Bring Many Names

One of my favorite hymns is Bring Many Names by Brian Wren. The words of this hymn remind us of how God is all things and how close God remains to us. The words describe God as strong, warm, aching, growing and living. The words also relate God to us as mother, father, young, old and great; pushing the genderless-ness of God and being all around us, with us and in us.

“If the human race is created in the image and likeness of God, it follows that both femaleness and maleness reveal the divine, and (since we are not static but have a changing life cycle), both youth and age give glimpses of God.”
– author Brian Wren

In an article in The Hymn, Dr. Wren comments more on the concept of human gender and the Imago Dei—being in the image of God: “In Genesis 1, the meaning of ‘image of God’ is elusive, though many have tried to define it. At its simplest, it suggests that God gives us glimpses of the divine nature in each other, and specifically in our gendered-ness. It follows that, at their best, ‘femaleness’ and ‘maleness’ give us insight into God, so that there are truths about God, to express which we need language and metaphor drawn from female and male experience, at their best.” (www.umcdiscipleship.org)

 

Bring Many Names
Author: Brian Wren
© 1989 Hope Publishing Company

Bring many names, beautiful and good,
celebrate, in parable and story,
holiness in glory, living, loving God.
Hail and Hosanna! Bring many names!

Strong mother God, working night and day,
planning all the wonders of creation,
setting each equation genius at play:
Hail and Hosanna, strong mother God!

Warm father God, hugging every child,
feeling all the strains of human living,
caring and forgiving till we’re reconciled:
Hail and Hosanna, warm father God!

Old, aching God, gray with endless care,
calmly piercing evil’s new disguises,
glad of good surprises, wiser than despair:
Hail and Hosanna, old, aching God!

Young, growing God, eager, on the move,
saying no to falsehood and unkindness,
crying out for justice, giving all you have:
Hail and Hosanna, young, growing God!

Great, living God, never fully known,
joyful darkness far beyond our seeing,
closer yet than breathing, everlasting home:
Hail and Hosanna, great, living God!