Courtenay Evans, “Homily for Evensong: Beloved”
Tonight, just after the First Sunday in Lent, we are amid a season of penitence and fasting, a season of waiting in preparation for Easter. It is a season of great humility, a season where we are reminded of our mortality, from dust we were formed and to the dust we shall return. This contemplative season may feel raw and vulnerable; a time where we may become very acquainted with our weakness, our faithlessness; a reminder of our impermanence, of our iniquities, of our powerlessness. This season can be deeply confronting, reminding us that we are creatures, we are children dependent solely upon God.
Yet, as this season of Lent begins, we also read of Jesus’ baptism by John in the river Jordan. “Just as Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart, and the Spirit descended like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
In January of 2020 we had the amazing opportunity to travel to the Holy Land—about 30 of us from Christ Church. It was truly an extraordinary experience. And one of my most memorable moments was the day we visited the Jordan river to renew our Baptismal vows. The sun was beaming high in the sky and the water just sparkled.
So to pause and to back up for just a moment as a reminder to us all: what exactly is the sacrament of Holy Baptism? Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children, making us members of Christ’s Body, the Church, and inheritors of the Kingdom of God. Being a sacrament, the outward and visible sign in Baptism is water, and in our case, the river Jordan, and the inward and spiritual grace in Baptism is union with Christ. Union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth into God’s family the Church, Forgiveness of sins and new life in the Holy Spirit. Well, that is all good news as we begin the season of Lent!
As we renewed our baptismal vows alongside the banks of the Jordan River, with the sun high in the sky warming my face, I couldn’t help but fill with joy when I heard the line read: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” In my mind I changed the verse to read “You are my daughter, the Beloved; with you, I am well pleased.” And this is true! You, me, the whole world. We are all God’s Beloved, His Beloved children and He is very well pleased.
God is a God of love, a God of relationship. Thus, Jesus understood what we are too often slow to comprehend: that we indeed ARE God’s Beloved and with all of us, He is well pleased. God sensing our need to understand His great love, sent Jesus Christ, his only son to live and die for us. Jesus stretches his arms on the cross touching the entire world with this love, and grace and forgiveness. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are placed in familial relationship with God, drawing us nearer towards Him and to each other.
And let us too, remember, that in our baptism, we are “sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever.” We are God’s beloved FOREVER. We are His beloved children Forever. You and me. And as we lean into, and are confronted by, our humility, our mortality, and our iniquities during this season of Lent, let us be reminded that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God. Nothing can separate us from the Easter promise of resurrection and new life. Nothing. YOU are God’s Beloved. You are marked as Christ’s own forever. Amen.