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Beloved is Where We Begin

April 2, 2023

Isaiah 50:4-9a  |  Psalm 31:9-16  |  Philippians 2:5-11  |  Matthew 26:14- 27:66 or Matthew 27:11-54

Lent is a time to examine and reflect, in the light of Christ’s values and our lives; anchoring our lives in the values and behaviors that Jesus exemplified in his life while on earth. Phillipians 2, offers yet another focus to use in the examen process. “Your mind must be the same as Christ’s. Though he was in the form of God, he did not deem equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he emptied himself and became like a slave, and was born in the likeness of humanity… obediently accepting even death.” Applying this lens, we strive to deepen and grow in our understanding and experience of Christ’s mind: our purpose to awaken to the mind of Christ within us. It is a path of vulnerability, letting go of what we think we know, while listening for the gentle, quiet voice guiding us to new understandings. Additionally, Philippians directs us to bring our will into harmony with the will of God. In these endeavors, sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail, but always we are given the chance to begin again, forgiving ourselves and others when we fall short, as we inevitably will.

Priest and author, Henri Nouwen, says that the greatest challenge on the spiritual journey is not that we don’t pray enough, or do enough good works, but it is our proclivity for self-rejection. We measure ourselves against others, we see ourselves and our efforts as not enough; consequently, we think we need to be more, do more, have more, and get more. This thinking does not mirror the mind of Christ. Listening to these inner voices that are anything but life affirming, it is easy to succumb to the temptation of self-rejection. Self-rejection is the greatest enemy to our efforts to live the mind of Christ. In whatever form it may take, self-rejection contradicts the sacred voice that calls us, Beloved. Jesus always believed himself to be the Beloved son of God. To experience the mind of Christ, we too must believe we are, Beloved. A tall order, but we do not travel this path alone. We make this journey enveloped in God’s grace, and as members of a loving community, supporting and encouraging each other in directing our minds toward love and our hearts toward community. In this, we are all equally of God, each of us, Beloved. Jan Richardson, speaks to this in her Lenten poem. Read this with your eyes, but through your heart.

Beloved Is Where We Begin

If you would enter / into the wilderness / do not begin / without a blessing / Do not leave / without hearing / who you are: / Beloved, / named by the One / who has traveled this path / before you. / Do not go / without letting it echo / in your ears, / and if you find / it is hard / to let it into your heart, / do not despair / that is what this journey is for. / I cannot promise / this blessing will free you from danger, / from fear, / from hunger, / or thirst, / from the scorching / of sun or the fall/of the night. / But I can tell you / that on this path / there will be help. / I can tell you / that on this way / there will be rest. / I can tell you / that you will know / the strange graces that come to our aid / only on a road such as this, / that fly to meet us bearing comfort and strength, / that come alongside us / for no other cause than to lean themselves / toward our ear / and with their curious insistence / whisper our name: Beloved / Beloved / Beloved.

Patricia Warburton