Lenten Devotional Series
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Love Letters
by Violet Ricker
It has been a joy to read everyone’s reflections on the essential question series, and has made me think about other important Christian questions that have shaped my faith.
Once in a church small group, we were asked, “What makes you feel beloved by God?”
I remember our awkwardness in answering, saying vague God things like music, or nature, or church or family. At a loss for real, honest answers, we started to talk about the bigness of the word “beloved,” and decided we interpreted it as somehow meaning even more than unconditional love. Our answers started to change to specific experiences when we felt fully ourselves and wholly accepted, like jumping up and down with the crowd at an outdoor music festival, or biking along Lake Michigan in the fall, or singing a jazzed up version of a classic hymn with the church band or a getting real hug during a tough time from a family member.
I’d invite you to pause for a second and think of your own answer: What makes you remember that you are loved by God? When do you feel beloved?
My answer to that question, and what makes me feel beloved, are the letters I get in the mail from my grandmother.
Hand-written letters are a special treat in these days of reactionary emails, instantaneous social media replies, and all the other forms of too-quick feedback we receive every day in response to something. Do we know the whole story before we respond? Are we reacting to the matter at hand, or something else we’re dealing with? How often does what we say or type in a moment of frustration, anxiety, or stress cut someone deeper than we realize? I’ve been guilty of this, probably more than I realize.
Even the kind and gentle sentiments we share with each other are often said in reaction to something. A friend takes you out to dinner and you tell them how much you appreciate them. A relative picks you up from the airport and you say how wonderful they are. Your partner makes a sacrifice for you and you tell them it’s one more reason you love them. And while all of those are beautiful expressions of relationship, they are because of something done, earned, or deserved.
My grandmother sends me letters just because I’m her granddaughter. I didn’t do anything to earn them, and she’s going to keep sending them no matter how long it takes me to write back. I keep those letters, and re-read them when I need some encouragement or to be reminded that I am beloved, by God through my grandmother. That she lets herself be an expression of that love is the most Jesus-like thing I can imagine. You may have someone in your life who sends you letters like that, or you may be the one sending the letters. Or you might be reading God’s love letters to you written by James, Peter, John, and Paul. By Reinhold Niebuhr, Letty Russell, Martin Luther King Jr., and Henri Nouwen. By pastors Jeff, Avena, Matt, and Sarah. Whoever they’re coming from, in whatever form, we are surrounded by love letters from God, and it’s up to us to read closely and listen intently to the truth that we are beloved by God, no matter what, all the time.
Dear God, as we move through these last weeks of Lent, remind us that we are all beloved. Help us to emanate belovedness to everyone we meet by writing, reading, and being your love letters. Amen.
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