Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 8/6/2023
Once there was a king and queen who lived in a big castle, owned countless acres of land, and was respected throughout their kingdom for their kindness and generosity.
However, they had no children.
One day, the king and queen put aside their royal clothes and dressed as commoners, going door to door across their kingdom to find an heir - someone to inherit their land, their riches, their kindness, their generosity - and to continue their blessed reign on the earth.
Finally, they found that person.
It's you!
Today's message is called: You Are Chosen!
You have been chosen to have influence. You have been chosen to receive the most valuable riches and blessings God has created on this earth. You have been chosen to play an irreplaceable role in God's plan for the universe.
Don't believe the lies that you are worthless, expendable, and purposeless!
Don't believe the lies that life has to be endured, not enjoyed!
No, God has chosen you to be both a receptor and conduit of God's gifts to the world!
More than once I've walked around the house looking for my sunglasses, only to have my wife tell me they're on the top of my head!
That's what God's chosen-ness is like - something we forget that we already have!
When we realize our chosen-ness,
When we own our chosen-ness,
When we act on our chosen-ness,
We live more fully into who we are,
Who God is,
And God's plan for the world.
You may be feeling anxious.
You may be feeling afraid.
You may be feeling worried because life has you in a new, unfamiliar, place.
God says, relax, I've got this!
You're not alone.
You are called. You are singled out. You are chosen.
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We are taking a break from our journey through Matthew's Gospel today.
We are commemorating an August feast called ‘The Transfiguration’.
It's based on a story that starts with Jesus and 3 friends climbing a mountain to pray.
And as they pray, Jesus's face starts to shine.
And they hear the voice of God coming out of a cloud, as God says: 'This is my Son, my Chosen'
Earlier, in the Book of Exodus we heard how Moses was chosen by God to bring down the Ten Commandments. We heard that Moses's face started to shine!
Later on in the Bible St. Paul writes to God's chosen in a city called Phillipi and declares that they, like the stars, shine!
When we seek God,
When we believe God,
When we obey God,
That's when we shine.
As we carry out God's commands to love, forgive, be kind, generous, and caring, we, too, shine!
We reflect God's power in us and through us!
You may be saying that's well and good Chris, but you don't know the nasty things I've done this week - which is good, there are some things I'm happy not knowing...
But remember, Moses famously killed an Egyptian.
Paul had a hand in killing St. Stephen.
Church history is littered with the stories of the unfaithfulness of the faithful!
But that did not stop God from choosing them - and making them shine.
Nothing stops God from choosing you and making you shine!
Drop the guilt.
Drop the shame.
Drop the 'woe-is-me-I'm-so-unworthy' attitude.
Seek God,
Believe God,
Obey God
Doesn't matter where you've been,
God is focused on where you're going!
Doesn't matter what you've done,
But God knows what you can do!
Doesn't matter who you think you are,
God knows who you are!
You are called.
You are singled out.
You are chosen.
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Years ago I worked as a TV news reporter.
Climbing the ladder, from small markets to bigger ones.
Along the way I got to meet with various consultants.
They told me how to talk, how to dress, and how to wear my hair.
This was all done to make me into a more watchable, trustworthy, news personality.
They asked me to consider changing my last name.
Sure, “Yaw" is short and unique.
But nobody can spell it or say it right the first time they see it.
I thought about changing it, but I never did.
It just wasn't 'me.'
God made you to be exactly who you are.
God purposed you to be, you.
God rejoices in you being you!
Years ago, a famous bishop said,
"The glory of God is the human being fully alive.”
God needs us to be fully alive - to be fully ourselves - to fulfill God's plan.
This can be hard because many of us don't like ourselves!
We compare ourselves to how others look -
What they wear -
What they drive -
Where they work -
It's a comparison game, and there are few winners!
Why?
Because it’s rigged!
In my family, all the boys had curly hair.
The girls had straight hair.
The boys did all they could to straighten it out -
The girls did all they could to make it curly!
It takes a while to stop wanting what you don’t have -
And appreciating what you do have!
One of our hardest tasks is to be happy with what we have - in a world that says you should never be happy with what you have.
But that's what being chosen by God is all about!
God loves us as we are!
You don’t have to change your name!
You don't have to become someone else, own something else, experience something else, accomplish something else, for God to love and celebrate us.
We just need to be ourselves.
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Ever since he was a boy, Rick Monday loved to play sports.
He was good at all of them, especially baseball.
Rick would play baseball all through school and bless people with his talents as they marveled at his ability to hit and throw.
In 1965, Rick became the very first player picked in the Major League Baseball draft.
He was given a large bonus and salary.
But he wasn’t expected to just go home and eat popcorn and watch TV.
He was expected to go out and do something he loved doing: play ball!
When God chooses us, it’s like that.
God chooses us to bless us.
God chooses us to bless others.
God blessed us with the greatest riches in the world!
Now, we’re smart enough to know that those riches are not money, prestige or worldly power - those are not true riches.
But God gives us the true riches of peace, contentment, joy, and the comfort of knowing that God walks with us.
Scientific research consistently tells us that the greatest well of happiness in our lives is not money or material possessions - it’s healthy relationships!
And when we walk with God, we get better at that!
God forgives us, so we forgive others!
God overlooks our faults, we overlook the faults of others!
God provides for us, we provide for others.
God loves us, we love others.
Being chosen by God means we are blessed, and we are a blessing.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you are the source of all your blessings.
God is the source of all of our blessings.
Don’t fall into the trap of believing that God gave us all our blessings just so we could keep them!
We are blessed, to be a blessing.
We are receptors and conduits!
How has God blessed you today?
And how is God asking you to bless others?
That's why we're here! That's our job! That's why you are chosen!
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While Moses is well known for bringing us the 10 Commandments, he may be better known as the man who led Israel through the Red Sea.
Old Pharaoh had enslaved the nation and wouldn't let God’s people go.
Finally, God worked through Moses to set them free, that is, until Pharaoh changed his mind, hunted them down, and cornered them at the Red Sea.
But God was not finished.
God had chosen Israel.
And God worked through Moses to part the Red Sea!
And as those scared and frightened Israelites ran for their lives along that muddy and murky seabed, God ran with them.
God had not abandoned them,
God had chosen them.
Later on in the Bible we hear the story of three Israelite boys who are captured by a foreign king.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, we're chosen by God to be faithful. And when they refused to bow down to an image of the king, they were thrown into a fiery furnace.
But they did not die!
The Bible tells us that when they emerged from the inferno,
they were not burned,
they were not injured,
their clothes didn't even smell like smoke.
So, again, they were thrown into the fire.
And what onlookers saw were four figures in the midst of the fire, one was described as the Son of God.
Again, the 3 emerged without a scratch!
Why?
Because God had not abandon them.
God was with them.
They were chosen.
King David, the Shepherd boy, would write about this in the most famous of all the Psalms, "Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me!"
God was with David, the Shepherd.
He was chosen.
In the Christian scriptures we hear how the disciples were trying to cross a stormy lake at night.
When they were convinced that the waves were going to sink the boat, Jesus appeared, walking on the water.
He beckoned Peter to come to him.
St. Peter started walking on the water,
but then he doubted and started sinking.
That's when the Lord reached out his hand and rescued Peter.
God did not abandon Peter.
God put his hand out and saved Peter.
Peter was chosen.
I wonder if you are feeling abandoned this morning?
I wonder if you need Jesus to reach out his hand and rescue you?
I wonder if you are close to giving up hope?
I believe that the more we are able to own our chosen-ness,
God will bring us to new levels of maturity,
God will bring us to new levels of resilience,
God will bring us to new levels of trust and obedience so that we can own who we are,
be who we are and move out from this place and bless the world around us!
If you're with me, can I get an Amen?