There is a joke that is circulating on the Internet that goes like this: Forrest Gump dies and goes to heaven. St . Peter tells him that he will get into heaven as long as he answers three questions. First, St. Peter asks him, “What two days of the week begin with the letter “T”? Forrest thinks for a few moments then a 0swers, “That’s easy--today and tomorrow. ’ That wasn’t the answer St Peter was looking for , but he thinks it is creative so he accepts it. Question number two: “How many seconds are there in a full year ?” Gump asks to borrow a paper and pencil and does some calculations. He then responds, “The answer is there are twelve seconds in a full calendar year. January second, February second . . . Again, this was not the answer St. Peter expected, but. it was a technically correct answer and Peter accepted it. The last question: “What is God’s first name?” Forrest Gump thinks for a moment , then responds. “God’s first name is Andy” “Andy?” questions St. Peter, “how in heaven’s name did you come up with that?” “It’s just like the song says,“ replied Forrest, “Andy walks with me, Andy talks with me, Andy tells me I am his own."

Today’s Scripture passage poses an important spiritual question: What is your name? What is your real and authentic name? Names shape our lieves. The meanings stick to our souls. Names can heal and help us. Or names can haunt us with demonic force. T h e man in today’s Scripture passage is a man tormented by a name that he believes reflects his experiences and true identity. When Jest-!s asks him, “What is your name?” he answers, “Legion” to identify the large number of demon forces that plague him.

In ancient Rome a legion was an enormous and powerful military body consisting of from 3,000 to 6,000 foot soldiers. In more contemporary language a “legion” is understood to be a great number or a multitude. In adopting this name, this man is saying to Jesus -- 1 have a multitude of dark forces, unclean spirits, terrible suffering, unbearable shame, and unresolvable anguish within me. Leave me alone. Do not have anything to do with me. This is a man who has likely internalized the names called him by others in society--reject, outcast, demoniac, untouchable. And in his shame and anguish he believes that no one can reach him, no one can touch him, no one can heal him, and certainly no one can accept him.

Names can torment us with demonic force. Earlier this month a study conducted by the Human Rights Watch, a non-profit advocacy and research organization, found that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered teenagers are subject to such widespread bullying i.n US schools that they often do not get an adequate education and suffer serious psychological consequences. Bullying can include being pushed down school stairways, being shoved into lockers, and having books kicked out of their hands. Bullying can also involve being beaten up on school property or on the way to and from school , being threatened with violence to self and others, and being taunted by degrading names -- faggot, queer, and other sexually derogatory terms. The study stated that school officials often refuse to accept reports of harrassment of GLBT students or to hold perpetrators accountable. In some cases it was found that administrators and teachers had even participated in the abuse of students perceived or believed to be GLBT.

This landmark study found that an estimated two million gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered teenagers in the U.S. spend rn!~ch of their school day trying to figure out how to get to a.nd from classes safely, avoiding certain students or parts of the :.zc:hool in order to avoid slurs and shoves, and cutting classes to avoid beatings and taunting. The report concluded that this harrassment takes a serious toll on the emotional and physical health. Without adequate support and protection, many GLBT youth internalize these negative images of themselves . Believing the false labels--that one is perverted, immoral, sick, bad, and evil -- takes a.horrific toll on their well-being, placing GL8T youth at a very high risk for depression and suicide.

Clearly the old jingle, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me” is a lie, The demeaning and degrading names that perpetrators and bullies use to diminish and ridicule and condemn GLBT students and persons perceived to be GLBT, can cause extreme mental, spiritual, and physical anguish. So we need to be careful of the names we call ourselves and the names we call others.

I want to speculate on what Jesus might have said had this man asked Jesus, “What is your name?” I can imagine Jesus saying something like this: “My name is Legion. For my love for you and all. people is great, determined and powerful--like a legion of soldiers I My compassion for you is unconditional, unshakeable, and unstoppable, like a well-trained military force. As God the Creator has loved me, so do I love you with a love that will not let you go and a compassion that is more powerful than all of the world’s armies.” I can imagine Jesus telling this man: “You have l.earned the wrong name. In fact, your real and authentic name is not Legion at all. You are God’s beloved. Abide in God's love. And let the fulness of God ‘s love for you empower you to live a new Life of love. For my name, not yours, is Legion and my love, which is more powerful than any human force, will never let you go."

I believe that Jesus would also have exhorted this man to trust that no amount of personal suffering and shame, no measure of guilt and worthlessness, no number of illnesses and psychiatric symptoms, and no armies of taunting enemies or name-callers could separate him from the love of God revealed in Christ. Isn’t that what is happening here? Jesus is not afraid of this man’s demons. Jesus is not fearful of this man’s suffering. Jesus is not put off by this man’s torment. Instead, Jesus embraces this suffering man, frees him of that which has chained him for many years, and empowers him to spread the good news of God’s active and empowering love in Christ. Nothing-- not even the demonic and negative forces that have haunted this man’s body and soul--can separate him from the love of God in Christ. This is exactly what Paul captures in that powerful affirmation from his letter to the Romans:

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

In this encounter Jesus is attempting to reveal to this to)-mented and suffering man his true identity. By his actions Jesus is saying that there is nothing that can separate us from tht: love of God--not our past mistakes, our sinful choices, our unfaithful living, our discouragement and despair, our personal heartache and heart-break, our anxious preoccupations and obsessions, our depression and isolation, our guilt and shame, our difficulty finding our way in the world, our fearfulness to seek out God’s will for us, our stubbornness in responding faithfully to God’s call in our lives, the names others call us, or the names we call ourselves.

Jesus in not cowed by the demons that confound, perplex, haunt, taunt, torment, and frighten us - Instead, Jesus meets us where we are -- hurting, lonely, depressed, anxious, afraid, confused, tormented, and suffering -- and God’s love is offered to us, like the prodigal father or mother who runs with open arms to welcome the searching child who has returned home. The “legion” of this tormented man’s hurt, suffering, and anguish comes into cent:-act with the “legion” of love, care, and compassion offered by Jesus. And his life will never be the same.

Love has the final word, doesn’t it? ln his book, “Life of the Beloved,” Henri Nouwen writes:

"Yes, there is that voice, the voice that speaks from above and from within and that whispers softly or declares loudly: ‘You are my beloved, on you my favor rests. ’ It certainly is not easy to hear that voice in a world filled with voices that shout: ‘You are no good, you are ugly; you are worthless; you are despicable, you are a nobody -- unless you can demonstrate the opposite. ...These negative voices are so loud and so persistent that it is easy to believe them.

“Listening to that voice with great inner attentiveness I hear at my center words that say: ‘I have called YOU by name, from the very beginning. You are mine and I am yours. You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests . . . I am your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your lover and your spouse... Yes, even your child . . . wherever you are I will be. Nothing wiil ever separate us. We are one."

Sometimes we do not discover our real and authentic name until we have a crisis or life-threatening experience. In 1989 Henri Nouwen, the Roman Catholic priest and theologian, was struck by the outside rearview mirror of a passing van and thrown to the pavement on the street. He was rushed to a hospital in critical condition due to external injuries. Later doctors discovered that his situation was more serious than they initially thought when they found that he was bleeding internally from his spleen. He was rushed into surgery and, according to medical reports, nearly died in the operation. During his recuperation from this incident and the surgery Nouwen reflected upon the life-changing nature of this brush with death and its impact on his life. In an article, ‘A Glimpse behind the Mirror” (Weavings, Nov/Dec, 1989) Nouwen writes:

“My experience of God’s love during my hours near death has given me a renewed knowledge of not belonging to this world. This knowledge has entered my heart more deeply and has led me to a fuller acceptance of my identity. I am a child of God, a brother of Jesus. I am kept safe in the intimacy of divine love.

"I know now that the words spoken to Jesus when he was baptised -- you are my beloved -- are words spoken to me and to all who are brothers and sisters of Jesus. It is hard to hear those words and let them descend into the center of my heart. But once I have received these words fully, I am set free from the compulsions and obsessions of my world and can live in it without belonging to it. Once I have accepted the truth that I am God’s beloved child, I can go into the world to speak and act as Jesus did.’

Sometimes we learn our real and authentic names in unexpected experiences of grace that come into our lives. In this regard, I want to tell you a story about a recent experience with my father. My relationship wi;h my father has been difficult and at times strained over the years. During my childhood and adolescence I experienced him as strict and demanding and I grew up feeling that I was never really able to please him. This sense of inadequacy and failure was heightened when I decided not to follow in his footsteps and become a dairy farmer and take over the family farm. This had been his hope for me. The family farm has been in the family since 1875 so there was an expectation that this is what I, being the only son in the family, would choose to do with my life. I believe it was a tremendous disappointment to my father when I decided that I did not want to become a dairy farmer and i-nstead chose to go to college and pursue another vocation.

Fortunately, over the years my father has mellowed and my relationship with him has improved and we have become closer. I think it had to do with his own aging process, my maturing process, and his becoming a grandfather, a role he seemed to fulfill with more ease and less anxiety than that of being a father. Still, 1 had carried within me over all these years a nagging sense that something was missing in our relationship--a demonic discomfort, if you will -- that I did not measure up to his expectations, that I had let him down, that I was not really accepetable to him despite all my academic achievements, professional accomplishments, and endearing personal qualities.

Last Christmas I had a unexpected encounter of grace with my father that helped me experience my real and authentic identity. After spending a few days with my family at the farm during the holidays, I packed my car and was about to drive back to Manchester. As I said goodbye to my father I noticed that tears had come to his eyes and he was turning his head away from me so that I would not notice. I was touched and confused by his tears and in that moment felt at a loss as to what to do. This had never happened before, as far as I could tell. Our goodbyes were always handled in a rather manly, matter-of-fact manner with a handshake and mutual pat on the shoulder. Or on other occasions he had chosen not to be there when it was time for me to leave.

I would like to say that I handled this in a mature way, but in that instant when I glimpsed a side of my father that I had never seen before, I did not know what to do (even with a PhD in psychology)! In my uncertainty about how to respond in that moment I told my father that I had had a good time over the holiday and that I would be in touch soon. I then got into my car and drove back to Manchester, spending the whole 6-hour trip thinking about this incident, agonizing about not using that moment in our relationship to connect with my father in a closer way, and reviewing the history of my -relationship with my father. I wondered if I had missed my opportunity to connect with my father in a more emotional way. I wondered if he would ever be that vulnerable with me again and if I would ever have a chance to connect with him at that level - AS I normally do when I return from a trip to the family farm, I called my parents to let them know that I had arrived safely. And I knew I had to talk to my father. When I got him on the telephone I told him that I was really touched by his tears and that in that moment when I had witnessed his crying I had not known how to respond to him, but that something important had happened between us. He told me that he had really enjoyed having me around during the holiday and that I was fun to spend time with. And he explained that he felt sad that it would probably be a few months before he would see me again. This time tears filled my eyes--350 miles away.

It was in that moment of witnessing my father’s emotional vulnerability with me, that I really felt “beloved” by my father. that I really got my real and authentic name. I guess I had "known" intellectually that my father liked me, that he respected me and that he really was proud of me (even if he had a difficult time showing it), but I had never really felt it in my heart until that mornent. I had discovered my real identity -- my real name -- and it was not Legion or Unwanted or Inadequate or Not Good Enough. It was Beloved!

I felt like Sally Field when she won the Oscar a few years ago for the movie, “Places in the Heart". In her acceptance speech to the Academy that had voted her the Best Actress of that year, she burst out, “You like me! You really like me!” That’s what I felt too in my relationship with my father: “You love me! You really love me! " All those years I had been tormented by the wrong names for myself -- Not good enough, Disappointment, Inadequate. In this instance, my father’s tears and his words touched places in my heart that had longed for that kind of affirmation and recognition for decades. And in an unexpected encounter with my father, his love and the love of God became more real to me. And I discovered my real and authentic name -- beloved.

That is how Jesus views this tortured man and all of us who are living with our own demons. The reality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is conveyed in Paul’s words to the Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28--29). There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God I Hence, there are no tinwanted, unlikeable, undesirable, unlovable, unforgiveable, unteachable, or untouchable people in God’s eyes. There is only one name --beloved.

It is important to note that while these life-changing incidents sometimes occur immediately as they did in the life of this man, it often takes time for us to grow into this deeper and more authentic identity -- the true name that God has called us. In fact, part of the spiritual struggle many of us experience, I think, is stayingin touch with our relationship with God and those persons and experiences that have confirmed our belovedness so that we might honor and remember our real name -- beloved. In reflecting on this Nouwen writes:

“Has my brush with death freed me enough from the addictions of the world that I can truly stay in that world as a person ‘sent’ from above? The taste of God’s unconditional love quickly disappears when the addictive powers of everyday existence make their presence known again. The clarity received on a hospital bed about the meaning of life easily fades when the many daily obligations return and begin to dominate life again. Without a very conscious effort to keep God in the center of my heart, it will not be long before my hospital experience becomes little more than a pious memory. I will find myself entangled again in the many daily ‘realities’ which present themselves to me as if they were of ultimate value.”

That is the spiritual challenge isn’t it -- to remember who we are, to be conscious of our name. Whether our faith is relatively new . . . or whether we are one of those who have heard the “old, old story” for decades, God calls us to make a very conscious effort to keep God in the center of our hearts” because this is what will help us remember that we are the beloved children of God . . . and that identity can empower our ministry as individuals, families, and a community of faith.

Why is it important to know our real name? Because knowing our real name liberates us to serve God in freedom and truth. When the tormented man in today’s Scripture passage recognizes his belovedness in Jesus’ eyes, he is freed to proclaim the Good News of the liberating and healing love of God revealed in Christ.

If we are going to be involved in outreach into this community a nd in places around the world that are in need of hearing and experiencing the good news of Christ, then we ourselves have to make sure we are making a “conscious effort” to stay in touch with the Love that will not let us go . . . the One who empowers us to serve in Christ's name . . .the God who sustains us through all that life can do to us.

This kind of spiritual connection empowers us to share the Good News of God’s love with others.. .and to challenge the oppressive and demonic forces--such as child abuse, racism, classism, sexism, ageism, prejudice against GLBT persons, discrimination of any kind -- which diminish the humanity of the people whom God calls beloved.

Howard Thurman, who served as the dean of Marsh Chapel, tells the story of his grandmother, herself a slave, who used to preachy! to African -- American slaves on plantations and farms before they were liberated at the end of the Civil War. She would tell her listeners something like this: You are not slaves. . . you are not second--class citizens . . . you are not owned people. You are not dirt . You are beloved children of God. You are the sons and daughters of God. No matter what do not lose sight of who you really are! Do not let anyone take that away from you.

I would exhort us in a similar manner: No matter what demonic, demeaning and degrading names we have been called in the past, we are not those names. We are not unwanted. We are not unlovable. We are not rejects. We are not untouchable. We are not are not legion. We are not diret We are the beloved children of God. we are the empowered daughters and sons of God. We are the serving brothers and sisters of Christ. Don’t lose sight of your authentic indentity in Christ. Remember who you are so that you can participate fully in the ministry to which Christ calls you. Do not forget your name , for you are beloved. Thanks be to God, we are all named . . . Beloved.