God is not a name

When I was little I went to primary school and there in the classroom was a peg for my coat and PE bag and a cubby for wellies and a sticker which had my name on it in big clear writing. My name has been important to me over the years, it is useful, for most people in the world it is no more than a useful tag… but for a few people who know me it evokes a response, I hope not too negative, knowledge of me and memories about me.

God never had a peg in school but the word God evokes the wildest reaction and for many, many people it is not really a name at all, just an idea which they find uncomfortable, or disappointing.

But while you would readily say, if someone mentioned my name and you did not recognize it, oh I don’t know her, the word God suffers from universal recognition. Few people would ever say, oh I have heard of that name but I don’t really know God, I never talk to God or I see someone around sometimes that I think might be God but I never stop to chat.

So most people’s apparent thoughts on God come from a name and, perhaps, a reputation. But this reputation is one which is treated as fact. I hope if you did not know me but you had heard about me you would say something along the lines of…well I hear that…..so and so…but I have never met her so I don’t really know…. Why doesn’t God get, at the least, the same manners?

And then there are all those people who say that they believe in something, but not God, and that is just a name thing isn’t it? In the language of divinity isn’t that something which people sense actually the same God but without the familiar label ( and often the familiar constricting boxes).

Names are important but there are two points here. One is that you cannot claim anything about God with any credibility unless you take the time to spend time. The other is that at the end of the day the word God is just that, a word and a word which comes with a lot of baggage for many people. Both of these are a challenge for the Christian, to restore the idea of relationship and pray that the image of God will shine in us, even beyond the naming of words.