Name calling

Do you remember when you were a kid and how calling somebody a name was like the biggest slap in the face?  You probably had your standard once and for all name that you used frequently too, didn't you?  For some it may have been boogerhead, dufus, dummy, four eyes, etc.  Growing up when I did I think I used Beavis a bunch.  Now that I am approaching my third decade of living, am involved in youth ministry and have a child on the way, I find myself thinking back to my own childhood and the things that I did.  Why did I feel the need to call someone a name?  Most of the time it was out of frustration because the other person didn't do something I wanted.  I don't really know what made me think calling them a name would change their action, but that was my line of thinking.  In fact, as best as I can remember, name calling usually made the situation worse because the one named now feels as if they need to defend their honor.  Which would lead to more name calling and eventually some sort of scuffle.

Now that I am an adult I cannot really say that the world has changed too much.  We still call each other names.  We think that if someone is labeled as a liberal or conservative, Jesus freak or pagan/sinner, athlete or nerd, orthodox or emergent, that it will cause them to see the error of their ways and lead them to a path of change.  The truth is that our labels often lead to more division.  The line of thinking usually goes something like this.  We could not simply associate with that person because they are.....  Or they wouldn't want to talk about this or go to this because they are.....  Our labels put us in a box that we cannot break out of.

I speak to all of this because I recently found out from a credible source that I have been labeled, a couple of different things.  I don't really care that I have been labeled becaue in one of the cases there is a bit of truth to it.  Here's the thing that bothers me about this situation.  These people that have labeled me have not spoken to me personally about it.  They have not approached me to talk about if I may actually be what their label points to.  Truth is they may not actually know what their label fully means.  My point is this, the church as a whole has to get beyond this way of conducting ourselves if we ever hope to be fully missional in our communities and the world.  Those who we hope to reach usually do not look like, act like and think like we do.  So a part of reaching out to them is to look past any lables or names that we may call them.  But if we are not doing this with those who share a faith in Christ, how can we ever hope to extend a measure of grace to those who do not share a faith in Christ?

Thankfully we serve a God that looks past our labels.  I am reminded of a sermon that one of my professors, Dr. Tim Green, gave a time when he spoke at a church I was serving in.  He was working through the story of Hagar and Ishmael and talking about labels.  The narrative in Genesis 16 says that Abram and Sarai referred to Hagar as "my servant" and "your servant", never by her name.  She was ultimately driven out into the wilderness by Sarai and it was here that God came and spoke to her through his angel.  Then the coolest thing happened in verse 8.  The first word out of the mouth of the angel was Hagar.  God had given Hagar her name back.  In God's eyes she was not labeled as a servant or slave, but as Hagar.

In the same way, I need to be reminded that God sees me as Jared and not by the labels or names that others may project on me.  Thank you God for the grace that you give to your servants and may we in turn offer that same grace to our friends, our enemies and the strangers and aliens among us.