2026-01-11 (Elizabeth White) Beloved is where we began

St James Reflection - Beloved is Where We Begin 11th January 2026





Creator, Father and Mother of us all, May I Breathe your Word. May we hear your Word.

Our theme today is ’beloved is where we begin’. And I would like to offer time for your own reflection on love - and listening to love - as we start this new year. I would like to share a poem that I’ve been living and breathing for the 3 years since I last stood here to offer a reflection – these have been some very dark times, and this poem has been a comfort and a challenge throughout those years. The poem itself is called ’beloved is where we begin’, it was penned by Jan Richardson and was included as part of her ‘Women’s Christmas’ Retreat in 2023, and her book Circle of Grace.

The poem’s first line is - ‘if you would enter into the wilderness, do not begin without a blessing’…

And we have just heard in our Gospel Reading from Matthew of Jesus Baptism, and the Blessing that came to him - descended like a dove - right before he entered his wilderness experience – The blessing came with the words ‘This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased’, ‘This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased’

And this blessing came before Jesus ever entered active ministry - before any of the doing. Jesus was already the beloved just in being himself. As a child of God. Already loved and love-able.

Not when he - or we - have earned it, or done great things, not when we’re sorted or are in a better place in life. But right now. As James Finley puts it ‘accepting how precious I am in the unfinished business of my own heart’. Right NOW, just as I am. I am beloved…. YOU are Beloved

You are My Child, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased….

The details of how this Blessing sustained and guided Jesus in the Wilderness is perhaps for a Lenten reflection

But let’s see what Blessing God might want to whisper to each of us as we enter this new year… it may or may not be a wilderness time, but how we might be sustained in all things

Let’s turn to the poem, close our eyes, get as comfortable as you can

It may be a challenge to be still, to return to the simplicity of a message you have heard before, to turn inwards – not to navel gaze but to hear ourselves as be-loved - as Jesus did at his Baptism - so that we can come out to serve in the world. For some of us it is a long, deeply courageous journey to let true love touch and transform us.… the radical acceptance that St James values talks of.

So here’s the poem - 3 x, let’s be slow and be still…….









Beloved Is Where We Begin

If you would enter
into the wilderness,
do not begin
without a blessing.

Do not leave
without hearing
who you are:
Beloved,
named by the One
who has travelled this path
before you.

Do not go
without letting it echo
in your ears,
and if you find
it is hard
to let it into your heart,
do not despair.
That is what
this journey is for.

I cannot promise
this blessing will free you
from danger,
from fear,
from hunger
or thirst,
from the scorching
of sun
or the fall
of the night.

But I can tell you
that on this path
there will be help.

I can tell you
that on this way
there will be rest.

I can tell you
that you will know
the strange graces
that come to our aid
only on a road
such as this,
that fly to meet us
bearing comfort
and strength,
that come alongside us
for no other cause
than to lean themselves
toward our ear
and with their
curious insistence
whisper our name:

Beloved.
Beloved.
Beloved.

—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace





To know ourselves beloved is where we need to begin – and keep on beginning again and again and again. I believe this is what spiritual practice is about –

let’s end with a short piece of music – a simple and vulnerable letting go into love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MADf-mm6z0I