Whats in a name?

I am enjoying leading 3 primary school assemblies this week at Sandhurst, High Halden and Rolvenden. The first 2 schools I regularly go into and I know the staff, students and ways of doing things well. Tomorrow will be my first visit to Rolvenden.

I have been doing an assembly on The Names of God. After the birth of the new Princess of Cambridge on Saturday and the accompanying media circus that ensued, much has been made of the names that she was given. I suspect there are many people throughout the UK who made and lost money on the event as well as many others who are telling their friends ‘I told you so!’.

The names each one of us are given are special and unique, some have a meaning that was special to our parents, others may have some symbolism within the family, one lad told me this morning he was named George after the footballer George Best!

There are many names for God. In Psalm 23 David cries out to ‘The Lord my Shepherd’ and Jesus refers to himself several times, in John 10, as the Good Shepherd.

A shepherd, while an alien thing to many children and young people, was a vital role in Jesus day. Whilst it may not have been a respected profession or one that had prospects and was thought of highly it was a profession that couldn't be done without. It was also a dangerous profession one which may involve giving your life for the protection of the sheep. Jesus says that ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep’ (John 10:11).

I prayed with the children this morning that as they discovered what their names meant they would remember that Jesus, the good shepherd, laid down his life for them.