Cris and Cindy Stang always let me know that I was special to them. It wasn't until long after Cindy's death, however, that I knew I was one of their Beloveds. Cris was my dad's first boss in the hospital administration business - one of his mentors. So, even as my dad moved on to other jobs, our family was always in touch with Cris and Cindy. I loved visiting them – when I was younger at their fancy house in Edina, MN and later at their wonderful condo on Nicollet Island in Minneapolis. They were world travelers, so they had wonderful keepsakes scattered all around their homes. Cris is an awesome cook, so we always ate delicious food. And Cindy was a lover of a lady. One of my favorite memories is sitting outside their Edina home, sipping lemonade and having her rub my back until I was so relaxed I could barely move.
     Cindy died of cancer in the early 90's. I was in college at the time and couldn't get back to Minnesota for the celebration of her life. Since her death, I am still in touch with Cris. We exchange Christmas cards and I saw him a couple times during my seminary years in Minnesota. I won't forget one of my last visits to his home with my mom in the early 2000s. We were at his condo and Cris was in the kitchen preparing something delicious for us to eat or drink. Mom and I were sitting in their living room.
      Next to my chair was a table and on it sat a beautiful, wooden, decorative box. I'm not sure what possessed me to do it, but I picked it up and lifted the top off the box. What the box held gave me the surprise of my life. I quickly put the top back on and brought it over to my mom to see. I lifted the top for her, she looked inside and then up again at me with tears forming in her eyes. In the box were two pictures. One was of my sister in about first grade and one was of me in about fifth. That box had held our pictures for about 20 years.
      When Cris came out of the kitchen, we showed him the box and what we found inside. He simply nodded, knowingly. "Cindy loved you girls so much," he said. It was something I had known all along – had felt from her and Cris my whole life. Yet never was it so plain as in that moment of finding my picture. I was one of Cris and Cindy's Beloveds. What better gift do we receive in this life than to "be-loved" by someone else and know about it – understand it?
     In today's Gospel, Jesus is told plainly that he is the Beloved of God. He doesn't find his picture in a beautiful, wooden, decorative box, but has his own amazing experience of receiving this knowledge. It happens at his baptism. Jesus comes to the Jordan River and he and John the Baptist have a little power struggle.
      Jesus wants John to baptize him, but John doesn't think he's worthy to baptize Jesus. John thinks he needs to be baptized by Jesus, not the other way around. Ultimately, Jesus has his way. He convinces John that this is what needs to be done to "fulfill all righteousness" and they enter the water. It is as they come up out of the water that Jesus is assured of something he has known all along. The heavens open, the Spirit of God descends on him like a dove and then he hears the voice. "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
      It is with this knowledge of being God's Son that Jesus begins his public ministry. It is with this understanding that he is God's Beloved that Jesus is able to go immediately into the wilderness and face the temptations of the devil. It is this incredible gift of "being-loved" that sustains Jesus as he ultimately takes on death itself to save you and me from our sins.
     The story of Jesus' baptism is one of my favorites in all of Scripture. It's one of my favorites because I believe that God's words about Jesus on the day He was baptized are also God's words to us – at our baptisms and every day as we try to live our lives as children of God. In our baptisms, not only are we assured of the forgiveness of our sins, but we are claimed as God's own. "This is my Son, ____________, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." This is my daughter, _____________, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
      My sense is that many of us know that we are God's child. We know it up here (in our heads), but we don't know it here (in our hearts) yet. We know it, but we don't KNOWWWW it. We haven't found our pictures in God's proverbial beautiful, wooden, decorative box yet. Today is the day, though. Now is the time to make the connection. In the Gospel story today, God, who often works in such mysterious ways, throws all guess work out the window. God says this about Jesus: "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
      God's claim on every single one of us is no different. It's no less mysterious. "This is my child, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. You are the Beloved of God. It is God's desire that you "be-loved" in this life, not only by God, but by the people with whom God has surrounded you. Today and every day may you receive this gift with gratitude, thanksgiving and joy. Amen.


Spotlight on Jesus – we learn something about who Jesus is every week during Epiphany. Jesus is God's Son. Jesus is Beloved by God – in other words – God loves him.