The Un-nameable Name

i know this was a while ago but is siomething that got me think, what do you think?

Last term at uni was such a ground breaking, mind blowing revolutionary time for me and my realtionship with God. every year the Christian Union have whats know as a 'Houseparty'. this is when all the CU get together for a weekend of fun, teaching, worship and prayer. we had a cracking speaker, who went through some biblical truths and pratical ways to be student christians.

During this time at our regular CU evenings, we were looking at the names of God. we went through 8 names, all different speakers, but all had such an impact on our CU. (El Shaddai, Johovah Rohi, Adoni, YHWH, Shalom, Alpha and Omega and God the Judge)

My favourite talk was YHWH, this was done by the student worker Shane Magee, who also attends the fellowship some of the students go to on a sunday. (to find out more about Shane and the student work go to http://www.fakerepubulic.com/) the reason why this talk was so important for me is, it realigned my idea that although God is Almighty. He is SO almighty that he gave us a name that a) we cannot pronouce and b) does not even begin to emcompass his character.

we all have different names for ourselves and are differnt people know us by different names, I am sister to some and Miss Rowe to others. both theses titles show a different realtionship to those who call me it. I would not expect my best friend to call me Miss Rowe everytime we met, but she calls me Dee. ( which is the name i prefere, Dannillia is too formal, Dee is just more fun, and reveals a different side to my character) when we focus exclusivly on one name, we miss so much about that person. The question i was left asking myself was, how can a God, whose name we cannot pronounce, whos character we cannot understand, be the personal saviour that i know of today? well, thats just it, he is personal because he is approachable, thats whats so amazing about Grace, the unapprocahble God, becomes approachable, through Jesus!! (How cool is that?!)

i was left with this challenge: how many names of God do i know and how often do i use them? It turns out that that The Name is not a word, but an action; not speech, but life. jesus the messiah perfectly articulates the character, will, purposes, thoughts, heart of God. jesus goes further, he says, “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." john 17:26 jesus promises an ongoing revelation of The Name to his followers. he has left us the holy spirit through whom YHWH continues to speak, pushing beyond our conceptions of God, interrupting our theology, disrupting our religion with the wild, wonderful, terrifying freedom of love perfectly named. AMEN!