"Name Tags"

by Enuma Okoro

Editor’s Note: This article is from the July/August 2008 issue of Weavings.

Awhile back a friend and I were having coffee when our conversation turned to stories about working with children and teaching Sunday School. She recalled a young boy who walked into class every Sunday wearing one of those name stickers that read "HELLO, My Name is ..." taped in the middle of his chest. And every Sunday the sticker said the same thing in bold black marker, "HELLO, My Name is I HAVE A NUT ALLERGY." My friend went on to tell me how the parents were understandably concerned about what might happen when their son moved from his present school, which has a "No-Nut" policy, to a new one where any food is allowed on the premises without a hall pass.

My friend's story made me wonder what it would be like if adults walked into new or familiar communities with just one thing about us written boldly across our chests -- a word or phrase to help others learn something important about us. I asked my friend what her hypothetical sticky nametag would say. After a few minutes she replied, "My sticker would read, 'HELLO, My Name is ... I'm more sensitive than I look.'" I responded that my sticker might say, "HELLO, My Name is ... I respond to kindness."

As the weekdays slipped into the weekend, I found myself musing about what sticky nametags I might find on different people I know. The following Sunday, in one of life's beautiful synchronicities, I sat in church and listened to our pastor preach a Spirit-filled sermon on the ethics of naming and on how powerful and formative the act of naming can be. I was deeply struck by his words and couldn't help but think about all the ways I not only name myself and my daily realities, but also how easily and flippantly I name other people. If naming is an act of godly ethics, as my pastor suggests, then naming is also a gift of divine power that God has chosen to share with us. In the beginning God invited Adam to name God's creatures, to choose how certain life forms would be identified (Gen. 2:19). This gift of divine power and the responsibility to use it care-fully are still in our hands.

In his sermon, our pastor suggested that we look at other people and name them as God names them: "Beloved." But the conversation with my friend got me thinking about other ways of naming life and people. On my way home from church I passed a homeless man who I see almost everyday on the median of the business bypass where it crosses the interstate. Later that afternoon I walked into a favorite bookstore right past another familiar-faced homeless man. As I passed by these men, I was acutely aware of how I was naming them and how my actions, or lack thereof, were naming me as well.

This is the hard and vital thing about the spiritual life. It can never be isolated from our actions. So viewing the act of naming as an act of godly ethics has me confessing to God about how I allow myself to be named and how I name others. And it has me praying for courage to live in ways that might allow me to be named differently by my conscience and by those I encounter.

I realize that each of us probably struggles with different names -- what we name ourselves and how we imagine God names us. Many of us do more violence to our hearts, minds, and spirits than we realize because of the less than God-given names we bestow on ourselves. It is not easy to answer to the name "Beloved." It is fraught with so much grace that it seems unbearable, if not unbelievable. Most of the time my problem is not remembering that "Beloved" is the name God has given me. The loving actions of others toward me refresh my memory with their graciousness. No, my problem is how effortlessly and unconsciously I regularly live into the names "Pharisee" and "hypocrite" and "false witness."

On any given day my nametag usually reads, "HELLO, My Name is ... I rarely get the gospel right." If I can muster up the courage to stay in the beam of God's transforming light, maybe I'd be more apt to respond to the presence of those homeless men, learn one of their many God-given names, and discover that in recognizing another of God's Beloved I too can be recognized by a new name. "Hello, My Name is ... I see you and I respond with kindness and genuine concern for your well-being no matter who you are."