“And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”
We’ve been looking this week at the story of Jesus’ baptism, and how each element has become incorporated into our own baptismal services. We use the water, we invoke the Holy Spirit’s anointing in the application of oil to the baptized person’s forehead. Where, though, does this piece of divine affirmation come in?
We might say, “It goes without saying.” The whole act of baptism is a response to the Love of God. We see it as incorporation into the family of God. Do we need to hear God’s “I love you?” when we’re bathed in it?
Well… yes. We’re human beings, and we need to hear it. Jesus heard it, and it’s not like HE needed to be reminded of his Father’s love. Or did he? Was the mission he was just beginning going to be so hard and lonely and dangerous, that he very much needed to be reminded?
Maybe God is always telling us how pleased God is with us, reminding us how beloved we are, but we aren’t tuned to that frequency. This world and its messages throw off a lot of static. (Casting Crowns has a good song about that, Voice of Truth – the images on this particular video are fairly awful; just listen to it.) Our own inner sense of inadequacy or insecurity, however we came by that, often overrides that message of love. How are we to hear it for ourselves?
One way is to try to tune in every day – whether it’s a quiet time of prayer in the morning, or a step off the treadmill sometime mid-day, or in reflection in the evening. If we can cultivate the daily reminder of our baptismal life and the promises God has made to us, we might find ourselves more often living in our belovedness. Being about the mission of God is often hard, sometimes dangerous and occasionally lonely; we need to hear God's voice calling us into love.
And we also need to remind each other. No one is called into Christian life in a vacuum. The “noise” around us will always overwhelm us if we don’t encourage and support each other. Who has been good at reminding you that you are beloved of God, delightful and pleasing to God? Who in your life might need a reminder this week? What if we made a practice of reminding one person each week?
At one point in the Episcopal baptismal service, the congregation is asked, “Will you support this person in her life in Christ?” And the answer is to be a resounding “We will!” That’s one of the times we hear the voice of the beloved, God speaking through us.
God has not stopped speaking through us – let’s be that voice of love for one another, and for the world.
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