This week Russia’s former President, Mikhail Gorbachev, was buried in what the newspaper described as a low-key funeral service. When I read that, I remembered an encounter with Gorbachev that was not “low-key” for me. I was with 20 other ministers visiting Russia after the fall of the Berlin Wall and when Gorbachev was seeking reforms to restructure society and the economy. He called it perestroika.
We wanted to see what was going on, and we boldly sought a visit with Gorbachev. We were joyfully surprised when our request was granted. He gave us 30 minutes, but unselfishly extended that time to an hour.
We had been told by his managers that only five people could speak in the group (there were 21 of us) and everything had to be orchestrated in that fashion. Our group decided that we would devise questions to ask Mr. Gorbachev. Then we assigned those questions to members of our group, so that when the time came they might ask the question. Because we were Christian and wanted him to know that was an explicit part of who we were, we sought a way that we might communicate that to him. We finally made the decision that we would do it in one of the questions that we asked. We decided that we would say to him, “Mr. President, we’re Christians and people of faith. Therefore, we’re persons of prayer. Are there personal needs and concerns for which you would like for us to pray?
We assigned that question to be asked by Dr. Sundo Kim, the only non-American in our group. He was the pastor of a church in Seoul, Korea, the largest Methodist Church in the world. It was providential that we assigned that question to Dr. Kim. Because none of us Americans would have been as bold as he was.
When the conversation was wearing down, and we knew that it was time for the interview to come to a close, everybody turned to Dr. Kim. Gorbachev was at the head of the table and Dr. Kim was seated immediately to his right, and I was seated next to Dr. Kim. Instead of asking the question, he said something like this. “Mr. President, we understand that you were baptized when you were a baby, and that your mother has been praying for you every day since”. I’m not sure how he asked the question then, but it was something to this effect. “Do you think that grace of God is working in your life?” Gorbachev was a very charming man and had a wonderful sense of humor. You could tell that that question was burrowing deep into his consciousness and into his soul and it was a tense moment. In order to relieve that tenseness, he used some humor. He said, “Yes I was baptized when I was a baby. When I was born my parents named me Victor.” He said, “Isn’t that a great name, Victor? But when I was baptized my grandfather changed my name. Maybe that’s the reason what has happened lately with my leadership. (He was about to surrender the Presidency) a I’m no longer Victor. My grandfather named me Mikhail in English that is Michael.”
And then he went on to say, “I’ve looked in the Old Testament, your Bible, and I understand the name Michael in Hebrew means God’s person”. And with a sort of impish smile he said, “And that’s not really a bad name, is it?”
I’ve been pondering that experience since I learned of his death. Naming and being named is one of the most crucial needs of human beings.
But Dr. Kim was not finished. Immediately responded, “Since your mother has prayed for you daily, we want you to know we will be praying for you also. In fact, I’m going to ask Dr. Dunnam if he will pray for you now.” And I did!
I not only believe that naming and the need to be named is the most crucial of all human needs, but I also believe that’s what God has been doing throughout history. I also believe that is the dynamic of prayer. We name God for who He is. We name ourselves as we are before God, and we allow God to name us.
I’m thrilled when I remember Jesus spoke of this when he said, “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.”