Henri Nouwen’s Life of the
Beloved begins by urging us to accept, or receive, the proclamation that each
of us is God’s Beloved.
Next, Nouwen describes the
difference between “being the beloved” and “becoming” the beloved.
The latter looks a lot like the incarnation.
“In the incarnation, life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
God reconciles the world to God’s own self, and in doing so reconciles us to
one another.”[i]
This “Becoming” is what happens
when we so fully live into our identity that our Beloved-ness is visible
and tangible in the ways we eat and drink, talk and love, play and work. (47)
It is what happens when we embody
God’s love in our words and actions, in the everyday activities of our
lives.
And it is a process.
I think when we are children, we
imagine that life will be a linear journey. Maybe there will be some ups and
downs, but generally it will be steady forward movement.
And then we discover that life is
far less predictable than that. Life can be topsy-turvy and chaotic. Sometimes,
it proceeds at a rapid pace, and other times, we get stopped in our tracks and
it feels like everything has come to a grinding halt.
As followers of Jesus, we never
journey alone, but with God accompanying us and loving us every day. Part of
“becoming the beloved’ is recognizing God’s presence with us.
Nouwen urges us to notice the
ways that the Holy Spirit is active in our lives, instead of merely going
through the motions, or falling into patterns of busy-ness, boredom or
listlessness that lack meaning or depth.
In the weeks ahead, we’ll talk
about the four words that Nouwen uses to describe the movement of the Spirit
among us: taken, blessed, broken and given – words that echo the meal that we
share when we gather at the Lord’s Table, and again invite us into relationship
with our Incarnate God.
Amen.
[i]
Rachel Wangen Hoch. “Incarnation and the Holy Innocents.” Journal of Lutheran
Ethics. December 2010 (Volume 10 Issue 12). https://learn.elca.org/jle/incarnation-and-the-holy-innocents/,
accessed 9/23/25.
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