful room next door. You're wrestling with a cranky sound system. Is God in any of that? Has God got hold of you? And you of God? And it's not over yet? Somehow a blessing's going to come of it?
I guess some would say the blessing's come. I mean, just look at this place. I guess it's added to your reputation. It doesn't look much like a place for wrestling. I don't think Jacob was expecting a wrestling match that night on the Jabbok, either. He got caught by surprise. He thought he was caught between his past and his future. His past: his mother got him out of the country, sent him off to live with relatives, after he'd cheated his brother, Esau, out of his inheritance. Esau mightn't have been very quick on the uptake, but he wasn't stupid. Now, here was Jacob, returning home with a family of his own and wealth. Successful. A great future ahead. And here was Esau bearing down on him. Maybe a bribe—how indelicate and unbefitting a man of Jacob's success and accomplishment—no, gifts, would put Esau in a better frame of mind. Open him to negotiation. Hadn't Jacob pried away his brother's birthright with some lentil soup. Fool me once. Shame on you. Fool me twice. Shame on me. Esau was not quick, but he was not stupid, either. What a spot to be in.
Maybe we never escape our history. Maybe we're never really free of that reputation we gathered for ourselves. You have a history. It's a mixture of things. Some to be proud of. Some you'd as soon forget. Some you can't forget. It all goes toward your reputation. The name you've made for yourselves. You put a new face on things. Your name sparkles. No matter what the name on the door, the question is whether what's inside has changed all that much. After that night on the banks of the Jabbok the name Jacob bore would be different. Has what's inside changed?
Maybe that's what First Presbyterians are wrestling with. Everything's changed. And is everything still the same? You've made a lovely place here. What about what goes on inside? Not just what goes on inside this wonderful new wrestling arena, I mean sanctuary. What's going on in your wrestling with God? You do know it's God you're wrestling with when you're here. And not just here. But here in a profound way.
Thing is, it's not what others called Jacob. Imagine what his brother with blood in his eye may have called Jacob, the grasping deceiver who cheated him of his inheritance. But it's not what Esau, or anyone else calls Jacob. It's what the Lord calls him that sticks. That matters. So what will the Lord call you? What name will finally stick with you? Jacob came out of his wrestling match with a blessing. He held on. He wouldn't let go until he got that blessing. You've got a nice place to wrestle in. Hold on. Don't let go. God bless you.
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First Presbyterian
Church of Cedar Rapids
310 Fifth Street SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org
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