Rev Darren’s Sermon on the feast of the Baptism of Christ.
Darren begins with the baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3, where the voice from heaven declares, “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” He says this moment is not only about Jesus, but also about us: just as Jesus receives the assurance of his belovedness, each of us is invited to hear that we too are beloved children of God, the apple of God’s eye, God’s pride and joy. Yet he also recognises that this can be difficult to believe, especially for those who have been made to doubt their value through society’s distorted ideas of success, beauty and usefulness, or through religion gone wrong – including judgmentalism, sexism, racism and homophobia.
The sermon then turns to Desmond Tutu, whom Darren describes through Rowan Williams’ striking phrase as a particular kind of “egotist”: not someone so full of themselves that there is no room for others, but someone so deeply at home in their own belovedness that they make it easier for others to receive their own. Darren suggests that we might seek out people like this – people who radiate peace, joy and grace, and whose presence helps us imagine becoming more fully the people God made us to be. Such people may be found in our own lives, or in the writings and witness of figures such as Julian of Norwich, Francis of Assisi, C. S. Lewis, the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu.
The heart of the sermon is that when we begin to receive something of the joy God takes in us, we become free: free to be all we were made to be, free to love and forgive others, free to challenge anything that denies the dignity of God’s children, and free to give ourselves away in love as Jesus did. Darren closes by repeating the central assurance of the sermon: each of us is a beloved child of God; God loves us as if we were the only person in the world; and with us, God is well pleased.