New word, Name again

New word, Name Again

 “But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your ancestors has sent me to you”, and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’ God said to Moses, ‘I AM who I AM.’ He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I AM has sent me to you.”’ Exodus 3:13-14.

Every day I try to learn a new word. My word for today is splash stick. Actually, it is two words. It is the green stick that Starbucks puts in your coffee cup to keep the coffee from spilling from the hole you drink from. For years we have called it the green stick, spill stick, the thing, the stopper, long green thing, but now after so many years we know its real name, or at least what the courteous Starbucks' attendant or barista at the take-out window called it today. Barista was a word several years ago. Splash stick is today. Splash stick, I will now honor you and call you by your proper name.

How important it is to be called by our right name. There is something enriching in hearing our name called properly. It means we are real, a person, we are known, someone knows who we really are. My name is Joanna, but sometimes people call me Joanne. I want to say, I am not Joanne, that is my friend who has died. Of course, Seibert is called so many things, it is humorous, Cebert, being the most common. We always know we are getting a call from someone who does not know us when they open with, “Hello, Mrs. Cebert.” I can usually tell when I have called someone by the wrong name, which now is happening more that I would like to say. There is an unrest in the air that previously was peaceful and a look of pain on the person’s face, never completely concealed.

As for God, we don’t really know God’s name. “I Am.” God doesn’t seem to have this hang up that we humans do to be called by name. God just desperately wants us to love him or her or whatever and maybe say something. “I am mad about you, God. I am so thankful, God. I love you God.” All these seem acceptable. Spiritual friends suggest that maybe we don’t really have to call God by name, but just sit and be present with God. This tells us a little about the difference in God’s wisdom and ours.

 So, what should we do? Perhaps we are to continue to call each other by name whenever we can and continue to try to see the great mystery of God’s love, so different from ours. Perhaps we are to continue to love as best we can and offer that love up to a God who someday may tell us his name. Maybe instead, God will surprise us and give us another name as he did for Abraham and Paul. Maybe someday we may realize that our name is already several syllables or “I AMS” written into the mysterious parts of God’s name.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com

Name Day

Name Day

“On the eight day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, ‘No; he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘None of your relatives has this name.’ Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And all of them were amazed.” Luke 1:59-63.

If you name is John or some derivative, yesterday, June 24, was your name day. It is also celebrated as the birth day of John the Baptist. In some countries such as Greece, this is even more important than your regular birth day. When our daughter, Joanna, and her dad were in Greece on this her name day, their guide Maria did not charge them for taking them around that day. When others heard that it was her name day, they gave her gifts.

Just as important as this name day is to our family is the remembrance that June 24th is the birthday of Bob, my husband’s father, the person who showed us and our children so much unconditional care and love.  More and more in my life I find it important to remember people who taught us about unconditional love. As we remember the person, we can sometimes feel that love they brought into our lives.

Consider finding out about your name, how you got your name, and even your name day.

On June 24th I also remembered my grandparents Joe and Anna as I was named after them. Again, these were two people who taught me about love without conditions. I was the “apple of their eye.” They loved me no matter what I did. They did not always condone what I did, but they still loved the sinner.  Through their love, I learned about the unconditional love of God.

Honor and remember those who have brought the presence of love into your life. My experience is that in bringing them back into our memory, we can still feel and experience that love even when they are not with us and even when they are now living in eternal life. The God of my understanding does not give us this love and then stop it at death. Love lives on.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

God Coming

God Coming

 “When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified.  But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they do not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” Mark 6:47-52

         This has been my experience. God often comes to me in the early morning if I take time to get up and listen and read or just look or sit outside.  God comes when he sees me “straining at the oars against an adverse wind.”   God comes to me in some miracle, almost as if he were walking on water. It may be a word, a letter, an email, a call from someone I would least expect to hear God’s word.  I “by chance” meet someone who was not on my agenda for the day. God may speak in the actual scripture reading. God may be the wind at my side, or the sun bringing light to the cold dawn, or the first bloom on a barren tree.  I usually perceive God as a ghost and do not recognize the occurrence as a message from the one who cares so much for me.   I may ignore it because it was not in my busy plan for the day.   I may even cry out.  I may be terrified by what I hear or see.

Talking to spiritual friends helps us see God in these places we were blind to God’s presence. I remember that somehow if I stay present to the moment and say my prayers, fear will leave me. Fear is afraid of prayer.

God literally gets into the boat where my life is sailing on, and the storm in my mind and in my body ceases.  I am astonished. I do not realize why I am comforted, for my heart is still hardened.  This happens daily.  God does not give up on us and our hard hearts.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com