Namer of Names

As Image Bearers of the King, one of the very first tasks assigned to us is the Namer of Names. 

Adam, the first in a long line of Image Bearers, stood in the garden with the One Who Created All Things and was given the responsibility of naming all the animals. Genesis 2:20,

“And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field....”

Adam named the animals. Now I don’t know if the animals appeared in a straight row like a police lineup or if Adam hung out his Creator and walked around the Garden of Eden and said--Rhinoceros. Giraffe. Platypus. Hippopotamus.

God created but he invited Adam to name what he created. He invites us to do the same. To be a Namer of Names is still a God-given role and responsibility.

A name is the first basic element of a person. A symbol of welcome. Of belonging. Of arriving home. A name is part of our human experience, to be recognized for who we are. To be known.

"Hey Joe. How's it going?"

"Maria, I've been thinking about you. How ya been?"

"Dustin, can we meet and talk over a cup of coffee?"

According to Ann Voskamp, To name is to learn the language of Paradise. This naming work never ends for all the children of Adam. Naming to find an identity, our identity, God's. 

On Sunday I listened to my friends, Jon and Layne Heller, two Image Bearers, share how they bring the face of Christ to the sick and dying in the oncology ward in Maputo, Mozambique. Because it is the only hospital in the entire country to provide chemotherapy, patients often travel great distances and stay extended periods of time for treatment. Families cannot always leave their jobs and villages to stay with patients in the hospital.

They end up alone.

With no one who knows their name.

Sometimes in a course of a life, a name becomes Forgotten. Desolate. Abandoned.

Jon and Layne live out Matthew 25:36 , "I was sick and you visited me."To visit the sick, to listen to their stories, to learn their names is the work of heaven. To have someone speak your name is to be Remembered. Wanted. Not Alone.

On Sunday Jon and Layne shared stories of real people with real lives with real names who became their friends. You can find these stories on their blog.

Near the end of his message, Jon stood and read a list of names.

Belvindo

Esperanca

Fernanda

Francisco

Papa Francisco

Jonathan

Jose Manuel

Lucia

Macky

Ophilia

Rafito

Sergio

Sobu

Rosina

Sandra

Emilia

Joaquim

Marcelino

Albertina

Joanna

Anna

Oombi

Adaleina

Reinha

Fatima

Cleo

Fernando

Rosa

Georgina

Marta

Silencia

Antonio

Jose

Filipe

Leapoldina

Each name represents a friend who died in the past two years. A person loved and known by Jon and Layne.

When we become a Namer of Names, we open our hearts to know grief, to feel loss, to take on the role of being a Witness of a Life, even after a person is gone.

This too is the language of heaven.