{"id":34177,"date":"2025-04-06T06:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T10:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/freelancechristianity\/?p=34177"},"modified":"2025-04-07T11:48:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T15:48:38","slug":"in-the-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/freelancechristianity\/in-the-name\/","title":{"rendered":"A Poem for the Broken, Searching, and Human"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In The Name<\/h2>\n

I often describe myself as \u201cpoetry challenged.\u201d I usually need someone else to help me get all of the nuances of poetry\u2013although I find beauty there, it is definitely not my natural genre. But every once in a while I hear a poem that simply blows me away, This one is from Irish poet P\u00e1draig \u00d3 Tuama, who was a recent guest on Kate Bowler\u2019s podcast \u201cEverything Happens\u201d (which has been showing up here frequently over the past few weeks).<\/p>\n

It strikes me as a prayer for our times, as a gathering call for those who cannot see eye to eye or even imagine the perspective of someone else.<\/p>\n

In the Name \u2013 P\u00e1draig \u00d3 Tuama<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the name of goodness, of love and of broken community<\/em>
\nin the name of meaning, of feeling and I hope you don\u2019t screw me<\/em>
\nin the name of darkness and light and ungraspable twilight<\/em>
\nin the name of mealtimes and sharing and caring by firelight<\/em><\/p>\n

In the name of action, of peace and human redemption<\/em>
\nin the name of eating, of drinking and table confession<\/em>
\nin the name of sadness, regret and holy obsession,<\/em>
\nin the holy name of anger, the spirit of aggression<\/em><\/p>\n

In the name of forgive and forget, and I hope I get over this<\/em>
\nin the name of father and son and unholy spirits<\/em>
\nin the name of beauty and broken and beaten up daily<\/em>
\nin the name of seeing our creeds and believing in maybe<\/em><\/p>\n

We gather here, a roomful of strangers<\/em>
\nand speak of our\u00a0hopeland, and talk of our danger<\/em>
\nto make sense of our thinking, to authenticate lives<\/em>
\nto humanize feeling and stop telling lies<\/em><\/p>\n

In the name of philosophy, of theology and who gives a damn<\/em>
\nin the name of employment and study and finding new family<\/em>
\nin the name of our passions, our\u00a0lovings\u00a0and indecent obsessions<\/em>
\nin the name of prayer, of worship and demon possession<\/em><\/p>\n

In the name of solitude, of quiet and holy reflection<\/em>
\nin the name of the lost, the lonely and the without-direction<\/em>
\nin the name of the early and the late and the wholly ineffectual<\/em>
\nin the name of the straight, and the queer, transgender\u00a0and \u202fbisexual<\/em><\/p>\n

In the name of\u00a0bootclogs, and\u00a0boobjobs\u00a0and erectile dysfunction<\/em>
\nin the name of schizophrenia, hysteria and obsessive compulsion<\/em>
\nin the name of Jesus, and Mary and the mostly silent Joseph<\/em>
\nin the name of speaking to ourselves, saying \u2018this is more than I can cope with\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

In the name of touch-up, and break-up, and of breakdown-and-weeping<\/em>
\nin the name of therapy, and Prozac, and of full-hearted breathing<\/em>
\nin the name of sadness and madness and years-since-I\u2019ve-smiled<\/em>
\nin the name of the Unknown, the Alien, and of the Wholly-In-Exile<\/em><\/p>\n

In the name of the named and the unnamed and the names of the nameless<\/em>
\nin the name of the prayers that repeat \u2018I wish that I could change this\u2019<\/em>
\nin the name of goodness and kindness and intentionality<\/em>
\nin the name of harbour, and shelter and family.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you want to hear the author read his poem, it begins at about 22:00 in the podcast.<\/p>\n