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Mark 1:9-11
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

To ponder
Baptism is a renunciation of all those competing voices that try and tell you who you are. The world … gives you names like screw-up, faker, fat … in baptism you’re named “Beloved.”

- Rachael Held Evans, “Named Beloved”

Call me “beloved”
Think about Jesus, born in a barn in first-century Palestine to a woman who became pregnant before she was married. The name illegitimate could have ordered his existence, every day challenging his legitimacy.

King Herod ordered the killing of young children in and around Bethlehem as he attempted to get rid of the child sought by the magi. The name trouble-maker could have followed Jesus, every day living with his head down to never challenge the status quo.

Angels sang at Jesus’ birth; a star appeared in the sky; wise men came bearing expensive gifts; random people at the temple praised him. He could have spent his life marked by the name extraordinary, every day expecting to be the centre of the universe.

These names could have shaped Jesus’ life, but they all fell away when God named him Beloved. We too receive this name in baptism, and under it we can move freely, with nothing to prove every day.

Prayer
Beloved Jesus, thank you for giving me your name, for pouring it out over me freely and for all time. Amen.

(from: “A Story to Tell: Devotions for Lent” Bekki Lohrmann, Harvard Stephens Jr., Lydia Posselt, David L. Miller; Augsburg Fortress, 2020)