What the heck are we talking about . . .

There is a dialect of English that we rarely talk about, but commonly talk in: church-ese. We throw around all kinds of fancy words: grace, sin, hell, heaven, atonement, glory, praise, on and on and on. Yet, I am constantly amazed at how little I understand this dialect. From time to time I read something that explains to me the contours of this language and suddenly I realize that these sayings have meaning!! Who would have thought?

"Amen"

I had heard that this meant "may it be so", but that's not exactly the case. It's actually Hebrew, go figure. The word is "aman" or "he'emin", which would be pronounced something like 'hey-men' with a soft H. Translated "aman" means something like "be firm", and "he'emin" means "believe/trust". In church I always hear people shout amen at things they agree with. Like an obnoxious way of saying "I wish to remain anonymous while supporting that statement." This is not really in line with what the word means. It's more a way of saying "I trust that, and will remain firm in that belief." Or more simply it merely means "faith". It is a way of saying I have faith in, and faith resting on what we are hearing. In modern context it is something that we could benefit from understanding: in spite of doubt, in the face of opposition, and in subversive refusal to despair we hold to 'faith'. Even when the world appears to refute the very truths we rest on, we say 'amen' and rest on them anyway; generally uncomfortably, but with firm, unrelenting trust nonetheless. That is the great possibility of this word.

". . . in the name of . . "

This is much more than just an association with, and indeed more than some mystical union to. A name evokes the whole essence of a person. Pre-modern people were generally awed by the fact that one word could evoke a response from a person. If you knew someones name you knew how to get their attention. You could make them listen. Essentially to know a person's name was to have a relationship to them. This is largely why it is so important for Israel to revere God's name and not take it in vain. This is why for hundreds of year before Jesus religious Jews would not even say God's name for fear of his holiness breaking out against their unholiness in calling his attention.

This is also why the act of naming a child was (and is) of such great importance. This was setting the precedent for who that child would be. This is why when God reveals his names, each one is of vast importance in understanding his character. Yet, eventually the child transcends his name. Jesus was born as "the one through which God saves", but he revealed in his life that this salvation is nothing like men would expect. YHWH is the Lord, King, Shepherd, . . . . but these are quickly superceded as we come to understand that he ultimately is! We, like God, quickly surpass the metaphors, names, and adjectives which only begin to describe us. So, eventually our name is not an encompassing discription of us, but a link to the essence or presence that we are.

So, when we are baptized into Jesus' name, at first we are soaked with his saving acts: his healing, his liberating, his spirit, his grace and mercy. Yet, these are all initial abstract descriptions. Being baptized into his name is really becoming his essence. We cease to be merely ourself, but are overwhelmed with Jesus' self. We now share his essence, not just his qualities, but his very being which is far beyond what his qualities could ever add up to.

Baptism is not, as church of Christ kids are taught, simply the moment where we inherit a depersonalized Holy Spirit and are assured salvation. It is that, but if that's all we see or is the primary way we understand baptism we have severly missed the point. The point is that we have become Jesus. We are now everything he was. In essence we have taken on his name, which is much more than just a title, but is a representation of everything that he was. Immersing ourselves in his name is the same as immersing ourselves in him personally. We are now coated in the very presence of Jesus. At first this means we take on his qualities, but as our relationship to him grows and our understanding, so also does our life beging to take on more than simple kindness, holiness, compassion, freedom, liberation, or power. Instead we actually begin to act like Jesus who didn't concern himself daily with being any of the qualities for which he was known, but instead simply, essentially was the embodiment transcending those qualities: being all of them and still more.

Being baptized in his name is more than a bath which gives you a magic ticket to heaven. It is an act of becoming/being made into someone else.



. . . I'll probly continue this as I think of more sayings we throw around, forgetting what they mean.