Jump Start # 3407

Matthew 10:32 “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in Heaven.”

I was listening to some Gordon Lightfoot songs the other day. He had a remarkable way of telling a story through a song. Ballads, those are often called. There was one song that I hadn’t heard in a very long time, “Did she mention my name?” He tells the story of running into an old friend and they got talking about the old home town. He asked about the ball team, ice on the river, leaky roofs, the folks and then he said, “Did she happen to mention my name?” What a great song and thought that is.

Everyone wants to think and believe that others care about them. We’d like to think that others think about us once in a while. One of the leading reasons for young men to join street gangs is because coming from a busted homes, they are looking for someone who will accept them and the gang fills that role.

Did she mention my name—really means, does she ever think about me? I was asked recently about one of the congregations I once preached at. “Do you ever hear from anyone there,” was the question.

There are some great thoughts that come from, “did she mention my name?”

First, our fellowship is important, powerful and needful, but we must make sure that no one falls through the cracks. We cannot allow anyone to feel like they could drop out and no one would miss them.

Connecting outside the church building is essential. There are a variety of ways to help people connect, from smaller group meetings to organized ways of getting people together. Shepherds must be mindful of this.

Sometimes it’s the new person, the single person, or the weak person that is likely to feel left out and left behind. Attention must be given to these folks. Learning how to connect with others is important. Some do this easily and some never seem to get this.

Second, names are important and getting them right is important. Some are so good at names. Others have a hard time. Work at this. Did she mention my name? Does she even know my name? Some names are easy to pronounce. Some you have to work at. Putting a smile behind saying someone’s name sure melts the ice of a cold and indifferent world that we live in.

Third, from our passage today, God knows our name. He’ll never mispronounce it, nor forget it. Confess Me, Jesus said, and I’ll confess you. The judgment scene found in Revelation 20, has the books opened and names in the book of life. Will those names be read aloud? Will everyone hear those names? When the angels rejoiced when we obeyed the Gospel, was our name mentioned in Heaven? How many times has someone taken our name to the Lord in a prayer?

We can walk through a store and see many people and no one knows us. We can sit in a crowed restaurant and no one knows us. We can go to a ballgame or a concert and no one knows us. But God does.  And a time is coming when Jesus will confess our name before His Father. Our names are special to us. We make sure that it is spelled correctly. Our names identify us. Our names carry a connection to our families and our heritage.

Did she mention my name? Great song by Lightfoot. But a better thought is, “Did God ever mention my name?” Now, that’s a thought.

Roger