States of BLISS & Yearning// The Renaming of God

Right now, name what you are. You have as many words as you want... but name it/them/those things.

==

Did the fact that you are a child of God pop up in there? My guess is probably not. You see, we don't think of ourselves like that typically... We think of all the typical and general things we are. John Bell writes about Abram and Sarai (Genesis). They were named for a purpose. Abram, because he was the 'high father' and Sarai, since she was barren, a 'mockery.' But God, who has this transformational power gives Sarai not only a new name, Sarah, but a child as well. God's doing in both Sarah and Abraham's ('Father of many') situations, is gives them new names that point out their potential. God does not define us by our problems. What is your potential?

==

God also names the nobodies (1 Peter). We, in the United Church of Christ, get this. We know this, claim this, and believe this. God knows that this religion is not just for the elite. God invested and continues to invest supreme value in those who felt they had no worth. This letter from 1 Peter tells them "Once you were not a people; now you are God's people." Only God, who has chosen the vulnerable, would call them God's chosen people. They are claimed by God as "trophies of grace." God does not define us by our problems.

==

So then in Luke, Jesus comes to a women who was essentially a hunchback and calls her a daughter of Abraham. Whoa! Jesus cures her, rids her of the stigma that comes with being physically different, and claims her as a part of this bigger family. She had been avoided. She probably hadn't been able to look someone in the eye for years. She was probably presumed to be mad. But then, with Jesus' few words, he expresses to her that she is a recipient of God's love and that she is made in God's image. "Jesus... who sees beyond what others notice", recognizes "the beauty within." God does not define us by our problems.

==

So then as was expressed in another chapter, because God does this and we are all created in God's image, we too, as the church and as the body of Christ are called to this ministry as well... this ministry of renaming. It is our responsibility to assure people that no matter what they claim themselves as-- addicts, the abused, the divorcee, the single parent, the physically or mentally challenged, etc.-- that they are children of God just as much as the next person. God sees beyond all of the labels and problems, and so should we... "God does not define us by our problems of our past."

==

"We are children of the living God.

That is your name.

That is your true identity.

Live up to it."

==

Answer this question again: Who are you?