Mark 12:28-34 (2015.11.01 Sermon Audio)

April Karli Moved us back into the lectionary with a sermon on Jesus’ prime teaching on love in Mark 12:28-34.

Quotes and links mentioned:

I kept running around it in large or small circles, always looking for someone or something able to convince me of my Belovedness. It was as if I kept refusing to hear the voice that speaks from the very depth of my being and says: “You are my beloved, on you my favor rests.” That voice has always been there, but it seems that I was much more eager to listen to other, louder voices saying: “Prove that you are worth something; do something relevant, spectacular, or powerful, and then you will earn the love that you so desire. Meanwhile, the soft, gentle voice that speaks in the silence and solitude of my heart remained unheard or, at least, unconvincing.” — Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved
Many times in the Old Testament God refers to human beings as his beloved. But when God calls Jesus His beloved, Jesus did something truly remarkable: He believed Him. And he lived every moment of his life fully convinced of his identity. And unlike every person in human history…he never forgot. — Jonathan Martin, Prototype
“When we are experiencing ourselves as the beloved of God, accepted and cherished by him in all our beauty and brokenness, our hard, rough edges start to soften. We begin to see others as beloved as well, and that is what gets reflected back to them when they look into our eyes.” — Ruth Haley Barton, Invitation to Solitude and Silence