"How Does a Weary World Rejoice? Trust Our Belovedness" a sermon on Mark 1:4-11

Mark 1:4-11
“How Does a Weary World Rejoice? Trust Our Belovedness”
Preached Sunday, January 7, 2024 

Do you know you are loved?
How do you know you are loved?

Through Advent and Christmas we have been asking: “How does a weary world rejoice?” We answered that question in the following ways:
We acknowledge our weariness - laying down our burdens with God and each.
We find joy in connection - connecting with others who will hold our weariness and joy for us.
We allow ourselves to be amazed - at all that God is doing in our world, at our world’s many wonders.
We sing stories of hope - joining in the prophetic tradition of so many of our mothers and fathers of the faith, we sing and dream about the future that God has planned.
And we make room - for God and for each other.

All of these ways that we rejoice in a weary world have the same strong and fertile foundation: that we are rooted deeply in God’s love for us.

That we know, above all else, that we are loved. That we are beloved. Meaning a much loved person. And that the core of our belovedness stems from the truth that God loves us, deeply and without measure.

Today is what we call Baptism of the Lord Sunday - and when Jesus comes out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and a voice from the heavens said, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Some translations of this Scripture, instead of “with you I am well pleased” say “in you, I find happiness and delight.”

When we are baptized, we are baptized in the name of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Some refer to the Trinity as Lover, Beloved, and Love Itself. We are baptized in the name of Love. Romans 8 - possibly one of my favorite chapters in the whole of Scripture in the whole Bible - Romans 8 tells us that we are children of God with Christ, and if children then heirs. We are Children of Love, heirs with Belovedness, claimed by Love Itself. God’s words to Jesus in his Baptism are also God’s words to us in our Baptism, our shared Baptism in Christ: “You are my child, my Beloved. In you I find happiness and delight.”

This is where the source of all of our joy, our rejoicing comes from: We are Beloved.

But…do we really believe it? Do we really trust that we are God’s beloved? Do you?

Henri Nouwen was a Catholic priest and theologian who left the prestige of academia to care for people with profound physical and mental disabilities at L’Arche Daybreak community. He was also a prolific and profound writer, writing over 30 books. One of his most well-known and heartfelt books is “Life of the Beloved.” A secular friend of Nouwen’s, Eric, asked Henri to write a book for him and others like him, the not-overtly-religious-but-seeking. He said to write “about the deepest yearning of our hearts, about our many wishes, about hope . . . Speak to us about . . . God.” The Life of the Beloved was the answer to that request. In that book, Nouwen talks about our belovedness, that belovedness is the very foundation of our lives and identities. I cannot stress enough that I wish every person alive - and certainly everyone in this room - could read this short but impactful book - to spend time contemplating their belovedness.

Because belovedness is what we are all seeking - to be loved. And often in our world, we chase things that we think will get us there, that we think will love us as we long to be loved, that we think will satisfy our soul’s deepest longings… We chase belovedness thinking that this job, this project, this trip, this relationship, this diet, this goal, this New Year’s Resolution…this will finally be the thing that satisfies my soul. But…of course they don’t. And the endless chase of love leaves us feeling empty, anxious, restless, wanting. It leads us to spiritual exhaustion - Nouwen even goes as far to say it leads us to spiritual death.

Because our weary world will try to shout over the voice of God - trying to stick us with names, titles, identities that are less than Beloved Children of God. Our weary world will say to us: you are weary. You are a lost cause. You are exhausted. You are a failure. You are not enough.

And if we are not careful to decenter these voices, we can come to believe that they are at the core of our identity. And a life without belovedness at the center - a life with exhaustion and deprecation at the center…that life doesn’t lead to true and abundant life. It doesn’t lead to Love.

Henri Nouwen says it like this:
“...you have to keep unmasking the world about you for what it is: manipulative, controlling, power-hungry, and, in the long run, destructive. The world tells you many lies about who you are, and you simply have to be realistic enough to remind yourself of this. Every time you feel hurt, offended, or rejected, you have to dare to say to yourself: 'These feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself. The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God's eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity, and held safe in an everlasting belief.”

The Christian Band casting Crowns says it like this in their 2003 song, “The Voice of Truth”:
“But the waves are calling out my name
And they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again. "’Boy, you'll never win!’
‘You'll never win!’

But the Voice of Truth tells me a different story
The Voice of Truth says, ‘Do not be afraid!’
And the Voice of Truth says, ‘This is for My glory’
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of Truth.”

Pastor Allison says it like this… I say it like this:
Trust your belovedness. You are a child of God, loved by God beyond comprehension. All other less-than-identities - we died to them in our baptism. And in that baptism, as we were resurrected with Christ, we were born again with the new identity of Beloved Child of God.

When we trust our belovedness, when we hold fast to it, when we come back to our belovedness again and again, then all other voices are drowned out. And it is there in that belovedness that we find the source of all of our rejoicing, all of our joy.

So… Do you know that you are loved by God? How do you know that you are loved by God?

It all starts at the baptismal fount and extends to the table of the Lord.

These are our constant reminders in our weary world of who and whose we are. That no matter what - God has claimed us as beloved in our baptisms. And that no matter what, God saves us a seat at this table.

These are touchstones in our weary world that we are called back to time and time again to remember who we are: Beloved. That which is the source of all our joy - even in our weary world. When God calls us child, when God feeds us and invites us in - we can experience the love of God that claims us and sates us with the joy of Belovedness.

So today we will come to the fount and to the table. To bask in God’s love for us. To feel God’s love for us. To remember the love of God who has claimed us in the name of Lover, Beloved, and Love Itself. We come here today and then we go into the world, trusting our belovedness.

For it is only in trusting our belovedness, that we can share the God of love with the world.

So know this: You are loved. You are loved by God. You are God’s Beloved in whom God finds happiness and delights.

Amen.