Baptism of the Lord Sunday - A Poem

THE BELOVED

It was a voice out of nowhere.

It was a voice from everywhere.

It was the voice of love.

It was the voice from above.
.

“You are my beloved,” came the words;

“You are my beloved,” was what they heard.

“You are my Son;”

“You are the One.”

.

The words were spoken at the river

By One, who of all life, is the giver.

The words were spoken to identify Jesus;

The words were spoken that God might touch us.

.

Down through the centuries of life,

Through war and pestilence and strife,

The faithful lose all fear,

When “You are my beloved” is what they hear.

.

The words are meant for all;

The words are God’s call.

“I love you without reserve.”

“I love you more than you deserve.”

.

And then there comes a time in each soul

When we embrace our God and commit our whole.

We say we will follow Jesus’ way

And in his path we will stay.

.

But sometimes we forget that we are the beloved.

Sometimes we fail to seek the way of love.

Sometimes we think that on our own we can win.

Often we must repent of our life of sin.

.

And again we pledge our hearts and vow

That we want to make a difference now.

We hear the challenge to reach out –

We look beyond our walls and that’s what Christianity is about.

.

We remember that Jesus would not be in our midst.

He would be among the people whom we try to miss.

He would walk with the homeless, sit with the sick –

The poorest of the poor would be his pick.

.

When we do likewise, our soul is eased

And God says of us, “With you I am well pleased.”

And in the squalor of our sinful life, God continues to love

And speaks to the people of the ages that we, too, are the beloved.

.

- Rev. Terry Heck, Bellbrook UMC, Bellbrook, OH

.