Isaiah 43:1-7

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. 4Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. 5Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; 6I will say to the north, “Give them up,” and to the south, “Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth— 7everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Called by Name

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God.
Those words spoken through the prophet Isaiah are one of the beckoning invitations in all of Holy Scripture.

Do not fear….I have called you by name.

One of the most moving monuments in our nation is the Vietnam Memorial on the mall in Washington, D.C. Maya Lin, designer of the Vietnam Memorial, explaining to a TV interviewer why her remarkable work has come to have such a strong tug upon the emotions of all who see it, responded: “It’s the names,” she said, “the names are the memorial. No edifice or structure can bring people to mind as powerfully as their names.”

Do not fear…I have called you by name. In a world where people can grab their 15 minutes of fame—our names are known by the one in whose name we are marked in baptism.

Even though the words of the prophet come as comfort and promise, they also recall the terror of the first Exodus. “When you pass through the waters … when you walk through fire.”

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