Hello friends.
This is Mark Glavman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighborhood monk in dogs.
Welcome back to another installment in our series,
Stay Here.
There's days that we have when we forget who we are.
Now,
Obviously not literally,
We still know our name and what we do and that we inhabit particular roles in life as partners and parents and friends and leaders and colleagues and caregivers and so on.
And all these different versions of ourselves.
As well as the ones that the world.
Asks us to be.
But underneath all that.
.
.
I think we carry this question that says something along the lines of,
Who am I?
When I stopped trying to be somebody.
And at the beginning of Mark's Gospel,
Chapter 1 and verse 11.
Jesus comes to the Jordan River to be baptised and as he comes up from the water,
He hears a voice and the voice says,
You are my son,
The beloved.
With you,
I am well pleased.
And as always,
To me,
Details in the gospel,
Well,
In all the scripture,
The details matter.
And there's something really worth noticing about the timing.
Of these words.
When this event happens,
Right at the start of Mark's Gospel,
Jesus hasn't begun his public ministry.
He hasn't healed anyone.
He hasn't taught anything.
Hasn't performed a miracle.
Hasn't done anything beyond what we would normally use to measure life.
Average Joe,
Ordinary stuff.
So before all those things,
The ministry,
The healing,
The teaching,
The miracles,
Before all that.
He's told you are.
Beloved.
And what I want to suggest to you today is that's where our identity begins.
It's not what we accomplish or how useful we are or whether we've had a good day or a bad day.
Whether everyone approves of this is irrelevant.
It's just the simple truth.
That you and I are loved.
We are beloved.
And friend,
I want you to sit on that today because perhaps today is one of those days when you've forgotten that.
Maybe you've been.
.
.
Measuring yourself by what you've managed.
To do.
Or what you haven't managed to do,
Or by the opinions.
That other people have of you.
Some of you may be measuring yourselves by mistakes that you've made in life or a version of yourself that you think you should have become by now.
And so in these few minutes that we have together today,
Here,
My heart for you.
And I think God's heart for you too.
You don't need to measure yourself.
You don't even need to improve yourself.
You don't need to become more worthy.
Or anything else,
You just need to stop.
And stay here and take a breath and hear those words.
You are beloved.
And you're not beloved because you've got everything right,
Or because you're particularly spiritual,
Or you've said the right prayers,
Or you've done the right religious rituals.
You haven't earned anything,
And you don't have to earn anything.
Just simply,
You are Beloved.
Let those words sit with you today.
And some of you are wondering,
Well,
I don't believe this.
Well,
You don't have to believe it.
You don't have to feel anything.
All you have to do is listen.
Let the words wash over you,
Friend.
You are beloved.
And it sort of reminds me that the deepest things about who we are as humans can't be measured.
You can't really measure.
Productivity,
Really.
Or your reputation,
Or your successes,
Or your failures.
Before all those things.
Before all that stuff.
There's something that was there.
Already and it's going to stay there.
Even when all those achievements and successes and all those other things have worn off or faded away or gone.
You always have been,
And you always will be.
God's beloved.
And so maybe remembering.
Who you are changes the way that you enter the rest of your day today.
You don't have to prove yourself.
Quite so much.
You don't have to chase approval.
You don't have to become somebody else.
You can just be the person that you already are and let love meet you right there,
Right where you are.
So if you've been carrying the question,
Am I enough?
You don't need to answer that question.
I want to give you another question to ask.
What if.
.
.
I am already.
Loved.
And we're gonna sit with that just for a couple of minutes.
What if my friend?
You are already loved.
Friend,
You are beloved.
Before any work or any achievement or any applause or any failure.
Or anything that comes next before all that and even after all that.
You are beloved.
And whenever you have lost sight of that truth.
Whenever you have forgotten who you are,
Just remember,
All you have to do is stay here.
And hear those words again.
You are gods.
Until next time.
Bye for now.
