I Am Me, You Are You

Luke 9:18-22

What is the difference between the questions : "Who do the crowds say I am?" and "Who do you say I am?" In a word, the difference is suffering. To answer the first, you need to be religious journalist ---- to answer the second, you need to put your life on the line. The word to "to suffer" means "to allow" : To allow faith to penetrate you is to suffer ---- it is to lose that arm's length that the journalist maintains so carefully.

Have you ever wondered what the "el" at the end of certain names means? Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Daniel, Ezechiel, etc. Sometimes the "el" is at the beginning : Elizabeth, Elijah, Elisha. It is a short term for "Elohim" a Hebrew name for God. All these names have meanings of course. But even if our names are not one of these , we can still think of it as naming our relationship to God. The deepest cut layer of our identity is our relationship with God, and God 'calls us by name.' If you bring strength and support to another person, you are (in essence) an angel to that person. Angel means "a messenger of God." What we write in our address books is one thing, but our 'deepest identity and our most secret name' is our relationship to God, that need none for any press release. ♥