Chelonioldea: the green sea turtles that I swim with (I think they are the species green sea turtle, or chelonia medas) are some of my favorite swimming companions. Yesterday, on my sabbath snorkel, I spent several minutes hanging out with chelonioldea number 11864.
Just a number. How sad. It was like a prison number, or other such identifier. God knows us, each of God's creation, human and non-human, by name. Christianity believes that the God, whom some believed had a name that is unmentionable, gave us a name by which to know, intimately, that very God. Jesus.
My objective is to track down a name for my new friend, honu number 11864, so that in future snorkelings, I can say 'hello' by name. Is that not a way of celebrating the relationship we all share with the Creation in which God has placed us? And let Creation share in our life, too?
One of the parishioners with whom I work is a volunteer at Hanauma Bay, and I suspect he might know how to track down the nick-name that the scientists gave 11864 - the more personal pronoun than the scientific numerical is an opportunity to reflect on the relationship of life calling out to life.
