Sermon

14th May 26

Today’s gospel reading includes a list of “The Twelve”, that group of disciples that Jesus gathered around him: both to give him support and, as we heard, to share in some of his work and mission.  They are identified by name.  Indeed, in some cases where there might be ambiguity, further information is added: thus, James is the son of Zebedee, Matthew is the tax-collector, and there is Simon the Cananaean.

This is not a random, anonymous group.  Rather each is identified by name and, where necessary, by further information.  For each one is a unique human being, created by God and called by Jesus.  And as for them, so for us.  We each have our name that identifies us: a name normally chosen by our parents and formally given to us in baptism.  Today we celebrate with Teddy and his family as they come to the font to celebrate his birth, and formally to give him the names Theodore Joseph.

But names can be more than just identifiers: they can have meaning.  The first name on that list of the Twelve, was “Simon, also known as Peter”.  
We are reminded of how Jesus changed Simon’s name.  He told him that he was to be known as Peter, a name meaning the rock: Simon Peter was to be the rock on which Jesus would build his Church.

So, names can have meaning: thus with Theodore.  It comes from the two Greek words theos and doron.  Theos means God, hence theology is the study of God.  Those of you who were here for mass last Sunday may remember that we were thinking about the Orthodox liturgy and the sharing of the antidoron at the end of the mass.  We noted that doron was Greek
for gift.  So, Theodore means God’s gift (as incidentally does the girl’s
name Dorothy which is also derived from those two Greek words).

Today we pray for Theodore: God’s gift to his family and to the wider Church.  We ask that God will bless him throughout his life,
and that he may grow in the faith into which he is to be baptised today.  
And we offer our love and prayers for his immediate family, for Suz, Richard, and Raphael, and for his godparents and sponsor, as together they look forward to supporting and nurturing him, now and in the years to come.  

Amen