The Old Testament reading this morning was from Genesis 17 where God renames Abram as Abraham, and Sarai as Sara. The sermon was about names, ending with the suitably unsettling question "What is God's name for you?" But it led us there by getting us to think about the names we already know - or think we do. The priest said that when working with groups she sometimes uses this as an ice breaker: tell us something about your name. We tried it over lunch, not expecting much, but it took off. Your name might seem like it's quintessentially yours, a fixed point, whether you like it or not, but say anything more about it and you're thinking about other people: namings, namers and their intentions, and the planned and unplanned places a given name takes you. Random factoid from my name story: my parents had Europe-specific reasons for calling me Mark, but lots of other American boys born the same year also wound up with that name. Indeed, I discovered at one point, that the mid-sixties were, in the US at least, peak Mark! As a result I don't meet many other Marks, but when I do, they're almost always around the same age as me.
