Week 2: What's In a Name?

What God chooses to call himself says a lot about who he is and how he relates to us.

by Sam O'Neal

There are two things I want to get to as we start of the week this fine Monday morning. The second will be the theme of this week's study material. But first, I want to take a look back at Week 1.

Comments? Praises? Questions?
For those of you who used the Week 1 study material, What Is Christian Spirituality?, I would love to get a sense of how things went. Did the group take well to the material? Was anything clunky or confusing? Was there a specific question or activity that really got some response?

Feedback is the grease that keeps a lot of engines running well, and I would really like to know how things went for you. Even if you used the material for your individual devotions, let us know what questions popped up, what thoughts were provoked.

You can post a comment below, or click the link above and comment on the Week 1 post. Or you can send me an email: smallgroups at christianitytoday.com.

Knowing God Through His Names
Now to this week's material.

A little more than three years ago, my wife and I had the privilege of naming our first child. It was stressful! I felt an immense amount of pressure to get the name right, and I had no idea how do go about it.

One reason I was so stressed is that I really believe names have more meaning and power than we currently give them in today's society. Just look at the Bible for several examples of what I mean. Names meant something to those men and women—and to God.

Abram's name was changed to Abraham, which means "Father of a multitude." God specifically gave him a new name that would shape his place in the history of mankind. Abraham's name was the first marker of his purpose and legacy. The same is true of Jacob (Israel) and Cephas (Peter), not to mention the apostle Paul (Saul). Names were important to God.

That's why I think the names that God chose for himself are doubly important. They communicate vital information about who God is and how he relates to us.

Let's get to the material.

The Study
This week's material starts with three options for an opening activity. I really like Option C, which has to do with the naming of children. If you have parents in your group, this will be a great discussion starter.

One issue: Does anyone think that Option B could be potentially offensive? It shows a clip from the movie Dances With Wolves, and then has group members come up with names in the style of American Indians—like "Stands With a Fist" from the movie. I'm just curious if anyone reacted to that uncomfortably.

I think "teaching point 2" is the strongest part of this week's material. If your group has the patience to go through the verses listing different names for God and discussing what each one reveals, you need to go for it. That would be a memorable half hour, I'm almost positive.

As a reminder, we've got Icebreakers and other activities that match this week's material in our Dot Com(unity) newsletter, which mails out every Monday. Check it out if you haven't already!