In the Name of God

"All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all mothers and the Earth is the Mother of all people and all people should have equal rights upon it."  Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

El Shaddai.  El-elyon na Adonia :  God almighty.  God in the Highest O Lord.

For some reason we get all hung up on the name(s) of God.  If you think about it, "God" is just one other name among thousands for this "Supreme Being" who cannot be named. But in the English speaking Judeo-Christian world, most who worship this Deity, worship "God."

In the Judeo-Christian Bible there are hundreds of names for God.  The first Hebrew name for God in the Holy Bible is Elohim.  Elohim is then used over 2,300 times for "God" in the Old Testament. Let that soak in. They didn't use "Elohim" as another name for "God"; they called this Deity they worshiped --Elohim. So their blessing at the table might have been "Elohim is great. Elohim is good. Let us thank Him for our food. By His hands we all are fed. Thank you Elohim for daily bread."  I jest but you get my point.

There is another name for God in the Old Testament--the unspeakable name.. In Hebrew, with only consonants, vowels understood, the name is YHVH. We know this Being as "Yahweh".Over thousands of years there have been tens of thousands of names to try to define and honor this "Great Spirit."  In modern times in the Christian world,"the Holy Spirit" as part of the Trinity is a common name for God.  There again many Christians are uncomfortable with the American Indians'  "Great Spirit" but have no problem with "the Holy Spirit" or even "the Holy Ghost".  AA, which is not a Christian organization, but includes a spiritual element, invokes the "Higher Power" in their meetings and 12-step recovery program. The list goes on and on.

Don't we all go by different names? My granddaughter's first name for her father was Gah Gah. We still often call him Gah Gah.  My name is David. So as you would guess, my mother called me David.  But my father called me Crockett.  My brother calls me Brere.  My sister calls me Habib.  My son calls me Dad. My granddaughter calls me Big Dave or Biggy. My wife calls me David and Dad and Big Dave and Biggs.  Although none of these names define me, they all point to me. And I'll answer to any of them. It doesn't matter all that much to me what they each call me. Does it matter to God what we call Him?

The American Indian I quoted Nez Perce name was pronounced Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt  or Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain, He was also known as  Joseph the Younger. I don't know if he had a preference. I would think hearing his Nez Perce name in his native tongue was very satisfying. But in his later years he answered to just "Joseph".

Of all the names of God that I know of, the God of Islam, Allah, seems to be particular troublesome in today's religious, political, cultural and militarian climate.  It doesn't seem to matter that Christians, Jews and Muslims all share father Abraham and that Abraham worshiped one God. It doesn't seem to matter to American Christians that there are about 10 million Muslims in the United States.  That's nearly as many Muslims as Southern Baptists. And don't Allah and Yahweh sound a lot alike? Just three weeks ago  Augusta County in Virginia closed all their schools and threatened to fire a teacher for using the name of Allah.  As I understand it, the teacher is not a Muslim. Maybe she is a Muslim. I really don't know.  What I do know is that she gave an assignment out of their world religions textbook. She lifted the assignment right out of a student workbook which was approved by the state and the county. The assignment included the students copying something in Arabic. She was trying to help them to appreciate how hard it is to make those characters with calligraphy. You know, education.  The markings are loosely translated,   "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is His messenger."  Oops.  The stuff hit the fan! To be fair to those who were so upset, this particular Arabic calligraphy appears many places in the Middle East including on  ISIS flags. I'm sure the teacher could have chosen less volatile words for purposes of her assignment.   I would think that any Arabic lettering would have been upsetting enough in today's anti-Muslim atmosphere.

One of my personal favorite names for God is Wakan Tanka of the Lakota Sioux.  I learned of Him through Black Elk, a Lakota Sioux medicine man. I often invoke Wankan Tanka in my own prayer and meditation. So why don't I just pray to "God" like you're supposed to?  In the first place "God" has already been taken by all the football players and their coaches.  Instead of thanking God for the big win, shouldn't the quarterback thank the offensive line who sacrificed their bodies to protect him for sixty minutes? Or maybe he could thank his kicker who practiced all season to make that last second field goal.  Did God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe,  actually cause his team to win a football game?  And  I just like the way Wakan Tanka sounds and rolls off my tongue.  It's beautiful and musical, the way I imagine God to be.  So am I praying to an Indian god?  A foreign god?  A false god?  How can I be if there is only one God? Wankan Tanka may not be the real name for God, but since there is no one true name,  isn't it as good as any?

Many Christians begin their prayers with "Dear Lord" or "Dear Father".  Others say "Our Heavenly Father" or "Father God." Certainly all of these are legitimate and meaningful invocations.  Each of them is another name for God. The point I am trying to hammer home is that God's name, even for Christians,  is not just "God." God is not a "Him" or a "Her". God is not human. If God is just human, then God's not God.  In Taoism it is said that if you can name the Tao, then it's not the Tao.  You many never ever be comfortable addressing "God" as "Elohim", "Yahweh", "Wakan Tanka" or, god-forbid, "Allah". But try addressing Him from time to time in some other way than you normally do and see what it feels like.  See if S/He responds. Several  years ago Amy Grant made "El Shaddai" rather popular, but you can choose your own name. Wouldn't it be great if after winning the game that coach said, "I just want to thank El-elyon na Adonai and give Him all the glory."

I have a  friend named Monica who lives in Sandnes, Norway. She is a gifted artist.  Her work is displayed in homes and galleries all over the world.  Monica is also a Reiki healer.  Some dismiss Reiki as so much new age hocus pocus, but there is much more to Reiki than that.  The practitioners invoke  the energy that created and sustains the universe and use it for health and for healing. They also use the force of all living things, the air we breathe, food and sunshine--the Light. Many Reike practitioners refer to the source of this power as a Higher Intelligence.  I asked Monica what she calls this power she invokes. She said "I call this power my Supreme Being. You know--God."