9 December – What’s in a name?

Names are powerful things – our own name will seem to leap out of a conversation at the far side of a busy room if it’s spoken, while we hear nothing of the words around it. In Ancient Israel, names were deeply important: more than a personal label, a name said something important about you, and names tended to run in families.

Elizabeth’s relatives wanted to name her son after his father, but God had other ideas.

What does your name mean? And what does it mean to you? Can you imagine – or even hear – God speaking your name?

The animations in this series are by Jon Birch, and used by permission, but please don’t download them or post them elsewhere, as the copyright doesn’t allow that. Find out more at http://proost.co.uk/altadvent.