I have loved you with an everlasting love.
I have called you, and you are mine.
I have loved you with an everlasting love.
I have called you, and you are mine.

Isaiah prophesies about God’s servant
who will one day come,
a “chosen one with whom [God] is pleased,”
someone “upon whom [God has] put [God’s] spirit.”

We know that someone as Jesus of Nazareth.
We know that he has been grasped by the hand of God,
that he was formed by God
and set as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations.
We know the one who Isaiah prophesied,
who was born in a manger,
wrapped in swaddling clothes,
visited by shepherds
and by wise men from afar.

We know his story,
and how he had opened the eyes of the blind,
brought prisoners out of confinement,
and gave light to those who lived in darkness.

We know how he was loved by God.

I have loved you with an everlasting love.
I have called you, and you are mine.

We know the One Peter proclaimed
in the home of Cornelius.
We know him as the word sent to the Israelites,
the one who came to proclaim peace.

We know the one who began in Galilee
after the baptism John preached,
how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit
and with power.
We know that he went about doing good
and healing all those oppressed by the devil.
We know that God was with him,
not only two thousand years ago,
but even today.
We know that God is with him
here and now,
whenever two or more are gathered in his name,
whenever the Word of God is proclaimed,
whenever bread is broken and wine shared
in memory of him.
We know that God is with us
whenever the hungry are fed
and the thirsty are given something to drink,
whenever the naked are clothed and the stranger is welcomed,
whenever prisoners and those who are sick are visited
and comforted.
We know that God is with us
whenever we love God and neighbor as ourselves.

I have loved you with an everlasting love.
I have called you, and you are mine.

We know all of this,
because, like Jesus in Jordan,
we have been baptized,
and though we may not have heard the voice from heaven
or seen the Spirit descend upon us like a bird from the skies above,
that same voice did speak to us
when we were baptized:
“You are my beloved sons and daughters,
with whom I am well pleased.”

That same Spirit entered our lives.

It is often hard to believe,
but we are the beloved of God.

God’s favor rests on us,
and no matter what we may have done in the past,
today, God is well pleased with us.

God was well pleased with Jesus
before he began to preach or teach a message from God.
God was well pleased with Jesus
before he had gathered disciples around him,
before he had worked wonders.

God was well pleased with Jesus
from the time he was conceived,
from before he was even born.
and God is well pleased with us,
not because of what we’ve already done
or even because of what we might yet do,
but simply because God loves us.

I have loved you with an everlasting love.
I have called you, and you are mine.

Today, while we celebrate what God did for Jesus
in the waters of the Jordan,
we likewise celebrate what God has done for us
in the waters of baptism
when we, too, became his beloved sons and daughters
with whom God is indeed well pleased.

Like Jesus we have the rest of our lives
to live up to that grace,
to love and be loved by the God and Father of all.

I have loved you with an everlasting love.
I have called you, and you are mine.
I have loved you with an everlasting love.
I have called you, and you are mine.