What's in a name?

“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name” [Deut 5:11]

For years and years I couldn’t actually bring myself to use the name Jesus.

It could be due to years of being exposed, directly or indirectly, to bible-bashers – generations of people who use the name Jesus to run their own agenda; from the Crusades to the Inquisition to the “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” picket signs.

It has been misused; and now we all feel yuck. We feel yuck to associate ourselves with the “god” that people have been portraying; we feel yuck to associate ourselves with the “jesus” that some ”Christians” have been portraying.

A fellow speechie and I were talking just the other day about sensory issues; how certain experiences in the past will make us aversive to different textures or sensations in the future – like being forced to eat that one green pea on our plate may lead to an aversion to peas for years to come, because of that immediate negative association we’ve made.

Perhaps similarly, we now make an immediate negative association with the name Jesus or Christianity. Even I do that – but really as a product of being exposed and aware of all the crap that has gone on, or is going on.

SPTG talked about the Ten Commandments were given to Moses as rules or guidelines to building a life*-giving community; given to a people who were entrenched in slavery for years, and now suddenly had freedom. He also mentioned how the relevance of this particular commandment is more for the above, than merely using “God’s name in vain”, e.g. merely saying something like “Oh My LOOORD!”

I used to be told off at school to “not use God’s name in vain” whenever I exclaimed “oh my god!” as it was “in the 10 Commandments” (WHICH IRRITATED THE HELL OUT OF ME!).

I wonder which was more destructive to humankind – the Spanish Inquisition, or my exclamation?

My God – let me be careful to not use your name to run my agenda; to leave people with “no choice” since “GOD had a say in it”; to use you. Continue to reveal to me, and others, how indeed beautiful and powerful and pure the name Jesus is – untainted by men; so let it be.

Calibration

O LORD, God-of Heaven, the great and awesome God, loyal to His covenant and faithful to those who love him and obey his commands [from Nehemiah Ch 1]

Nehemiah starts his prayer with a exclamation of how awesome and great God is, and making mention of his loyalty and faithfulness. I suppose for a while there it had seemed to me that Nehemiah was (i) sucking up or shoe-shining to God, before asking for whatever it is he wanted ("Oh Santa, that beard is so soft - what conditioner do you use? Oh, and could I have an iPad pleeeaaase, pretty please with a cherry on top?");

or maybe others have thought Nehemiah was just (ii) telling/informing God how cool and wonderful he is ("Hi God you may-or-may-not be aware that you are great and awesome"). Much like how some folks think that God needs our worship; he needs us to tell him how great He is. Like He is Ultraman with His light beeping indicating low levels of energy and how he needs our worship to recharge his power (perhaps this is too far-fetched an analogy...)

God doesn't need anything. God is not someone we have to manja (sorry, there is just no English word for this) to get things our way.

I think Nehemiah starts his prayer as such, like Jesus starts his prayer in Matthew 6 ("Our Father in heaven" - no, it's not that Jesus needed to remind God his "address"), to recalibrate themselves their perception of God. To realigned themselves to who God is, in order to realign to His purpose. It's to remind us, wee humans, who we're dealing with.

I think worship is similar. We sing songs of God's goodness and hope and promise, not to make God happy because he likes the E major 7 chord. We sing such songs to remind us and to recalibrate ourselves to Him, and that makes Him happy.

Remind me to be recalibrated; remind me to remember who You are. Remind me that I will never stop needing reminders.