Name Recognition

[Jesus said to them,] “The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” – John 5:25b (NRSV) 

I don’t know about you, but in my life, there’s always this moment when people who see my name have to reckon with how to pronounce it: 

Kay-G? Kah-Jay? You can imagine. (It’s Kah-“G”).  

If I correct immediately, I risk being labeled oppositional. If I let it go, I’ve let it go. Either way, a tone is set. Meanwhile, if someone doesn’t take the time to know your name, you can miss important moments. At the DMV. At the airport on standby. At the doctor’s office when they’re already running behind. At the interview when they don’t even know you were there on time because they’ve been calling the wrong name.  

Mispronouncing your name can sound funny or cute, but it isn’t funny or cute when your future is on the line. When you’re listening for you.  

It distorts your name. And here’s the truth: Distortions are poison. Deadly. To your spirit and your health.  

They happen when somebody says your name wrong, and you start hearing your name in their distorted way. The distortions happen in what you hear—however it is that you hear. And what you hear, you hold.  

If the roll is called and your name is spoken in a way you can’t recognize, you may miss it. If God is calling and distortion blocks the sound, your spirit might not rise to respond. Accumulated distortion can convince you that you’re dead to God, that your name is forgotten.  

But Jesus knows your name perfectly. And when he calls it, you live.  

Prayer
God, call my name clearly. Help me hear you and rise. Amen.

About the Author
Kaji Douša is the Senior Pastor of The Park Avenue Christian Church, a congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, in New York City.