Beloved

    I begin this morning with a scene from a novel - -
        - - in which Sethe and Paul D - meet a woman on a road.
    The woman is thirsty - and thin.
    After giving her water to drink - cup after cup of water - they begin to talk.
    “You from around here ?”, Sethe asked her.
    She shook her head no - and reached down to take off her shoes.
        Sethe bent down to pick them up.
    “What might your NAME be ?” asked Paul D.   /
    “Beloved”, she said.
        Her voice so low - and rough - they looked at each other.
        They heard the VOICE first - - and later they heard the NAME.
    “Beloved.  /  You use a last name, Beloved ?” he asked.
    “Last ?”  - - -    she seemed puzzled.
        And then,  “No”,  and she spelled it for him - slowly.
    He recognized - - the careful enunciation of letters by those - like himself - who could not read - but had memorized the letters of their name.   /   He was about to ask - who her PEOPLE were - but thought better of it.   /   A young black woman drifting - was drifting from ruin.
    And so - the main character of the novel Beloved reveals her name.
    It is a name taken from a headstone - on which the engraver had not had time - to write out the whole thing - the preacher had said, “Dearly beloved”.
    As to her people - the answer comes from the author.
    The ascription at the beginning of this book by Toni Morrison is a Bible verse:
        Romans 9:25
        “I will call them my people,
        which were not my people;
        and her beloved,
        which was not my beloved.”
    This beloved drifter - given a name - which for many like her -
            - went unfulfilled.   /   They were not - - beloved.    /  
    “Beloved”   
    That’s what God calls Jesus - in this morning’s Gospel reading.
        Just as Jesus is baptized.
    As he rises up out of the water - just at that moment.   /   When WE baptize – now in the present day - the pastor will often ask for - - or say the child’s NAME.   /   And that happens at a similar moment.
    “What is the Christian name of this child ?”
    And the child - becomes a sign to the world - that God loves us.
        That we are RAISED up.
        That we are - beloved.
    And it is something - that we ought to remember.
        But that we often forget.
        Sometimes - that we even - reject.
    God’s love for us.
    That - as we are BORN anew in baptism - born by the Spirit - named -
        - - CREATED anew - if you will - -
        - - that as that happens - God is pleased.
    It is a similar thing with the Old Testament prophet - in the book of Isaiah.   
        As the servant is described - we read:
        “Behold - - my servant - -
            - - my CHOSEN - - - in whom my soul - - DELIGHTS”.
            Which is a little like saying “my beloved”.
    Isaiah goes on -
        “Thus says God -
            - God who created the heavens -
            - who spread forth the earth -
            - who gives breath - to the people -
            - and spirit - to those who walk the earth –
                - that God is the God of covenant and of promise.
    Then in chapter 43 Isaiah  describes God as saying,
        “I have redeemed you - I have CALLED you by name - and you are mine”
            And YOU - - - are a NEW thing.
            Created - and called - by God.
        Chosen.
        Beloved.
    Now - in both the case of Jesus -
        - and of the servant - described in Isaiah -
        - they were expected - to bring salvation - and justice to the world.
    To bring - light.
    To call people to repentance.
    And so - somehow - in their beloved-ness - -
WE - and the whole world - are ALSO beloved by God.
    God has longed for us - since the beginning.
    Loved us since the creation of the world.
        In Genesis - God looked out over creation - and said, “It is good”
    And since then - and in the mean time -
        - we have had QUARRELS with God.
    We wonder why JUSTICE is NOT complete NOW.
    We picture the world as we wish it was.
    We misunderstand God’s purposes - like John misunderstood - - when Jesus came to be baptized.   /   John would have prevented Jesus - - but Jesus said - let it be so.   /   And so John consented.
    But we don’t often - so easily consent - to God.
    And LIVING INTO our baptism - - can be - - for us a life long journey filled with ups and downs.  /  Living into our baptism means that eventually our insides come to match the name we have been given.  /  The package and the contents are congruent.
    What I mean might be illustrated by a simple little experience I had recently. I had purchased a bag of snacks at Plaid Pantry:
The NAME of the snack was “Western Trail Mix”. But as I was eating it, I noticed the description on the back of the package. It said, “To capture the taste of the Far East…we have…”. And it went on to describe the contents of the package. The contents were intended to capture the “taste of the Far East” it said – in small print on the back. But the NAME of the snack was “Western Trail Mix”!
    What was THIS – I wondered!
        I’d been hoodwinked!
        Sold something under false pretences.
            The name and the contents didn’t seem to match…
    Which got me thinking about “Beloved” again.
    The name God gives us all is beloved.
    What does that mean for our insides and our hearts and souls?
    Are we intended to live up to it?
    Or to receive it as a gift?
    Or….somehow….both?
        Do we resist our baptismal identity like John did?
    And yet - in the end - maybe we can - no more - resist it than Jesus could.
    And did EVEN Jesus - - - resist it ?
        Did Jesus remember God’s voice calling, “beloved”
            - for the rest of his life ?
        When he was ridiculed ?
        When he turned over tables - in the temple ?
        In the garden of Gethsemene ?
        On the cross ?
    And yet it is - - who he is.
    God’s - beloved.
        It is who we are. 
Our identity as a community of faith begins there.
    If you are not baptized or a Christian I hope you will take some word of hope from what I am saying today. But I am talking from my perspective within this Christian community. I am pondering what it means that personal identity is connected to community. And community is based in part on commitment to one another and to certain basics. For Christians, this is who we are…
            We are - baptized.
            We are - Christians.
            We are - beloved.
                And we hope to share that gift with the world:
        To share what we understand as God’s hope
that all would respond to that love.
    Why was Jesus baptized - - after all ?
        Why would a SINLESS man - be baptized for repentance ?
    Because there is MORE to it than – repentance...maybe…
        Repentance  - was the baptism of John.
    But Jesus - - baptism - by the Holy Spirit -
        - - accompanied by the DOVE - like the dove in the story of Noah -
        - - a story of DELIVERANCE - -
            - - from the deluge of FLOODwaters - -
            - - Jesus baptism - is a SIGN to the world.
     Just like OUR baptism.
    Yes - our baptism has a personal dimension.
        We are named.
        We enter into the Church - of Jesus Christ - through it.
        We claim - God’s grace and forgiveness - of sin.
    AND - - it is MORE than personal.
        Our baptism - like Jesus’ baptism - is a sign to the world.
        A sign that we are ALL loved.
        We are God’s - - beloved.
            Whether we feel like it - or resist it - or not.
        Let us remember that - - and RENEW that - today.
            And then begin again – to live into that.
                Amen.