Called by Name

Today's entry was written by Mark Sprinkle. Please note the views expressed here are those of the author, not necessarily of The BioLogos Foundation. You can read more about what BioLogos believes here.

Just as the Lord gave Adam the task of naming the animals in the Garden, naming remains a central part of the scientific exploration of the world, for we designate relatedness in the tree of life by giving creatures names, even as we try to understand and classify them according to their morphological or genetic character. But what does it mean to be “called by name”? The phrase speaks of our biological identity, but also of intimacy—of being known for who we are as individuals (our given names) and for who we are as part of a community (our family names). Names are not something that we merely possess, then, but something we live: to be called by our name is to be invited into a relationship.

This relational aspect is all the more true when we accept the name of another as our own, or when another’s name is bestowed upon us. Marriage and adoption are the examples of this “identification with another” that spring to mind in our contemporary context, and, indeed, the Scriptures use both of these to speak of the way we are invited by the Lord to Himself. In both cases, it means that we take on the identity of another who is different from us—to know them by being part of them. Naming does not just recognize the current state of affairs, but brings into the world a new state of being. As poets know, naming is a kind of creation, and by being named as God’s own, we begin to bear His likeness.

In this season of Advent, though, we prepare to celebrate not so much how we are called by God’s name, but how He chose to be called by ours—how in addition to the powerful names by which Israel had known their God through the ages, we would now use humble ones, too: child, lamb. Those are the names William Blake used in his poem The Lamb, to set before us the intimate kinship Jesus wrought by taking our names and giving us His, in terms that also connect us with the rest of the natural world He created and which we have been called to cultivate. In addition to reading the original words below, listen as contemporary British composer John Tavener (here through the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge) gives voice to those names, to those likenesses which we are blessed to share.

The Lamb (1793)

Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed,
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee.
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and He is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee! 

Little Lamb, God bless thee!