Why Can't We Call Him Clarence?
Sermon
Preaching Eyes for Listening Ears
Sermons and Commentary For Preachers and Students of Preaching
This sermon was first preached in the chapel of Columbia Seminary during Advent, 1972. It was repeated, with very little modification, during Advent in 1981, 1985, and 1993, always by request.
The sermon is centered around the desire of the relatives of the parents of John the Baptist to name the child after his father. This reminded me of how often relatives today suggest names for new babies and are offended when the child is not given a traditional family name.
The sermon shifts the setting into more modern times, and the preacher takes the part of two women, one the mother of the newborn child, the other an imaginary family friend. This is a somewhat unique form of the "first person sermon" because the preacher himself is male.
Two ladies past middle age are sitting in a well--appointed but somewhat old--fashioned parlor having a cup of tea. Let us listen in on their conversation.
"My dear, how nice that after all these years you and Clarence should have a son to carry on the family name and the family business. I don't know how many times I've said to Mortimer, 'What a pity that Clarence and Betty don't have any children. They would make wonderful parents - such fine Christian people, a nice home, a good family background, not to mention a prosperous family business.'
"Mortimer and I wouldn't miss the christening for the world. I understand the bishop himself is going to be here to do it. I haven't heard you say what you are going to name the little fellow, but, of course, everybody knows that you will call him Clarence after his father. After all, Clarence has been a family name for generations, and it would be a shame to break the line.
"I happen to know that Clarence's sister, Marjorie, wanted to name one of her two boys Clarence after their grandfather, but since Clarence is the eldest and since it is his name, she thought that he should be the one to pass it along. But when it looked as if Clarence was never going to have a son, I think she wished she had gone ahead and called the second boy Clarence.
"But now that you two do have a son there can still be a Clarence in the next generation."
"But we aren't going to name him Clarence."
"Not going to name him Clarence? But why? What in heaven's name are you going to name him?"
"We are going to name him John."
"John! Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is named John. And there aren't many people named Clarence. And besides, I never heard of anybody on Clarence's side or yours named John - unless you have some rich uncle or cousin or someone whom I've never heard of named John who might leave the child a fortune. In that case you could name him John Clarence and still call him Clarence."
"We aren't going to name him Clarence and we are not going to call him Clarence. His name is John."
"But what does Clarence himself think about it? Surely he wants his only son - and he is not likely to have another - named for him. You know he really wants to call that boy Clarence."
"Here he comes now. Why don't you ask him?"
"Clarence! Clarence, dear. Betty tells me that she is not going to name the baby Clarence. Now tell me truly. What do you want to name him?"
(Hold up sign reading, "His name is John.")
"Well, I never! Why? Why can't we call him Clarence?"
"You can't call him Clarence because we are not going to name him Clarence. Neither of us ever liked the name very much anyway. But there is a whole lot more to it than that.
"We've done a great deal of thinking about this, in fact. Clarence has done so much thinking that he hasn't said a word since he first knew that we were going to have a baby. We feel there must be some special purpose in our having a son so late in life. Maybe God is trying to tell us something.
"This has really focused our eyes on the future instead of on the past. What kind of world is our John going to be living in? One thing is sure, it will be a lot different from the world we have lived in. And who knows? He may be one who helps make it different, and, we hope, better.
"We want to give him the best we can from our own experience, and we don't want him to forget his family heritage and his roots. But in the nature of things we have to face the fact that he may be on his own before he is out of his teens. How do we know he will want to go into the family business? How do we know what he will want to do with his life? For us, even more than for the usual young parents, this boy represents a whole new generation, the beginning of a new day, a new era.
"I don't mind admitting that we are scared. We wonder if we are up to the responsibility. We really don't know what to expect of that new world our son will be living in. And we aren't likely to be here to guide him through it."
"Well, all that sounds very noble and terribly serious. But I still can't see why we can't call him Clarence. After all, that name is part of the family heritage you say you don't want him to forget."
"Yes, it is, but we don't want him to be just one in a long line of Clarences. We want him to be his own person and make his own name. Maybe we are prejudiced, but we think there is something very special and unique about this child of ours. We think of him as literally a gift from God to us, but we don't want to put our exclusive label on that gift. If he really is special then we must not try to keep him for ourselves, or tie him to the past, or hedge him about with too rigid a family tradition.
"Since he is the symbol of a new generation, a new era, then he has a significance far beyond our narrow family circle. So we are not going to call him Clarence. We are going to give him a new, fresh name - John - a new name for a new day.
"I said that we are scared. But we are also full of joy, and wonder, and hope as well. The whole thing's a miracle, you know. If God can give the gift of new life to Clarence and me, if he can so graciously show us that there is a mysterious new day about to break, then God hasn't given up on this old world.
"I'll have to admit that Clarence and I were having a difficult time keeping up our hope until this baby came along. Everything is changing so rapidly. Nobody seems to care about the old values any more. People do such senseless, cruel things to each other these days. The future was looking so bleak and ominous. We had just about decided that the world had gone mad, and that human beings would keep on killing each other and that there would never be peace in our lifetime. About the only hope we had was that we are old and would soon leave this world anyway. We had just about lived out a normal life span, so what else was there to look forward to?
"But then this baby came along! Then it dawned on us that there is a new generation coming after us. So there must be a new age coming, not simply for us, but for the whole universe as well. So we have this tingling anticipation that this newborn boy of ours - this John - is the first bright streak of a new dawn that is breaking.
"Before he was born Clarence and I were simply waiting for the sun to go down on our lives. But now we can hardly wait for each new day to begin, nor do we fear the setting of the sun. Since God has sent us John, who knows? God may have even greater miracles waiting in the wings. And John will doubtless see them even if we don't. After all, we've had miracle enough."
"Well, my dear, I really must be going. Don't get up. I'll let myself out. Thanks for the tea. I'll have to tell Mortimer the new baby is going to have a brand--new name. I hope I can make him understand why we can't call him Clarence."
The sermon is centered around the desire of the relatives of the parents of John the Baptist to name the child after his father. This reminded me of how often relatives today suggest names for new babies and are offended when the child is not given a traditional family name.
The sermon shifts the setting into more modern times, and the preacher takes the part of two women, one the mother of the newborn child, the other an imaginary family friend. This is a somewhat unique form of the "first person sermon" because the preacher himself is male.
Two ladies past middle age are sitting in a well--appointed but somewhat old--fashioned parlor having a cup of tea. Let us listen in on their conversation.
"My dear, how nice that after all these years you and Clarence should have a son to carry on the family name and the family business. I don't know how many times I've said to Mortimer, 'What a pity that Clarence and Betty don't have any children. They would make wonderful parents - such fine Christian people, a nice home, a good family background, not to mention a prosperous family business.'
"Mortimer and I wouldn't miss the christening for the world. I understand the bishop himself is going to be here to do it. I haven't heard you say what you are going to name the little fellow, but, of course, everybody knows that you will call him Clarence after his father. After all, Clarence has been a family name for generations, and it would be a shame to break the line.
"I happen to know that Clarence's sister, Marjorie, wanted to name one of her two boys Clarence after their grandfather, but since Clarence is the eldest and since it is his name, she thought that he should be the one to pass it along. But when it looked as if Clarence was never going to have a son, I think she wished she had gone ahead and called the second boy Clarence.
"But now that you two do have a son there can still be a Clarence in the next generation."
"But we aren't going to name him Clarence."
"Not going to name him Clarence? But why? What in heaven's name are you going to name him?"
"We are going to name him John."
"John! Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is named John. And there aren't many people named Clarence. And besides, I never heard of anybody on Clarence's side or yours named John - unless you have some rich uncle or cousin or someone whom I've never heard of named John who might leave the child a fortune. In that case you could name him John Clarence and still call him Clarence."
"We aren't going to name him Clarence and we are not going to call him Clarence. His name is John."
"But what does Clarence himself think about it? Surely he wants his only son - and he is not likely to have another - named for him. You know he really wants to call that boy Clarence."
"Here he comes now. Why don't you ask him?"
"Clarence! Clarence, dear. Betty tells me that she is not going to name the baby Clarence. Now tell me truly. What do you want to name him?"
(Hold up sign reading, "His name is John.")
"Well, I never! Why? Why can't we call him Clarence?"
"You can't call him Clarence because we are not going to name him Clarence. Neither of us ever liked the name very much anyway. But there is a whole lot more to it than that.
"We've done a great deal of thinking about this, in fact. Clarence has done so much thinking that he hasn't said a word since he first knew that we were going to have a baby. We feel there must be some special purpose in our having a son so late in life. Maybe God is trying to tell us something.
"This has really focused our eyes on the future instead of on the past. What kind of world is our John going to be living in? One thing is sure, it will be a lot different from the world we have lived in. And who knows? He may be one who helps make it different, and, we hope, better.
"We want to give him the best we can from our own experience, and we don't want him to forget his family heritage and his roots. But in the nature of things we have to face the fact that he may be on his own before he is out of his teens. How do we know he will want to go into the family business? How do we know what he will want to do with his life? For us, even more than for the usual young parents, this boy represents a whole new generation, the beginning of a new day, a new era.
"I don't mind admitting that we are scared. We wonder if we are up to the responsibility. We really don't know what to expect of that new world our son will be living in. And we aren't likely to be here to guide him through it."
"Well, all that sounds very noble and terribly serious. But I still can't see why we can't call him Clarence. After all, that name is part of the family heritage you say you don't want him to forget."
"Yes, it is, but we don't want him to be just one in a long line of Clarences. We want him to be his own person and make his own name. Maybe we are prejudiced, but we think there is something very special and unique about this child of ours. We think of him as literally a gift from God to us, but we don't want to put our exclusive label on that gift. If he really is special then we must not try to keep him for ourselves, or tie him to the past, or hedge him about with too rigid a family tradition.
"Since he is the symbol of a new generation, a new era, then he has a significance far beyond our narrow family circle. So we are not going to call him Clarence. We are going to give him a new, fresh name - John - a new name for a new day.
"I said that we are scared. But we are also full of joy, and wonder, and hope as well. The whole thing's a miracle, you know. If God can give the gift of new life to Clarence and me, if he can so graciously show us that there is a mysterious new day about to break, then God hasn't given up on this old world.
"I'll have to admit that Clarence and I were having a difficult time keeping up our hope until this baby came along. Everything is changing so rapidly. Nobody seems to care about the old values any more. People do such senseless, cruel things to each other these days. The future was looking so bleak and ominous. We had just about decided that the world had gone mad, and that human beings would keep on killing each other and that there would never be peace in our lifetime. About the only hope we had was that we are old and would soon leave this world anyway. We had just about lived out a normal life span, so what else was there to look forward to?
"But then this baby came along! Then it dawned on us that there is a new generation coming after us. So there must be a new age coming, not simply for us, but for the whole universe as well. So we have this tingling anticipation that this newborn boy of ours - this John - is the first bright streak of a new dawn that is breaking.
"Before he was born Clarence and I were simply waiting for the sun to go down on our lives. But now we can hardly wait for each new day to begin, nor do we fear the setting of the sun. Since God has sent us John, who knows? God may have even greater miracles waiting in the wings. And John will doubtless see them even if we don't. After all, we've had miracle enough."
"Well, my dear, I really must be going. Don't get up. I'll let myself out. Thanks for the tea. I'll have to tell Mortimer the new baby is going to have a brand--new name. I hope I can make him understand why we can't call him Clarence."
