Name Speaks of Relationship

This afternoon I received a letter in which my sister-in-law’s grandma asked me to call her “Nana.”  In an instant our relationship moved from the formality of a “Mrs. So-and-So relationship” to one more closely mirroring that of a grandmother and her grandchild.  Names are so much more than just a way to distinguish one person from another, as we might distinguish juice from milk, but they say something about the relationship between the speaker and the one who carries the name.

We see this in a myriad of ways.  While I love the fact that my dad calls me, “Pumpkin-Pumpkin,” I would feel uncomfortable if a professor were to address me in such a manner.  Our relationship does not warrant such familiarity.  Or even if a close friend, someone with whom I’m very familiar, called me “Pumpkin-Pumpkin” it would still be strange because that is not part of our relationship.  A number of my friend’s moms have become mother-like figures to me, and therefore I refer to them as such when I warmly greet them.  When a child finds an animal, or even an inanimate possession that they cannot keep, we do everything in our power to keep them from naming it because then they will become “attached.”  In the naming, a relationship is born, or at least taken to a new level.

In the play Eurydice, by Sarah Ruhl, Eurydice dies and is taken to the underworld.  In entering the underworld, her memory is wiped and she therefore forgets the names of everyone she once knew, thus erasing those relationships.  She meets her father in the underworld, but it isn’t until she can begin to relearn names that she rediscovers her relationships with him and those she has left behind.  At one point, Eurydice asks her father to tell her the names of her mother and brothers, but he refuses her, telling her it will make her too sad.  As it stands, she is not in relationship with her nameless family members, but merely knows of their relationship.  Without the names the relationships cannot exist to the same degree.

My uncle’s mother passed away today.  As I thought about the joyous reunion Jesus and Sharon must be having, I began to wonder what God calls us.  Does he call us by our proper names?  Do you think he has nicknames for us?  What would happen if I heard God say my name?

There isn’t really a conclusion to this.  In fact, this is quite rambling and lacking direction.  But today I suddenly became aware of the intimate links between name and relationship, and it fascinated me.

Morning

"If we were to learn again something of the praise and adoration that is due the triune God at break of day, God the Father and Creator, who has preserved our life through the dark night and wakened us to a new day, God the Son and Saviour, who conquered death and hell for us and dwells in our midst as Victor, God the Holy Spirit who pours the bright gleam of God's Word into our hearts at the dawn of day, driving away all darkness and sin and teaching us to pray aright - then we would also begin to sense something of the joy that comes when night is past and brethren who dwell together in unity come together early in the morning for common praise of their God, common hearing of the Word, and common prayer.  Morning does not belong to the individual, it belongs to the Church of the triune God, to the Christian family."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Man a Nothing

O Lord,
I am a shell full of dust,
     but animated with an invisible rational soul
     and made anew by an unseen power of grace;
Yet I am no rare object of valuable price,
     but one that has nothing and is nothing,
     although chosen of thee from eternity,
          given to Christ, and born again;
I am deeply convinced of the evil and misery of a sinful state,
     of the vanity of creatures,
     but also of the sufficiency of Christ.
When thou wouldst guide me I control myself,
When thou wouldst be sovereign I rule myself.
When thou wouldst take care of me I suffice myself.
When I should depend on thy providings I supply myself,
When I should submit to thy providence I follow my will,
When I should study, love, honour, trust thee, I serve myself;
I fault and correct thy laws to suit myself,
Instead of thee I look to man's approbation,
     and am by nature an idolater.
Lord, it is my chief design to bring my heart back to thee.
Convince me that I cannot be my own god, or make myself happy,
     nor my own Christ to restore my joy,
     nor my own Spirit to teach, guide, rule me.
Help me to see that grace does this by providential affliction,
     for when my credit is god thou dost cast me lower,
     when riches are my idol thou dost wing them away,
     when pleasure is my all thou dost turn it into bitterness.
Take away my roving eye, curious ear, greedy appetite, lustful heart;
Show me that none of these things can heal a wounded conscience,
     or support a tottering frame,
     or uphold a departing spirit.
Then take me to the cross and leave me there.

From The Valley of Vision - A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Love

"Human love is directed to the other person for his own sake, spiritual love loves him for Christ's sake."

"Human love constructs its own image of the other person, of what he is and what he should become.  It takes the life of the other person into its own hands.  Spiritual love recognizes the true image of the other person which he has received from Jesus Christ."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Belief

"Belief in the gospel is not just the way to enter the kingdom of God; it is the way to address every obstacle and grow in every aspect."
- Tim Keller

"It is easy to believe in God, but far more difficult to believe God."
- Dr. Stephen Kellough, Wheaton College Chaplain

"If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself."
- St. Augustine

To a Mouse

Wee, sleek, cowerin', tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need not start away so hasty
With bickering brattle!
I would be loath to run an' chase thee,
With murdering pattle.

I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion
An' fellow mortal!

I doubt not, sometimes, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou must live!
A rare, small piece but from the thrave
Is a small request;
I'll get a blessin' with the lave,
An' never miss it.

Thy little housie, too, in ruin!
It's silly walls the winds are strewin'!
An' nothing, now, to build a new one,
Of foliage green!
An' bleak December's winds ensuin',
Both sharp an' keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
An' weary winter comin' fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out through thy cell.

That wee bit heap of leaves an' stibble,
Has cost thee many a weary nibble!
Now thou's turned out, for all thy trouble,
But house or hold,
To bear the winter's sleety dribble,
An' gray frost cold.

But Mousie, thou art not thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice an' men
Go oft awry,
An' leave us nought but grief an' pain,
For promised joy!

Still thou are blest, compared with me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But oh! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, though I cannot see,
I guess an' fear!

By Robert Burns

Prophets of a Future Not Our Own

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

By Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw