The Lord's name

Schalom and vee gehts!

I have a quick kvetch for today. Most of us know about God's Big Ten. The ten things that really make Him unhappy. And most of us know that taking the Lord's name in vain is one of those things. I've been bothered lately by two of the ways that we tend to break this commandment.

The first is just mislabeling Him. Last Sunday I heard no less than four people say that I was Jesus Christ's father (ending a talk or a lesson in the name of "Thy Son"). If there's anybody not clear on how to use this, just think about who you are talking to. "Thy" means "your" so it is correct when Christ is the Son of the person you are talking to. Prayers are directed to God the Father in the name of His Son, so "Thy Son"fits. Talks, testimonies, and lessons are directed at the audience (I wouldn't presume to teach God the importance of tithing), and since no one in the audience is Christ's father, "Thy Son" is not correct.

The second way, and the way that I find harder to avoid myself, is removing the importance from Christ's role as our mediator. We do this every time we end a talk or prayer "Namff Jes Crash Men" (If you don't know what that means, try saying it out loud, maybe really fast after "I know the church is true"). This is something that I personally am working on, and I think that most of us need to think about. We say it so often that it has lost its meaning.

Well, this was supposed to be a grumpy kvetch not a preachy sermon, so I think I'll stop here. Just please, if you are guilty of either or both of these, think about it. Till next time, zay gezunt!

Herschel