Be!

“To be given a name is an act of intimacy as powerful as any act of love…To name is to love. To be named is to be loved.”… “Stories are able to help us to become more whole, to become Named.  And Naming is one of the impulses behind all art; to give a name to the cosmos we see despite all the chaos.”

Madeline L’Engle

“To name a thing is to manifest the meaning and value God gave it.”  

Alexander Schmemann

What’s in a name?  I touched on this topic earlier in the week, but it seems to be resurfacing. Why is the naming process so important?  Why are there so many books filled with baby names?  Naming a child is one of the most sacred acts of parenthood.  To name is to ascribe meaning.  

I can’t imagine how Adam felt.  I wonder if it was exhilarating, or overwhelming, or both.  You, Adam, get to name every living thing on this planet.  Name every animal, insect and bird that you see.  What a task! I wonder how long it took to ascribe a title to all the animals! I also wonder where he came up with some of those crazy names!

When Jordan and I decided on a name for our daughter, I was so thrilled. Lily was a name to which I had clung for years.  She is light, beauty, and purity. She is Grace, “charis”, love.  God created our daughter, and we have the responsibility and joy of naming her.  In this act, we experience God. Through naming, we communed with Him and with our daughter. 

What if no one had a name?  What if we were numbers? How sterile and sad would that be?  In Les Miserables,  Jean Valjean is known by Javar as a number, 24601.  This identification robs Jean Valjean of his identity.  Historically, “un-naming” people has made it easier to torture and kill.  Oppressors rob individuals of their names. 

In Isaiah 43:1, God says to Israel, “I have called you by name; You are mine.”  In this passage, He also says to “fear not.”  Is there something about being named that eradicates fear?  Madeline L’Engle seems to think so.  In her Time Quartet, the most and destructive fate is the fate of being “un-named.”  In this experience, the individual is snuffed out, or destroyed.  To be named is to emerge out of chaos and confusion. When that name is stripped away, the inchoate and formless state of being re-emerges.

Often, Jesus re-names His disciples and followers.  God re-names individuals in the Old Testament.  Abraham becomes Abram. Saul becomes Paul. Simon becomes Peter.  When assigned new names, these individuals exhibit different characteristics. They seem to grow into their new identities.

These thoughts bring me to a more practical idea. I believe that there are times that we “un-name” ourselves.  Over the years, I have been one of L’Engle’s echthrois in my own life.  My list of destructive names for myself is probably pages long. 

Unloved.

Evil.

Fat.

Annoying.

Stupid.

Ugly.

I have to stop now.  I feel the power of these names even as I type them.  What better way is there to destroy our true identity than to un-name ourselves? 

God has called me by name.  Megan. I am His. 

Beloved.

Holy.

Lovely.

Redeemed.

Daughter.

Friend.

Accepted.

Saint.

Temple.

Righteous.

Heir.

Chosen.

Blameless.

Alive.

Light.

Complete.

Life is bestowed in the act of naming.  Today, I will let God name me, and I will participate in His Divine nature by naming with words of truth and life.