"What’s in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
I’ve always enjoyed the little nuggets of wisdom that Shakespeare’s works offer. This line, from Romeo and Juliet, is well-known and oft-quoted. And it’s true in so many situations.
What’s brought this quote to my mind this week has been the importance of names. To be fair, I’m terrible at names at the best of times. So to meet large numbers of people in short periods of time can be a challenge.
Blessedly, the folks we’ve been meeting have been gracious when I ask for their names to be repeated, or when Elsa asked for them to be written down.
Equally, sometimes our names have confused people. My double first name can be shortened, Elsa’s ID shows her lengthened name. There’s the desire to be respectful and friendly in our meetings, so we’ve been introducing ourselves by both our formal names and by what we like to be called. Adding titles can complicate that; one thing we’ve learned here is a casual non-gender-specific honorific for clergy: I am clearly not ‘Father’ Laura Marie, and ‘Reverend’ is too formal in this context. So my lovey new friends have re-baptized me ‘Padi Laura Marie’ or just ‘Padi’. And everyone knows where Padi is when she’s laughing- which we’ve been doing a lot of!
Perhaps the best thing that Elsa and I have been called this week is friend. We’ve been blessed to be included in 2 full days of PAG meetings, during which we have heard stories of action against injustice, stories of overcoming violence, examples of how peacemaking efforts are being effective, and how human rights are being championed. We have shared laughter, we have shed tears. We have broken bread together, we have made new connections, we have suggested new ideas for working together in creative ways.
We have been so successful in our meetings because we have come to the table as friends: open hearts and open minds, celebrating what each of us has to offer to the whole. We are not here as partner agencies that are apart from one another, we are here as partner agencies to be a part of the whole. And that whole is based on all the realities of friendship.
Tonight, we’re all headed in different directions. People are heading back to their respective homes and families; Elsa and I are heading south to Cebu tonight to begin our field visits in the Visayas tomorrow (yay! We get to spend some time outside!) We’re all traveling as people who have friends, as people who are friends. We know that as friends we will never be alone, that our friends are journeying with us in solidarity and in prayer. We know that we will always have someone who will call us friend- the best name anyone could be given. We know that we are making this journey together as friends, in the name of Christ. And that truly is a reality that, no matter the name, is sweet.
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