Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Matthew 3:16-17

And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’

With the beloved

I love to be with people who eagerly open their hands to receive the Eucharist. I relish being near those who love to hear and sing songs of grace and love and hope because something in their hearts require it.

I am lifted by those who share the beauty and joy they find in small things, who bubble with enthusiasm and gratitude for what each day brings. My heart warms when I see the sparkle in the eyes of a those who are truly and fully alive.

This why the church has always meant so much to me.

I could always find people of joy there, of sorrow, too, but there was this love and hope even amid the hard times. At church, I was more likely to run into people who felt truly alive, more alive than I felt; who loved more freely and easily than I loved; who touched and welcomed my touch, hand-to-hand or in a hug that told me my life is embraced regardless of how I felt at the moment.

Where else but in the congregation of the Beloved does this happen?

It is hard to say exactly what charisma flowed through Jesus and excited hearts to draw near him. But perhaps it starts here: He heard the voice of God naming him, “Beloved,” and he never doubted or forgot what he heard, not ever.

The belovedness that filled Jesus flows through anyone who gets close enough to feel what is in him. Get close, listen and your soul lights up as if you just discovered the secret which your soul has always longed to know.

There is no shortage of people, gob smacked by celebrity, who want to be near or just like the famous, powerful or wealthy. Not me. I want to stand among the beloved of the Beloved. I want to know what they know. Today and always.

Pr. David L. Miller