From the Chaplains
Sticks and stones can break my bones AND NAMES CAN REALLY hurt me.
With Trinity Sunday approaching, I have been reflecting on the many names for God found in scripture. For many, the descriptor for God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is primary to faith. For me, the names I use for God tends to depend on where I find myself in the moment. My favourite names for God, as found in the scriptures at this moment, are Spirit, Wisdom and YHWH.
Right now, these names embody a connection to earth that I find comforting whilst simultaneously filling me with an unsettling prompting to act that gives me the courage to do more. Like God, each of us is known throughout our lives by many names. You know me as Rev. Danielle.
But I am also mum, sister, friend and auntie.
Though I am fundamentally the same person when I am called each of these names, each name reflects a different side of me. The different names speak to the behaviours and characteristics I demonstrate when I am with the people that call me by these names. Accordingly, these five names are some of the names that I value and treasure, because the people that call me these names are really special to me. But there are some names that I have been called throughout my life that I don’t like. I don’t like being called ‘Dan-yell’ where my name is pronounced with 2 syllables rather than 3 or ‘Dan-E-elle’. But in this instance, I appreciate that others with the same name may prefer this pronunciation, so I tell myself it really doesn’t matter. I have been called stubborn.
This is possibly a true descriptor of me, but my experience is that it is rarely extended as a compliment. A compliment might be instead naming me as ‘determined’ or even ‘persistent.’ I was once called a ‘Dangerous Woman’ by a colleague who had never met me but disliked me because I had stood up to a powerful person who was not using their power fairly. This one hurt. Knowing that the person didn’t even bother to know me before spreading the name hurt even more. Truth is, though, it was not a reflection of me. It was their misconception. Just as God has many names, so do we. Knowing our many names helps us to remember and embrace the whole of our beautiful, complex and intricate, and unique selves. Knowing our names helps us to prioritise those that are important and aspire to characteristics that we want to be named for—things like being kind, generous, and caring.
Acknowledging the names we have been called also helps us to de-emphasise and leave behind those that we don’t want to be known as or have moved beyond through change and growth. It empowers us to totally leave behind those names that are just plain mean, unjustified and hurt-filled. And, most importantly, be much more careful when we intentionally or even just carelessly name others in this way.
Because the name that we all hold first and foremost in each of our lives is ‘loved’.
‘For God so loved the world he gave his only son.’ John 3.16a
Rev. Danielle Hemsworth-Smith College Chaplain
