Blessing God's Name

By Joan Weber

The Ten Commandments have always been an integral part of my moral life. I memorized them as a child, and they've been in my head and heart ever since. I often use them to prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. But I have to confess that I sometimes treat them as a list, skipping over one or two or taking them at face value. Lately, I have felt God calling me to reflect more deeply on them, particularly the second commandment, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."

I wonder how many times in one day I hear the Lord's name taken in vain. When I was a child, I never heard the words "God" and "damn" in the same sentence — ever! My parents had strict rules about that. We were taught to bow our heads whenever we said the name of Jesus as a sign of reverence and respect. (I still find myself nodding sometimes when I say "Jesus" in the Creed at Sunday liturgy!) If we said "God" when we got mad or frustrated, we were in big trouble. And when we wrote about God, any pronouns we used were always capitalized.

Times have changed, and even on television it seems fine to use God's name casually, in anger, or for any other purpose. But at what cost? It seems to me we have lost some of the awe and reverence which we owe to our Creator. We make God a friend or companion, but sometimes forget that God is WHO HE IS.

In Exodus, God gave Moses authority to lead the Israelites by giving Moses' permission to use his name:

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!' " God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you':

This is my name forever, and this is my title for all generations..." (Exodus 3:13-15)

God's name carried great weight with the chosen people, even to the point where they stopped speaking the name of Yahweh out loud. We don't want to stop using God's name today, but wouldn't it be great if we did so with greater reverence and awe? As Matt and Beth Redman sing in Blessed Be Your Name:

Every blessing you pour out I'll turn back to praise.
When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say,
"Blessed be the name of the Lord! Blessed be your name!
Blessed be the name of the Lord! Blessed be your glorious name!"

Their song challenges us to bless God's name "though I walk through the wilderness" and "on the road marked with suffering." But they also bless God's name "when the world's all as it should be" and "in the land that is plentiful."

Let us pray for the grace to use God's name as a sign of our deep love and our deep reverence for the Almighty One on whom we rely for our very breath and life.

O God, you are my all. You are my being, my hope, my past and my future. I thank you for all you have given me — my life, my family, my talents, my achievements. O Holy One, I love you with all my heart and mind and strength. Amen!

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Spirit Compass reflections are developed in partnership
with the Center for Ministry Development.