At the beginning of the year I started making my way through the book “Fragments of the Ancient Name” by Joyce Rupp. In this book (she has written many) Rupp offers a daily reflection and each day the reflection is based on a different name or image for God. It is remarkable and thought-provoking.
As the month of June began she included a quote from Elizabeth Johnson. It said, in part, “The first expression of the unknowability of God is the proliferation of names, images, and concepts, each of which provides a different perspective into divine excellence. For if we were able to see into the very essence of God and wrap our minds around this, we would be able to express the divine by only one, straight-as-an-arrow name. As created beings, however, we can never do this. Instead, the diversity of the world offers fragments of beauty, goodness, and truth, both social and cosmic, facets of reality that point us in different ways to the one ineffable source and goal of all.”
The book, with it’s many images, has stretched my imagination and my faith. The image for today is “Force of Life”.
When you think of God what are the images that spring to your mind? Do you always refer to God by the same name? Could you come up with 365 names … one for each day of the year?
