Each of Us Has a Name

We have many names and identities: parent, child; architect, teacher, businesswoman; stud or dud; budding Nobel prize winner or total moron--the list goes on and on. Most of our names we get from the world around us, from those who love us and those who don't. And these names shape who we become. Some of them bring a lightness to our step, make us strong and loving, wise and beautiful; others diminish us.

But one name trumps them all. That name is "Beloved". It is given to you by God, and no one--not your parents or your boss or your friends or co-workers, not the religious right with all their righteous ferocity, not even you on your worst day--can take it from you.

This video reminds me of the famous reflection of Bonhoeffer after his years in a Nazi prison.

(Thanks to Michael Music for the pointer to this lovely video.)