Loading...Sermon January 7, 2018
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s, Newport, PA
First Sunday After the Epiphany, Year B
//lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi1_RCL.html
And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ Mark 1:11
Please be seated.
Are you familiar with Henri Nouwen? He was a prolific writer on the spiritual life. When I read this passage from Mark, 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. Each of us is the beloved of God.
In our Gospel today, Jesus is baptized and we hear that a voice came from heaven proclaiming, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” And in a few minutes, we remember our own baptisms by renewing our baptismal vows. We make a lot of promises in those vows. They are guides for how we hope to live our lives.
Yet the foundation of all of those promises and the reminder of baptism is a reminder that we are beloved of God. The promises we make in our baptismal vows and in most of the rites of our church are responses to the very foundation of our faith – our sure and certain knowledge that we are the beloved of God.
Being the beloved of God means that our authentic and true selves are exactly what God loves. 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)
Researcher Harold Koenig reviewed many studies regarding outcomes for people who profess a strong religion or spirituality. Not all are positive, of course. Yet at its very best, living into and fully knowing that we are beloved by God means:
- better mental health (less depression, lower stress, less anxiety, greater well-being, and more positive emotions
- greater social support, less crime/delinquency,
- the development of human virtues such as honesty, courage, dependability, altruism, generosity, forgiveness, self-discipline, patience, humility, and other characteristics that promote social relationships.
- supportive social connections and opportunities for altruism (through volunteering or other faith-based altruistic activities)
- better health behaviors, with less alcohol and drug use, less cigarette smoking, more physical activity and exercise, better diet,
I also imagine many of you can tell your own stories of a time when you felt happier or felt less anxiety because you truly knew God was with you, because you knew deep in your soul that you were beloved of God.
As we begin this new calendar year, and this time of Epiphany, let us rejoice once again that we are beloved of God.
Amen
Research – Harold Koenig: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3671693/
