Day Thirty - Labels

My granddaughter has recently written an extended essay for part of her sixth form studies. She asked: why are we so quick to label people?

I meet up, once a month, on Zoom, with the Oxford Myeloma Support Group. Our label reads: “myeloma sufferer or supporter”. But last week, as it was my turn to lead the group, I asked people to answer three questions: How old were you when you were diagnosed? (People always say “I was diagnosed in 20xx” but not their age.) Where were you diagnosed? (As we are all treated in Oxford, there is an assumption that we have always been under the Churchill hospital’s care.) What was your job/career when you were diagnosed?

All of sudden we became ordinary people: a teacher, a civil servant, a forester, a secretary, a church minister, who just happen to have been afflicted by the same disease. It was wonderful! For over half an hour there was no mention of those dreaded words: pandemic, Covid-19, vaccination. A modern miracle!

When my husband turned sixty-five in January I devised and printed out an A4 sheet covered in his labels. Primarily I started on the exercise because we had a frame of the lyrics of the Beatles song: “When I’m 64”, which was no longer relevant. I amassed a list of nearly forty labels covering his sixty-five years, from Devonian (Janner) through school prefect, to Bachelor of Education, to researcher for a home office report on disqualified drivers, to pastor at Padfield church to the more homely quite a catch, husband, daddy and grandad.

Don’t worry Christian was in there too, and Congregationalist, although that could also refer to his ten years as magazine editor.

Labels are useful. We had an intense discussion at last week’s Witney CC Zoom reflection session about our images of God. We are warned in the ten commandments: “Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth.” Exodus 20:4 (GNT) The NRSV uses “idol”, while those of us brought up on the KJV always think of “graven images”.

We ARE allowed images – but in our heads, our minds, our imaginations, which is just as well as the Bible is chockful of metaphors for God, that we could also say are labels – e.g. shepherd, rock, fortress, potter, bread of life.

I think our modern issue with labels is that so often they are pejorative; we are sometimes quick to label those who are different, for whatever reason. There are “ism” traps everywhere.

We need to remember that we were all created in the image of God. ‘God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature”’. Gen 1:26 (MSG)

Prayer:

Please label us, Fortress God, as safe within your protection for ever.

Please label us, Good Shepherd, as your sheep, and let us hear you call us by name.

Please label us, Heavenly Potter, as your clay, and mould us for your service. Amen.

Elaine Kinchin