Sunday Reflection: On Being Beloved

Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash

Today's reflection is brought to you by 

Acts 10:34-38.

You love us all,
O God.

Each one of us 

is your favourite child,

and so is all of creation.

Clearly, 

my heart is not so big as yours.

I only want to love 

the people who do good things,

who care for the oppressed,

who love their neighbours and pray for their enemies,

who love their enemies and pray for their neighbours.

But we are all 

your Beloved,

neighbours and enemies alike.

You are present 

in every single one of us,

and ask us to see 

your presence 

in each other

no matter who we are 

or how we behave.

Clearly, 

my heart is not so big as yours.

Loving our enemies... 

doesn't come easily.

Thank you for loving me, 

Beloved.

Enlarge my heart to love as you love.

+Amen.

Beloved-ness on the Third Sunday of Advent

So often Isaiah's words in this third Sunday of Advent's Old Testament reading (Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11) are seen as a prophecy about Jesus.

But what if God is inviting each and every one of us to realize--

Your spirit is upon me.

You have anointed me:
You send me to bring good news to the oppressed
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim that every being on the planet 
is your beloved.

I rejoice in your Love,
my soul exults in your Being;
for you have clothed me 
with the garments of salvation,
you have covered me 
with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it 
to spring up,
So you will cause 
goodness, truth and beauty
(also known as righteousness and praise)
to spring up in me, your child.

And if all of this is true,
how do I live each day as if it is so?

Maybe by making Mary's Magnificat my own
in the face of such great love...

My soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour
who has looked upon me with such great love,
who has done great things for me
and whose mercy is for every generation!

+Amen.