Followers of Jesus believe in the blessing of being chosen to share the unfolding story of God’s love. Bearing witness to the message of God’s salvation that has been heard since the foundation of creation, they believe that the purpose of their faith in Jesus is realized through their participation in the story of God’s redemption. Their understanding of the blessing of being chosen is defined by the gift of God’s presence in all circumstances of life. Rather than believing that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people, they believe that the blessing of being chosen by God is defined by the gift of God’s presence. Their theology of being chosen by God is connected to the understanding that the blessing of being chosen is not the result of the choices they make but instead the result of being blessed in the faith that God chooses to be with us as the story of our lives unfold.

In her book, Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I Used to Love, Kate Bowler writes that while we may prefer to believe that life is not chaos, and capricious, that there is a formula that explains why people deserve what they get, that is not the way. God does not cause bad things to happen. There is a difference between saying God causes bad things to happen and even though something bad happened, God can bring something good out of it. God does not will everything that happens.

Things happen that are against God’s will all the time. If not, why did Jesus teach us to pray, “Thy will be done?” God gave people free will and we frequently use it to do things that are contrary to God’s will. We live in a world where illness, accidents, and catastrophes happen. It’s a mistake to attribute the bad stuff to God, and it’s counterproductive to spend your time feeling guilty and beating yourself up for the bad stuff that happens in your life when you assume that God is doing it to you because you are a bad person. No. God is merciful and loves you everlastingly. That is what Ephesians describes.

Dr. Bowler says she did not find anything like God’s pre-planned reason for her suffering, but she did discover this overwhelming sense of being covered in a blanket of pure love by God, her family, church, and friends and it was enough to get her through. God brings good out of horrible situations.

I read a poem this week that was written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer while he was a prisoner of war. It is a poem about the blessing of being chosen by God to live with faith in spite of the challenges life may bring our way.

Who am I? They often tell me
I step out from my cell
calm and cheerful and poised,
like a squire from his manor.

Who am I? They often tell me
I speak with my guards
freely, friendly and clear,
as though I were the one in charge.

Who am I? They also tell me
I bear days of calamity
serenely, smiling and proud,
like one accustomed to victory.

Am I really what others say of me?
Or am I only what I know of myself?
Restless, yearning, sick, like a caged bird,
struggling for life breath, as if I were being strangled, starving for colors, for flowers, for birdsong, thirsting for kind words, human closeness, shaking with rage at power lust and pettiest insult, tossed about, waiting for great things to happen, helplessly fearing for friends so far away, too tired and empty to pray, to think, to work, weary and ready to take my leave of it all?

Who am I? This one or the other?
Am I this one today and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? Before others a hypocrite
and in my own eyes a pitiful, whimpering weakling?

Or is what remains in me like a defeated army,
Fleeing in disarray from victory already won?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine. Whoever I am, thou knowest me; O God, I am thine!

Followers of Jesus believe in the blessing of being chosen by God in the uncertainty of life. It is this faith that guides them in the unfolding story of their lives and to the acknowledgement that they are God’s.

In the Wesleyan theology of The United Methodist Church, the term we use to describe the blessing of being chosen by God is prevenient grace. It is the belief that God’s love goes before us and with us as God chooses us to live in the blessing of sharing the story of God’s searching love.

St. Partick lived in the blessing of being chosen. When he was about 16, he was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland. He lived there for 6 years as an animal herder before escaping and returning to his family. After becoming a priest, he returned to northern and western Ireland to share the gospel of Jesus as he became a patron saint of Ireland. There is a prayer attributed to St. Patrick that witnesses to the blessing of being chosen by God.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me and before me.
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in hearts of all who know me.
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger,
Christ in quiet and in roar.
Power to guide me, might to hold me,
Wisdom teach me, watching o’er me.
Ear to hear me, hand to guard me,
Love to conquer every fear.

May God bless us with the blessing of being chosen. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Blessing of Being Chosen

by Pastor Marc Brown
July 14, 2024

Accompanying Scriptures: Ephesians 1:3-14

Fort Hill United Methodist Church
Order of Worship for July 14, 2024


Scripture Lesson    Ephesians 1:3-14


The Good News      “The Blessing of Being Chosen”


Music                          “The Prayer of St. Patrick” by Stuart Townend


Prayer


Blessing


Closing Music      “Wonderful Words of Life” arr. Franklin Ritter


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