In Christ, In the name of Jesus, and realities

so we have this sort of idea that if we end our prayers with phrases like “in the name of Jesus” or “amen” that somehow God has to answer them. that somehow these words hold magic and are supposed to release God’s stingy fingers from heaven down to us. that somehow these words hold power to get us what we think we need or want. yet, is that what the word and phrase mean. the word we get for in is the word Bemo in the hebrew. It means through…maybe a better rendering in light of this context, might even be ‘part of’. And so in light of Jesus’ invitation for anyone to join…in the name of Jesus would be more like a reality that people get to experience or be a part of. It is also important to remember that a name wasn’t just a name to the Jews it was who you were, your character and personality all mixed up together in this one phrase that helped define you. So when one uses the phrase ‘in the name of Jesus’ a better way to say it would be: those who are part of the reality of Jesus…which leaves the invitation open to anyone. it leaves the possibilities for anything to happen. because if you leave or concede to the reality of Jesus than it is place where we get to create peace where there is none. create life where there only seems to be death. create justice where this isn’t any. so when we say in the name of Jesus we are essentially saying that we agree with the ways and worldviews of the Rabbi from Nazareth. Paul uses the phrase ‘In Christ’…again Paul is saying that there is a reality of Christ that we all can be a part of, that we can live out and share with others by just living it out. It is not about an ‘in or out’ language that it is so often gets used to mean. It is about being a part of something bigger than ourselves. It is not a hocus-pocus phrase to get what we want or to help us find out who is in and who is out. It is something to be a part of.