Loading...Sermon January 8, 2017
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of our Lord
“This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17
Please be seated
Are you familiar with Henri Nouwen? He was a prolific writer on the spiritual life. When I studied this Gospel reading, I was reminded of a book by Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World.
When Nouwen was teaching at Yale Divinity School, he was interviewed by a young journalist. The interview was nothing to speak of, but something prompted Nouwen to build a friendship with this man. About ten years after they’d met, the friend asked Nouwen to write a book for him and his friends – those who have a spiritual hunger, but no real religious tradition. No religious language or symbols. The result was this book.
In the first chapter, Nouwen makes the claim that each of us is the beloved of God. Take that in. How many of us truly live our lives as if we are the beloved of God? Often we disparage ourselves. Some of us puff ourselves up and are arrogant.
When Bill Moyers asked Archbishop Desmond Tutu what was the worst thing about apartheid, Archbishop Tutu responded, “Ultimately, it’s actually the way it makes you doubt that you are a child of God.” The worst thing you can do to someone…the worst thing you can do to yourself is to doubt that you are the beloved of God.
When we disparage ourselves, or are arrogant or disparage others, we deny we are the beloved of God…that God loves us…loves our authentic and true selves. How often do we believe that if people really knew who we were, they wouldn’t like us? But being the beloved of God means that our authentic and true selves are exactly what God loves. We need to stop denying we are the beloved of God.
Nouwen says that when we listen to God’s voice telling us we are Beloved, what we hear in the center of our being is:
“I have called you by name, from the very beginning.
You are mine and I am yours.
You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests.
I have molded you in the depth of the earth and knitted you together in your mother’s womb.
I have carved you in the palms of my hands and hidden you in the shadow of my embrace.
I look at you with infinite tenderness and care for you with a care more intimate than that of a mother for her child.
I have counted every hair on your head and guided you at every step.
Wherever you go, I go with you, and wherever you rest, I keep watch.
I will give you food that will satisfy all your hunger and drink that will quench all your thirst.
I will not hide my face from you.
You know me as your own as I know you as my own.
You belong to me.
I am your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your lover, and your spouse…yes, even your child…wherever you are I will be.
Nothing will ever separate us. We are one.” (Life of the Beloved, pg 36-37)
Through the waters of baptism, we become beloved children of God. Esther de Waal in her book, Seeking Life: The Baptismal Invitation of the Rule of St. Benedict emphasizes that
There, at the waters of the Jordan, Jesus Christ knew who he was, with no agenda given – he simply knew that he was deeply loved. (p. 78)
Many of us were baptized as infants, when other adults made the promises for us…other adults affirmed that we were loved and that we were the beloved of God. Yet, each time since then when we affirm those baptismal vows like we will do today, we are reminded that we are the beloved of God.
Esther de Waal says:
This is the gift of beloved-ness, and it tells me that God delights in me. How then do I accept and use it as a gift of who I truly am? For a gift is not just given; it must also be recognized, claimed, received. If I accept and use the gift of who I truly am it will become a means to unlock and to liberate the person that I truly am called to be. (p. 79)
We must recognize that we are the beloved of God. We must claim that belovedness by accepting who we truly are…who God created us to be. We must receive that belovedness of God. In doing so, our vocation, from vocare, which means a call or summons… our calling, our life’s work, our mission, our purpose…becomes clear.
So baptism affirms our belovedness and in response, we move out into the world to give ourselves to the world. Because we know we are beloved, we can love others and care for others and encourage others. We can let others know they, too, are the beloved of God.
On Christmas Eve, during the day, I was preparing for services. I received a phone call from Asma Emadi, which really touched me. You see, when I was 16, the Emadi family was expelled from Uganda. They were of Indian origin and Idi Amin forced them to flee their home. Ata, Asma’s husband, came first because he had nowhere else to go. He spent the Christmas of 1972 with our family. The rest of Asma’s family came in 1973, I believe. I could not imagine what it had been like to flee the country you’d known with very little of your possessions and to settle in a foreign country and begin your life again. You see, in Uganda, they had been well off with a large home and servants.
While the entire church worked to support the family and get them acclimated to their new situation, my parents took a special interest in supporting them and helping them to make a successful transition. They were able to get good jobs and eventually they opened a gift shop in Mechanicsburg, which Asma still operates today. Their four children also did very well for themselves.
Every year at Christmas, the Emadis made it a point to be in touch with my parents and to bring them a wonderful gift. My parents told them it was not necessary, but every year they did so anyway.
Ata died many years ago now and both of my parents have died. Yet, on Christmas Eve day, Asma called me to find out how I was doing and to wish me a Merry Christmas.
That’s what belovedness does. When we know we are beloved, we spread that on to others who do the same. When we know we are beloved, we can also receive the belovedness of others. We build relationships of love and gratitude that sustain us throughout our lives.
Recognize your belovedness, claim your belovedness, receive your belovedness and go into the world to love and serve the Lord.
Amen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsion_of_Asians_from_Uganda
//www.ibtimes.com/uganda-forty-years-after-idi-amin-expelled-asians-739228
