Musings

Have you ever wondered what God’s name is?  It’s not “God” because that is more or less a generic term – a term used to describe something or someone we cannot describe.  We give this that which is indescribable the term generic term “God.”  But the term “God” comes nowhere close to naming God.

There is no awe, no wonder, no nuance, no hidden presence, no glory.

God’s name cannot be a noun nor a verb.  Nouns attempt to describe something, to define something.  Definitions create limits, they confine, they encapsulate.  Since God cannot be put in a box, no limits can be placed upon God, there can be no noun that is able to “name” God. 

To counter this, I used to say that God’s name is a verb.  The reason I used to say this is because the Hebrew form for God’s self-identification in Exodus 3, when Moses asks God “who shall I say sends me?” and God responds with what is translated into English as IAMTHATIAM, the Hebrew YHWH.  What is interesting about these four consonants  is that bear a strong similarity to the Hebrew verb, “to be.” So, yes, YHWH is better described as a verb.  However, verbs only describe action, they are not in themselves actions.  God is indeed more than a verb.  So, God’s name cannot be a verb as well – it still misses in expressing the mystery that is YHWH.  God’s name is neither a noun nor a verb – both are incapable of naming God.

God’s self-identification as YHWH, is regarded as unpronounceable, perhaps not so much because these four consonants are too holy to speak, but perhaps because God’s name cannot be expressed by language – the use of tongue and lips to form sounds which create words.  To form words is in essence to define something – again in that God is not definable there is no form of speech that can name God.

Rather YHWH, God’s name, is itself an action. If we must try and describe the character of God’s name, we might describe God’s name as onomatopoeia.  Onomatopoeia refers to words that imitate natural sounds. If God’s name is an action, what does that action sound like?  If we try and describe other actions, such as running, singing, laughing (all verbs or gerunds), what is the sound of running, sound of singing, sound of laughing?  So, if God’s name is itself an action, what action gives expression to God’s name? 

In suggesting that God’s name is expressed by a sound, I propose that such a sound is more initimately described as the sound of inhaling and exhaling, the sound of breathing.  To name God is to breath God’s name – that which is at the core of our being, in being alive, in our being created in God’s image – we pronounce God’s name as we breath – breathing in and out, Yaw – Weh.  The Hebrew and Greek terms for Spirit are ruach and pneuma, both referring to breath, air, wind.  There is much more than can be unpacked here.  But for the moment, in breathing, though we may be unaware that we are doing so, we breath the name of God.  God is not merely the author of life, the source of God, God is the action that IS life and all that is expressive of that: love, peace, joy, hope.