Eclipse Glasses and Jesus -- FPC sermon excerpt

Kids are given the strangest names.

In June 2001, a total solar eclipse was about to cross southern Africa. To prepare for this event, the African media started a massive astronomy education campaign, focused on warning people not to stare at the sun.

Apparently, the campaign worked, according to mental_floss magazine (February 2008). The Africans took a real liking to the vocabulary in the education campaign. Today, birth registries are filled with children named “Totality,” “Annular,” and “Eclipse Glasses.”

Yes, that’s right: “Eclipse Glasses.” It’s a name that works equally well for boys and for girls.

There is a tremendous focus on names in the Christmas story we have heard tonight, and these names have meanings deeper than “Totality” and “Annular.” In a time of violence and warfare, the prophet Isaiah says, “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel” (7:14). This name means “God is with us,” so the birth of this child comes as a powerful sign that God is entering into the middle of human life, to help and protect his people.

One of my colleagues is the pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in McLean. At a recent lunch he said to me, “You know, the very center of my theology is captured in the name of my church, Immanuel. It means that God is coming into the world, in human form, to show his love.”

Immanuel. God is with us. It’s a strange name, but deeply significant.

Then an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and says, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21). The name “Jesus” has significance as well — it means, “God saves,” and it reminds us that God is working through Jesus to save us from sin and death.

Joseph realizes in his dream that this is taking place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us” (vv. 22-23).

So the baby really has two names: Immanuel and Jesus. They mean, “God is with us” and “God saves.” Both are important, and both point us to the true meaning of the gift of Christ at Christmas.

First, Immanuel. The promise of Immanuel is that God is with us now and always — through stress and sickness, conflict and confusion, failure and frustration, despair and even death itself. Nothing in all creation “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). That’s the guarantee of Immanuel — that God is with us, in every time and place and situation. When I visited a grieving church member recently, she said that her greatest comfort, after losing a child, was that God was with her. That’s Immanuel.

But the name Jesus is important as well — it reminds us that God is not merely with us, but that “God saves.” You see, God is not just a divine cheerleader, encouraging us and urging us on, but is hard at work in the muck and mire of human life to rescue us from sin and death. God is acting through Jesus to bring us forgiveness of sin, and healing of body, mind, and spirit. God is reminding us again and again that Jesus has gone all the way to the cross to show us just how much he loves us. Our Lord has died to bring us forgiveness, and been raised to offer us new life. Jesus is the clearest possible sign that “God saves.”

Immanuel and Jesus. God is with us; God saves. So much more meaningful than “Totality,” “Annular,” and “Eclipse Glasses.”