Difference: Naming and Knowning

But now, this is what the LORD says-- he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: 'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.' Isaiah 43:1

A week or so ago I posted a blog about name calling, giving the example of how we name things as human beings, and the responsibility that comes with this.

Throughout our visit to Detroit, New York and now Baltimore I’ve been reflecting that naming something and knowing something is intimately connected.

Isaiah 43:1 reminds us that we are known at the same time that we are called by name. These two are linked in our relationship with God. We also discover that these two things are linked when we begin to draw close to seek to know God. The tetragrammaton, Yahweh, is one of the names that that we have for God and is one of the ways in which God makes God’s self known. This name is itself a revelation – those who translate it often use the phrase ‘I AM’. In having this name for God, God is in some way revealing God’s self to those who get close enough to hear it. Still it does not communicate all of who God is.

The name we call someone or to something reveals who or what we understand them to be – but this name does not reveal the full extent of all they are. What we call someone is much less an indication of what that person is and much more an indication of who we understand them to be. And sometimes it is actually far more an indication of ourselves.

For me this is all too telling in the advertising campaign in New York which has caused so much division in this city. Pamela Geller is behind adverts against muslims which are due to re-appear again on the transport network. The adverts, name a non-muslin as a ‘civilized man’ and a muslin as a ‘savage’. These names only reveal what Geller and others don’t know about another person who is different from them. It reveals her reluctance to sit with and dialogue with muslims in order to discover who they are. This practice of naming is simply a process of naming one’s own fears: but it is the sort of practice that destroys, rather than builds up, a city.

In response to Geller’s adverts, Rev Steve Holton and others in New York are encouraging a movement called #journeytogether. This is to offer lifts to muslims so that they don’t have to travel on public transport with the offensive signs and images, and so that those driving them can also get to know them and build relationships of support. The idea is that we are all journeying together – gaining knowledge of each other, of ourselves, and of our faith.

With the current division and mistrust between communities in Baltimore, James, Aahana and I have also been spending time with a church that is also creating opportunities in which the community positively finds ways to ‘journey together’ after this week’s riots and today’s announcement, more on that to follow…