"Being the Beloved" Midweek Reflection (Week 1)

Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved began as a letter to a dear friend. He had met a man named Fred Bratman years earlier when Nouwen was teaching at Columbia University, and they had many conversations about spiritual and secular life. Bratman, a secular Jew living in New York City later asked Nouwen to write for him and his friends, an audience unfamiliar with the language and traditions of the Church and Christianity. He told Nouwen, “You have something to say, but you keep saying it to the people who least need to hear it.” (21)

Over the next seven weeks, I’m going to reflect on Nouwen’s book and what difference it makes that God calls each of us “God’s beloved”, and we are called to live a life based on that fact. 

Nouwen begins as we did last Wednesday with God’s words to Jesus at his baptism:

“You are my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on you.” (Mt. 3:16-17, Mark 1:10-11, Luke 3: 21-22)

To each one of us, God says, “You are the Beloved.”

And, I wonder, what images come to your mind when you hear the word “loved” or “beloved”?

God chooses each one of us and loves each one of us with the same heart with which God loves Jesus. (Abiding Together podcast)

In our lives, sometimes we have other voices that tell us a different message; the message that says you are “no good”, “a failure”, “worthless”, “ugly” or “a nobody”, and those negative voices can be so loud or persistent that they are easy to believe.

But God’s voice is louder still.

This reminds me of Martin Luther who, as the story goes, would face temptation by saying, ‘I have been baptized, I am a Christian.”  (Works of Martin Luther (WAT) Volume 6. no.6830; 217, 26f.)

We need to listen for God’s voice calling us the Beloved.

We need to remember that God speaks truth, and, as Pope John Paul II said, “We are not the sum of what we’ve done but of the Father’s love for us.” (Apostolic Letter to the Elderly (October 1, 1999))

And we need to remember, as Deacon Kimberly reminded us on Sunday, and we heard again in tonight’s reading from Romans, that nothing separates us from the love of God.

Listening for God’s voice is a central practice of our faith and spirituality. This is the work of prayer, not only talking to God, but leaving space for silence and active listening for what God says and how God responds. It is easy to listen to loud and intrusive voices, to streaming media and news, and even to friends and family, but listening to God’s voice “with great attentiveness” is different.

As we continue with worship and go about our daily lives through the coming week, I invite you to stop each day and take time to listen to God who calls you the beloved. Amen.