What's in a name?
Sermon by Pr. Craig Mueller on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi + Sunday, October 6, 2024.
When you get a pet, they need a name. When I got two black littermates many years ago, the two cats needed names. Nerd that I was, I thought of black-robed monks: Bernard and Benedict. And gave them shortened versions: Berna and Benna. My cats hated their travel carrier which meant coming to church for the pet blessing was not a treat! The last time I brought the more outgoing one, she peed on my friend who had taken her out of the carrier for the blessing. Bad idea!
Names matter. In one of the two creation stories in Genesis, God does not want Adam to be alone. The animals are brought to Adam and he gives names to every living creature! A kind of companionship, but not quite enough. English translations miss a fascinating detail. This first human creature of the dust wasn’t necessarily gendered. Was ha-adam both genders, neither gender, gender fluid? It wasn’t until the magical, divine surgery was there a distinction between the sexes.1 The second human is created from the first. This isn’t science, of course but a story to make a point. Man and woman are partners. As the first creation story says, they are to have dominion over the earth. This has often meant to dominate, to rule over creation. But recent theologians point that a better way to name it: to be stewards and caretakers of creation.
The way we name things matters. And from Genesis, one theologian reminds us that human beings are not that much better than the earth from which they were created or better than the animals with whom we share the planet. All are created by God. All are worthy of respect, protection and awe.2
Francis of Assisi had an intimate relationship with creation. He named the animals as his siblings—his sisters and brothers. In his famous Canticle of Creation, the basis for our gathering hymn, Francis called the Sun his brother, and Moon his sister. More names. Mother Earth. Brother Wind. Brother Fire. Even Sister Death. Our lives are interwoven with all creation.
Naming things feels uniquely human, right? But a scientific study in 2013 suggests that dolphins use name-like calls. Elephants, parrots, and possibly whales and bats use calls that identify them as individuals as well. Humans may not be the only ones who recognize themselves and those around us. Creatures may have gained the ability to create new sounds for the purpose of naming one another. As botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, “Names are the way we humans build relationship, not only with each other but with the living world.” One writer fancifully wondered whether one day we would be able to address an elephant in a way it can understand: Hello, I’m Craig. Tell me your name.3
Speaking of naming, the current changing climate is being named an apocalypse. The end of the world. And it stirs up great fear and anxiety in many. It can feel like we are doomed. Without any hope. Yes, we are at a unique place in the earth’s history. Yet civilizations have come and gone. Species have gone extinct over time. Yet this is the first human-caused potential for crisis for the earth, human beings, plant and animal life.
The first step in such a crisis is facing reality. As our ancestor James Baldwin said, “not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Goethe said, “until you face this deep secret—die and become—you will be a stranger on this dark earth.” In other words, can we name the terror as well as the opportunity of this moment?
What we do know is that it’s not about getting smarter and getting richer. We are where we are because of advances in knowledge, science, technology, industrialization, and greed.
A Native American activist and theologian suggests that our perception of reality is flawed. Apocalypse means ripping away the veil and seeing reality as it is. How can we imagine an alternative to the extremes of capitalism? How can we transform our sense of resignation? How can we call on a power beyond the limits of our own perceptions?4
How we name the hope for our time? The title of one recent book is a good starting place. What if We Got it Right: Visions of Climate Futures. The book tells stories of people filled with hope, and in their own way, getting it right. They are winning court cases, changing the way we do landscape architecture, organizing communities for climate resilience.5
One scientist from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which as a body won the Nobel Peace Prize has a provocative way to name the opportunity of our time. “We are alive at the most important moment in history where we can make the biggest difference. There’s so much potential and possibility on this planet right now for social change.”6
With gratitude, with joy, with hope we gather as earth creatures. Connected to the animals here today. The animals and plants on our planet. The human and non-human ancestors that have gone before us. Including Francis of Assisi.
In this place we are free to name our fears for the future. Yet we also proclaim the good news. Out of death, God promises resurrection. In a world filled with cynicism and despair, we receive the dominion of God like a child. Letting go of ego. Letting go control. Letting go of our need to know.
And Christ comes again in word and meal. Blesses us. Names us “child of God”. That we may name all creation as our siblings.
What a marvelous creation. As we will soon sing, “exalt the God who made you.”
1 Song-Mi Suzie Park, commentary on Genesis 2:18-24. The Working Preacher.
2 Ibid.
3 Tove Danovich, “Elephants are Doing Something Deeply Human.” The Atlantic, July 2024.
4 Steven Charleston, quoted in “Meeting the Global Dark Night with Clarity and Tenderness,” by Kaira Jewel Lingo in Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction-Companionship. September 2024.
5 Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, What If We Got it Right: Visions of Climate Futures.
6 Karen O’Brien, quoted in “Meeting the Global Dark Night” above.
