Visual of the Nativity depicting the Christmas Child.

The Names of the Christmas Child

What’s in a name?

We would normally do anything to protect our name. My surname Jayasooriya is spelled with the letters ‘soo’.., but pretty often, people spell it with ‘su’. I don’t mind it but I like it when my name is spelled correctly. From the days I was in school and even up till today, if you saw the figures or number 007, what would you think of, or who would you think of? That’s right, it’s James Bond!

Right through my entire life the name Elvis Presley has been a very well known name. A name like Mohandas Gandhi is a very well known name. And for the more modern generation, who are into modern day entertainment, names like Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader are the kind of names that they are familiar with right now. (Play a short clip off ‘Star Wars’ to emphasize the point.)

For instance, if last Sunday we had announced that an internationally known preacher was speaking at this service on Sunday morning, I am sure that more people would have turned up just to hear him because the name carries some value with it.

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