Children’s Sermon

Matthew 1:18-25

What’s In a Name?

By Lois Parker Edstrom

Meanings of names

What would we do if we didn’t have names? How would your mother call you in to dinner? How would you get mail? What would you call your friends?

Names are important. Some children are named after their father or another family member. Some are named after a favorite friend or a famous person whom the parents admire.

Girls are named after flowers: Rose, Lily, or Jasmine. Other girls are named after the months of the year: April, May, or June and even the seasons such as Autumn.

Some boys are given Biblical names like Jacob, Matthew, or Daniel and girls have Biblical names such as Mary, Elizabeth, or Ruth.

Children may be given a name because they just look like the name fits them or they are given a name that goes well with their last name.

Many names have a special meaning. Let’s look at a few:

Grace: a blessing
Emily: industrious
Jennifer: fair one
David: beloved
Michael: resembles God
William: determined

(Meanings of names may be customized to children in the group. Meanings of names can be found online. See link above.)

Before Jesus was born an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him that Mary was to give birth to a baby boy and he would be called Immanuel which means “God is with us.”

In the Bible Jesus is given many names such as the Messiah, the Word, and the Son of God. Even before he was born he was given a name, Immanuel, and this name was a sign that this was a special child.This was God coming to be with us in the form of a child. “God is with us.”

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible

Copyright 2007, Richard Niell Donovan