I’m not sure what God is going on about right now, but everywhere I turn I seem to be getting signs about the Name of God. Sunday’s sermon was the 2nd or 3rd message – and I shouldn’t have even been in that service, but a last minute change put me there. Songs about the Name of God, and the chapter I’m up in “More Than A Carpenter” pretty specifically covered the Name of God.
THE NAME OF GOD?
Well, it’s not something I’m comfortable with – that Name of Jesus. It’s really not. You can’t be a Christian without it, and it IS somehow so much more explosive than other religious names: Buddha, Mohammed, Gandhi. “More Than A Carpenter” explains it’s because Jesus equated Himself with God, unlike the others.
Perhaps. Or perhaps for those of use who believe – or are at least trying to – it’s about a name that is hard to imagine. The Name God would give Himself if He lived among us is so powerful.
I have a wonderful friend who is Jewish and explains things of Judaism to me. (It’s hard enough in life to fathom ONE religion, so I ask others about other religions.) I hope I’m not getting this wrong, but she always write G-D instead of God, because that name is sacred, it’s powerful.
And with Jesus, it seems more so. I have a neighbor sending her son to my church’s nursery school, a privilege I cannot give my daughter because of her special needs, and she goes CRAZY when he sings the “Jesus” song. Ooo. That’s tough. She is one of those more casual believers, I guess. I always thought, in for a penny in for a pound – or else you ARE casual. I was always casual. I always shied from Christianity since I rejected Catholicism in my teens. By 8th grade, I had no qualms about Jesus – talking to Him, believing Him, saying the Name. But after the rejection, it just seemed impossible – I spent the next decade just trying to wrap my brain around God. After finding my way, I spent 10 more years learning before stepping closer to Christianity.
SPEAK MY NAME
It’s the most beautiful religion, but it requires to give up your embarrassment. Say the Name, God is telling me, just say it.
So I try, but it’s hard, unless I’m being profane (blasphemous). It makes you feel embarrassed, and I can’t say why. It’s painful too. Jesus. Jesus is God, Jesus is God’s son, Jesus lived and died and sacrificed for us.
POWER
Why on earth is that so hard UNLESS it really has power? Unless the Name of Jesus wasn’t something true and godly and divine, it wouldn’t really have the power to make you cringe when you use it. The worldly powers and darker powers just don’t like it. Makes them itchy, I guess.
Hm, wow. More logic defining faith…