The Naming of Jesus, a sonnet

The naming of Jesus

Although I am continuing to post recordings to accompany my Advent book Waiting on the Word, which runs through to Epiphany on the 6th of January, I am also adding the occasional poem of my own.

January 1st brings us not only to the start of a new year but to a lovely little festival of the church: The Naming of Jesus. It is an amazing thing to think that the Eternal Word of God, the Logos from whom all languages and all meaning ultimately derives, should deign himself to be named and to learn a language along side us.

Steve Bell has written an excellent reflection on this festival in his new multimedia project Pilgrim Year and he asked me to compose a sonnet to go with it. So here it is. As always you can hear me read the poem by clicking on the title or the ‘play’ button.

This poem was collected in most recent poetry collection Parable and Paradox published by Canterbury Press

The Naming of Jesus

 

Luke 1:21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

 

I name you now, from whom all names derive

Who uttered forth the name of everything,

And in that naming made the world alive,

Sprung from the breath and essence of your being.

The very Word that gave us words to speak,

You drank in language with your mother’s milk

And learned through touch before you learned to talk,

You wove our week-day world, and still one week

Within that world, you took your saving name,

A given name, the gift of that good angel,

Whose Gospel breathes in good news for us all.

We call your name that we might hear a call

That carries from your cradle to our graves

Yeshua, Living Jesus, Yahweh Saves.