Respecting the name of God

The Vatican has declared that the name of God should not be used in Mass. This is apparently not a new decision, but one that has been slipping, especially where the name "Yahweh" is concerned.

This was announced in a two-page letter from the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, dated June 29 and addressed to episcopal conferences around the world.

"Yahweh" is a mispronunciation of the Tetragrammaton: YHWH, the four consonants of the ancient Hebrew name for God.

"As an expression of the infinite greatness and majesty of God, it was held to be unpronounceable and hence was replaced during the reading of sacred Scripture by means of the use of an alternate name: 'Adonai,' which means 'Lord,'" the Vatican letter said. Similarly, Greek translations of the Bible used the word "Kyrios" and Latin scholars translated it to "Dominus"; both also mean Lord.

You can read more here.

It brings up an interesting issue: respecting the name of God. One of the commandments specifically says not to take God's name in vain, yet we interpret that in so many ways.

In our house, you don't say, "Oh, God!" unless you are praying or (as in this case), using the phrase to educate someone on what not to say and when. Yet how many people just use it as an expression of surprise? Many a time, I've had to correct one of the kids' friends because they shout it out when someone says something funny or their video game character gets into trouble. And they will actually argue with me that there's nothing wrong with using it that way, even though some of them are from good Christian families. Obviously, they've learned a different application of respect.

I also know it's a cultural thing, too. My dad, who wasn't an especially religious man when younger, had to train my mom, a devout Catholic and a Puerto Rican, out of the habit.

But what about when it is being used in a devoted way, like in the song "Yahweh, I Know You are Near?" Well, first of all, the Tetragrammaton was meant to be unpronounceable, and so any attempt to make it pronounceable is most likely going to be wrong. How would you like it if your spouse were to get your name wrong while declaring his love?

So why would God give us a name for Him that no one can pronounce? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. My own reasoning is that there are some things humans are not ready to know. For example, we don't really, with detail, know what heaven is like. Our human bodies don't have the senses to process what the soul will experience. So, too, with God's name: a name with such beauty and majesty that we are to know it with our souls and not our human bodies. Until then, God has given us many other wonderful names: God, Lord, Abba, Father, and of course, Jesus Christ.

Having grown up singing "You are Near," it's going to take me a while to replace the word, but I'll keep at it. God deserves my respect.

My Novel's Journey: The Name Game

Dick and Jane. Mary Sue. Moe, Larry and Curly--how do you come up with names?
Sometimes, a name just comes to me. Vern d'Wyvern. Yes, it's awful, but it stuck. Thus, I had to come up with a back-story for this truly lame name. (After his encounter with St. George, he was presented to the Pope of the time, who, while a very holy man, didn't have a sophisticated sense of humor. He thought "Vern d'Wyvern" rather droll.)

Other times, I have to hunt for names. Charlie Wilmot, I found by looking at phone directories in England. (I love Google!) For the duchy he serves, I went to a map of England, found the general area and looked for the silliest combination of places I could. I'd remembered some of their towns are city-on-river, and so I came up with Peebles on Tweed. (I'd misremembered Shakespeare's birthplace as "Stratford on Avon" rather than "Stratford upon Avon," so when I combined the names I used "on.") I love the sound of the name.

Sometimes, especially when I'm looking for something specific and it doesn't come to me, I turn to friends for brainstorming. That happened twice this week. Earlier this month, Vern, Grace and Charlie discover the dead body of a professor. I wanted this professor, who was also a mage, to have a fun name to lighten the scene a bit. I couldn't think of one, so whenever I referred to him, I wrote (funname). (That way, when I come up with a name, I can do a global replace.) Then on Wednesday, I asked the folks who gathered for the online chat at The Writers Chatroom for help. After some fun brainstorming based on the fact that my victim was a mage specializing in portals and the Gap, Audrey Shaffer came up with Bill Gates. I loved the idea of a Faerie sharing a famous name, especially in a college atmosphere. You'll see what I did with it below.

Sometimes, though, I know a name is going to be important to future scenes--and in this case, jokes--so I can't move until I have it. This happened when I decided I needed a secret spy organization instead of just the standard FBI, CIA, ETC. At first, I had DICE--Department of Interdimensional Criminal Enforcement. Great potential for jokes. Then it occurred to me that we don’t enforce criminals; we enforce laws.

I was banging my head against the desk when my best e-buddy Ann Lewis showed up on IM. After a few minutes of tossing around acronyms and jokes, we came up with the Bureau for Interdimensional Law Enforcement. BILE. Naturally, I'll have to write in the evil sister organization, Villains for Interdimensional Lawlessness Enhancement, VILE.

Names are such fun!

Word Count: Only 23,400, but I had to dig myself out of a to-do list that was 90 tasks long.

Fave scene: Found on the door of Professor Bill Gates.

Professor William Gates, MT, PhD, GMM. Below that, a computer-generated sign in a page protector read: Pronounced Gay-TEZ. No relation to that Mundane computer fellow, thank you. However, if you are a Mundane and want to learn magic, I suggest computer science." And a map leading to computer science. Below the map read: "Mundanes: You are not genetically suited to handle magic. I cannot change that. I will not change your major. So very sorry."