TO BE CHOSEN AND TO CHOOSE
A sermon by the Rev. Dr. Marie Sheldon
Harundale Presbyterian Church
Text: “… He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.” (Ephesians 1: 4)
Scripture Passage: Ephesians 1: 3-13
Some of you have laughed now and then when I’ve told you that we Presbyterians are sometimes called “The Frozen Chosen” because we tend to be more cerebral and restrained than some of our other more spontaneous Christian sisters and brothers. Well, whether we consider ourselves “the frozen” – or perhaps “the defrosted” – chosen isn’t so much an issue as is the fact that God has indeed chosen us. The author of the Epistle to the Ephesians reminds us of this theological truth in this morning’s selection from that letter to the Church at Ephesus: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.” That is an awesome statement. Think about it. God loved us and chose us before this beautiful earth was even created. We are God’s adopted children not because of anything we did – not because of what we look like – not because we’re smart – but because God loved us and chose us to be set apart to love others. To be chosen by God places a responsibility on us. We are not simply love objects who receive God’s grace. On the contrary, we are empowered by God’s grace to make choices – choices that enable us to love ourselves and to love others.
In this complicated drama called life, many things happen to us over which we have no control. Oftentimes, if we were really in charge of events, we would not choose some of the things that do occur. We can, however, choose how we react to them.
This morning, I want to share four brief stories with you that have to do with the choices we have when it comes to our attitude about God’s great gift of life, and the various options it offers us. These stories are taken from the book A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul, and they deal with choices we make when it comes to our attitude about ourselves, about our environment, about others and about the disasters that strike us.
In his 1994 inaugural speech, Nelson Mandela spoke about the deepest fear we humans share. It is the fear that we are inadequate. All of us feel inadequate at times. So many of the problems people share with me deal with the struggles they experience around poor self image, feeling badly about themselves. Mandela, like the author of Ephesians, reminds us, that we can choose how to think about ourselves by reminding ourselves that we are God’s children. In his words:
You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the World. There is
nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel unsure
around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within
us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. As we let our light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are
liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Powerful words. True words. If we assume a positive attitude about ourselves – remembering that it is our status as God’s children that gives all of us worth, we empower not only ourselves, but also those with whom we come in contact.
Conversely, if we assume a negative attitude about ourselves and our environment, we drag down not only ourselves, but we also give good reason for others to avoid us. This was brought to life for me by a selection called “Whiners” written by the wonderful African-American author Maya Angelou. She wrote about her grandmother Henderson, a store owner, who raised Angelou as a child in Arkansas. Whenever a complaining whiner would come into the store, Maya would be called in by her grandma to listen to their laments. One day a man came in complaining about being frazzled by the heat of summer. Later a farmer arrived complaining about how much he hated plowing – how it hurt his feet and hands – and how he was turned off by the dirt in his eyes and in his nose. Grandmother Henderson never said much to these whiners. Maya Angelou writes: “And my grandmother, again stoically, with her arms folded, would say ‘Uh-huh, uh-huh,’ and then look at me and nod.” After the complainers left the store, Maya was called in for some sage advice that she’s never forgotten:
Sister, did you hear what Brother So-and-So or Sister Much-to-Do complained about? You heard that? . . . Sister, there are people who went to sleep all over the world last night, poor and rich and white and black, but they will never wake again. Sister, those who expected to rise did not, their beds became their cooling boards, and their blankets became their winding sheets. And those dead folks would give anything, anything at all for just five minutes of this weather or ten minutes of that plowing that person was grumbling about. So you watch yourself about complaining, Sister. What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.
Change the way you think about it. Therein lies our choice. We may not be able to change our feelings about the world around us, but we can change our attitude about our responsibilities to that world, speak positively about them, and avoid bringing others with us into the pit of whines and complaints.
Even though we are all God’s children, there are times we get fed up with one another. This is especially true when we are ripped off by someone. There is a true story about Robert De Vincenzo, a renowned Argentinean golfer who received a large check for winning a prestigious tournament. As he walked back to his car after all the ceremonies were over, he was approached by a young woman, who offered her congratulations on his success. The woman also told him that her young child was critically ill, and she had no idea where she would find the money to pay the hospital and doctor’s bills. The golfer pulled out his winning check, and signed the entire thing over to her saying, “Make some good days for the baby.” About a week later, De Vincenzo was having lunch with some colleagues when a Professional Golf Association official came over and said, “Some of the boys in the parking lot last night told me you met a young woman there after you won that tournament . . . Well, I have news for you. She’s a phony. She has no sick baby
. . . She fleeced you, my friend.” “You mean there is no baby who is dying?” asked De Vincenzo. “That’s right,” said the official. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all week,” De Vincenzo replied.
How would most of us have responded – with anger, with revenge? Probably. But De Vincenzo chose to rejoice in the fact that one less child in the world was suffering. For him, that was the good news encased in the bad.
At one time or another, most of us will be struck by disaster – some type of life-crushing event that results in loss and grief. It might be the loss of a loved one or the loss of a home. Sometimes it’s the loss of one’s work. That literally happened to the famous inventor Thomas Edison, whose laboratory was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1914. The damage exceeded two million dollars, and unfortunately Edison was insured for only a fraction of that amount. As the fire was growing out of control, Edison’s 24-year-old son Charles was searching for his father in the vicinity of the lab. The younger Edison found the older quietly watching the terrible scene. Charles said:
“My heart ached for him. He was 67 – no longer a young man – and everything was going up in flames. When he saw me, he shouted, ‘Charles, where’s your mother?’ When I told him I didn’t know, he said, ‘Find her. Bring her here. She will never see anything like this as long as she lives.’
The next day as Edison looked at the burnt-out scene, he said, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.” Three weeks after the blaze, Thomas Edison presented his first phonograph.
Those words, “Thank God” – that expression of gratitude to God was a choice Thomas Edison made in the face of loss. There are life lessons for all of us in his choice.
To be chosen and to choose. We are God’s chosen ones. We can choose how we shall respond to that glorious gift. May God guide is along the way.