King Lute the 1st

In light of the the Tennessee couple who wanted to name their baby boy "Messiah" I've been thinking about asking my mother if it would be O.K. to change my first name to King:  King Lute the 1st. It has a great ring to it, doesn't it? Actually, I'm going to add it to my name so as to not offend my parents: King Daniel DeWayne Lute, the 1st. And hopefully in three or four months we can add Dr. to it with of course my ordination title: Rev. Dr. King Daniel DeWayne Lute the 1st. Thank God I didn't have this when I was in kindergarten but the thought of having six names is good for my self-esteem. I feel good about myself today. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOCNY9pJ850 

The problem is that Rev., Dr., and King are not first names but titles. They are words of honor given through hard work or through a society's favor. 

Some would argue that Latin American parents have been gracing their male children with the name Jesus for centuries and that would be true. I actually know several European men who have Maria (Mary) as their first or middle name. And we have recorded in Hebrew many children before the time of Christ whose name was Jesus or Joshua in hopes that they might be the actual coming Deliverer, the Jewish Messiah. 

But having the name Jesus and being called Messiah are two different things. It was either presumptuous, ignorance, or insensitivity on the parents part to call this young child "Messiah." In a non-religious context this would be like giving a child the first name "president." Yet another example of parents needing a lesson on social graces. I wonder how many First Nation parents have tried to call their baby boy, "Chief"? Or any Arabs by the name of Allah?

"Messiah" means "anointed one." It is a title given to Jesus as God's one and only Son and therefore is a nomenclature reserved for Him and Him alone in the Christian faith. 

Names do mean something. The Jewish people were careful to give their children names that connected to God or to events. In the book of Hosea we see God actually giving names to Hosea's children that were actually prophetic. My first name, "Daniel" means "God judges." 

These days parents are thinking about how "cool" it would be to give their child a name that will stand out and be unique from every one else (probably because they have such low hopes for their children). News flash! Seven hundred and sixty-two babies have already been named "Messiah." Seven hundred and sixty-two children are going to have to live up to a pretty high standard. 

I guess from a Christian perspective I'm tired of the world highjacking words and titles so that they gut them of their meaning, trivialize the meaning, or...make the word or title something contrary to their original meaning. 

If I were to have kids again I would probably try Dr. Seuss (Thing One and Thing Two) or some bizarre made up name. Perhaps I would try some of the non-letter names like the pop artist Prince chose (?, *,&, $, @) or better yet, just randomly choose something from Wingdings. 

What's in a name? Everything or apparently nothing except "cool". Your kid will have to deal with it for the rest of his or her life. Choose well. Choose with dignity and honor. Choose honorably. Choose graciously. Choose prophetically. Choose reverently. 

This has been a regal word from the Very Rev. Dr. (to be) King Daniel DeWayne Lute the 1st or as I'm known around the corn fields of Indiana, "Danny." Oh...and for those reading this and completely lost...my first name isn't "Pastor."