“We Are Beloved” by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

    If I could choose to name one writer whose books most profoundly affected my spiritual life as a young pastor in my first ten years of ministry the answer would be easy: Henri Nouwen. He was still alive when I started reading his books in the early  1990’s. He died in 1996. He wrote an astounding 40 books during his life. One was an amazing book called “Beyond the Mirror.” He had an experience where he came close to death, and reflected on the intensity of that experience.

    In another book, “Inner Voice of Love,” he revealed his own clinical depression and showed his vulnerabilities. It was something you don’t often see: the human side of one of your spiritual giants. I’ve dealt with depression in my life, but not to that level.  It was amazing to see this level of vulnerability shown by such a spiritual giant.

    In other books he talks about how after he spent years as a prestigious University professor, he chose to live in a L’Arche community in Toronto. There are  130 of these communities around the world where people with developmental disabilities live with those who care for them. This life of a pastoral servant gave him the most joy as he lived out his faith in the simple daily tasks of being a care giver to some of God’s most misunderstood children.

    My favorite book of Henri Nouwen’s is this tiny little book that, for me, summarizes his understanding of the relationship between us and God. In fact this book sums up the core of my own theology and here it is in five words: we are God’s beloved children. The book is called “Life of the Beloved”. Henri wrote it at the request of a Jewish secular friend, living in New York City.

    The friend said to Henri:  “Why don’t you write something for me and my friends?. . . You have something to say, but you keep saying it to people who least need to hear it. . . What about us young, ambitious secular men and women wondering what life is about after all?” (p. 16-17). So Henri Nouwen wrote “Life of the Beloved”  as a way to try to engage non-religious people into the idea that God loves them, and wants to be an active part of their lives.

    The book is written to be a sort of spiritual primer, an invitation to the Christian life, if you will. It is a good book for anyone of us who want to take a deep breath, and get to the core of who we are and who God is.   And who we are in relationship to God.

    So we’re going to focus our worship on it, for the next six weeks. You might want to pick up a copy and read it.

    Henri Nouwen says that living the life of the beloved begins with recognizing the voices in our lives. Voices are powerful.  Just think about this for a moment. We know that babies can hear the voices of their parents in the womb. Even before we are born, we can hear the voices of those around us. So the parents in the home, preparing for our birth, are the voices most familiar to us once we are born: the mother who carries us, and whatever parent is living in the home and whose voice we hear. That’s why crazy excited birth parents talk to the tummy of a pregnant woman, singing songs, reading favorite books, saying sweet soothing words, and telling silly stories. We want the child to be born, feeling welcome, and hearing our familiar voices, and having warm and fuzzy feelings. We want the child to know our voice.

    We want the child to feel beloved.  The story of Jesus’ ministry begins with a voice. We heard this story in our scripture for today (Mark 1: 9-11 if you’re following along on the Net).

    In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  Would you like this kind of dramatic sign for you? 

    God’s voice was heard when Jesus was baptized. Not just any voice: THE VOICE. The voice of God saying: you are my beloved child. I have got to believe that Jesus carried that voice with him throughout the next three years of his ministry. What do you think?

    When people were challenging his authority, and questioning his actions and his motives, do you think he might have paused to remember that voice? On the day of his baptism the heavens opened and God’s voice said, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.”        

    You know sometimes the voice of the world tells us one thing, but God tells us we are beloved children. I think we would do well to listen to God!  But we don’t, do we?

    What voices do you choose to listen to?

    From the time we are children, we all hear voices, don’t we?

    They are those human voices of judgment and criticism.

    The loudest voices of all become those of self-rejection.
    What are some of those voices you have been listening to all of your life?

You’re not smart enough.

You’re not pretty enough, or good looking enough.

You will never amount to anything.

You don’t have enough money.
You screwed up.

No one likes you.

You come from a bad family.

You’re black, brown, gay, transgender, slow, disabled, divorced, adopted, you’re different.

    We all listen to those voices and we internalize that negativity.  But we don’t have to.

    There is another voice!  There is another voice!  The soft gentle voice, the bold courageous voice of God deep inside and here’s what it says:   you are beloved child!

    You don’t have to give in to self rejection any more.  Every one of us has people in our lives that have encouraged us. We have people who have loved us. You have people who have told you that you are important to them, people who have told you that you matter. You have experienced the joy of knowing that someone values you. You have heard that voice that says you are beloved.

    But for some reason, it is so much easier for us to listen to the one human voice that say we are worthless, than to a hundred human voices that say we are important. And we think to ourselves, if that person who says they love me, could really see everything about me, the worst side of me, would they really still love me?  They would walk away if they really knew me.

    And so, Henri Nouwen writes, we continue on this eternal quest for something that will make us feel whole: some book, some fitness program, some perfect life partner, a great job, anything that will make us feel worthy. The compulsiveness keeps us busy, but it just keeps us moving toward burn out.  It moves us towards spiritual death. Let me say that again, This is the way to spiritual death.

    We “don’t have to kill ourselves” (p. 30), because We are the Beloved. This is the simple truth.  That voice of acceptance is the only voice we need to listen to.
God says, “I have carved you in the palms of my hands and hidden you in the shadow of my embrace. I look at you with infinite tenderness and I care for you with a care more intimate than that of a mother for her child” (p 31).

    Nouwen writes: “Every time you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply. It is like discovering a well in the desert. Once you have touched wet ground, you want to dig deeper” (p. 31).

    Friends this is why Jesus came: to show us to this well.  So often, we just stumble around listening to that voice of criticism and judgment. But we choose to listen to it.  God is standing here ready to speak in that soft tender voice: “It’s ok, you are my child. I made you, and I love you. I know every hair of your head, every mistake you have made and I know every mistake you will make, and I still love you. I just want to be in relationship with you. Don’t turn your back on me.” That’s what God says.

    Will you say “yes” to this life and “yes” to this voice? When the voices of self-rejection start getting louder, will you tell them to “hush, go away” so you can hear God’s voice? Because, you see, we get to choose.  And God wants us to choose this life – the life of being the beloved. We are God’s beloved children! Remember this promise. Claim this promise. Live this promise.  We are God’s beloved children.

    Now, I want to share with you the words of a person I had the pleasure of crossing the spiritual journey of, several years ago.  Morgan Guyton and my journeys crossed paths about 12 years ago.  We walked together for awhile and he is now doing incredible things himself.  But just this week he shared on his blog what hearing this kind of message did for him.  If you want to read more, here is a link to the blog - http://morganguyton.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/pastor-cheri/#more-1647

    And, if you do not have a faith community where you hear that voice of God telling you that you too are a beloved child of God, go out and look.  We are not the only one, believe me.  But if you find yourself near the corner of Monroe & Central in Toledo right now, or Maumee on the corner of Conant Street and the Trail in March, come join us. We try to remind each other of that voice as often as we can and spread that out in our world.