The Name Beyond All Names

One of the greatest privileges in life is naming a child, or even a pet. To name is to participate in the act of creation, for the name becomes part of that thing's being. Thus, in the book of Genesis when God told Adam to name the animals, God was directly inviting humankind not just to enjoy what had been created but to participate in the very act of creation. Giving a title, a name, to a piece of art, music, or a book or poem we have fashioned has the same effect of answering God’s invitation to join in creating, to name that which didn’t exist before and will now have a new life.

Psalm 148 calls us to “Praise God’s name…this name beyond all names.” Although we humans have attempted to name God ourselves—Father, Creator, Redeemer, Judge, Guide—because of our limited vision, none of these is “the name beyond all names.” When Moses asked God directly, “What is your name?” God replied, “I am who am.” God is not a thing or a person but being itself, and thus God’s DNA, which we name “Christ,” is in everything that has being. In John 14:20, Jesus tells us that it is through Christ that we are able to be one with God: “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” God’s name isn’t a noun but a verb: Being, Uniting, Creating, Reconciling, Playing. That is why Abraham Joshua Heschel could say, “Just to be is a blessing; just to live is holy.”

I Am is with us—and thus, however we choose to name what we encounter, all is blessing.