“Chosen by God” by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

Do you remember what it was like back in Elementary School when you would have to pick teams for some game? Two captains would be chosen and then they would get to choose, one by one, who they would choose for their team.  Can we all just groan together?  The process is excruciating. I was usually picked near the last. I was never good at sports. It was always such a relief to finally be chosen, but the waiting, oh the waiting, was terrible. 

Today we have a story about being chosen. Jesus is ready to begin his ministry. He comes to John the Baptizer, the one who has been preparing the way for Jesus. Jesus comes to him and asks to be baptized. And this is how the Gospel writer Mark describes the baptism:

“The moment [Jesus] came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God’s Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him. Along with the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”

Jesus was chosen for God’s team. He was marked with God’s love and named the pride of God’s life. Friends, this is what happens to us in baptism. We are chosen first. No one else is ahead of us in line. No one is more worthy. No one is more beloved than us. We are the pride of God’s life. 

This is why we baptize infants and children. We don’t believe that you have to prove that you are worthy to God. You don’t have to decide you want to be a follower of Jesus first. Of course, later it’s important for us to say “yes” to God. But in baptism it’s all about God saying “yes” to us. 

When you are baptized, God chooses you to be God’s child. God says: “I will bless you. I will give you grace. I will be with you. My spirit will live in you. You will never be alone. You are my chosen child.” 

One of my favorite writers, Henri Nouwen, wrote a book about what it means to be chosen by God. The book is called Life of the Beloved. The book begins with a voice.

They say that babies can hear the voice of their mother and father in the womb. Even before we are born, we can hear the voices of those around us. So the parents in the home, preparing for our birth, are the voices most familiar to us when we are born: the mother who carries us, and whatever parent is living in the home and whose voice we hear. That’s why crazy excited birth parents talk to the tummy of a pregnant woman, singing songs, reading stories saying sweet soothing words, and telling silly stories. We want the child to be born, feeling welcome, and hearing our familiar voices, and having warm and fuzzy feelings. We want the child to feel chosen.

The story of Jesus’ ministry begins with a voice. That voice came down from heaven and said “You are chosen.” God’s voice was heard when Jesus was baptized. Not just any voice: THE VOICE. The voice of God saying: you are my chosen child. I have got to believe that Jesus carried that voice with him throughout the next three years of his ministry. What do you think?  

When people were challenging his authority, and questioning his actions and his motives, do you think he might have paused to remember that voice? On the day of his baptism the heavens opened and God’s voice said, “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.” 

You know sometimes the world tells us one thing, but God tells us we are chosen. I think we would do well to listen to God!

But we don’t, do we? What voices do you hear? From the time we are children, we all hear voices, don’t we? We hear human voices of judgment and criticism. The loudest voices of all become those of self-rejection.

What are some of those voices you have been listening to all of your life?

• You’re not good enough for my team
• I don’t choose you, I choose another
• You’re not loveable
• You’re not worthy

We all listen to those voices and we internalize that negativity.  But we don’t have to. There is another voice. There is another voice. The soft gentle voice, the bold courageous voice of God deep inside says: you are chosen and you are loved. You don’t have to give in to self rejection any more. 

Every one of us has people in our lives that have encouraged us. We have people who have loved us. You have people who have told you that you are important to them, people who have told you that you matter. You have experienced the joy of knowing that someone values you. You have heard that voice that says you are chosen. 

But for some reason, it is so much easier for us to listen to the one human voice that say we are worthless, than to a hundred human voices that say we are of value. And we think to ourselves, if that person who says they love me, could see my innermost being, the darkest side of me, would they really still love me? 

And so, Henri Nouwen writes, we continue on this eternal quest for something that will make us feel whole: some book, some fitness program, some perfect life partner, a great job, anything that will make us feel worthy. The compulsiveness keeps us busy, but it just keeps us moving forward toward burn out. This is the way to spiritual death.

He writes: We “don’t have to kill ourselves” (p. 30), because We are chosen,  We are the Beloved. This is the simple truth. That voice of acceptance is the only voice we need to listen to.  God says, “I have carved you in the palms of my hands and hidden you in the shadow of my embrace. I look at you with infinite tenderness and care for you with a care more intimate than that of a mother for her child” (p 31). 

“Every time you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply. It is like discovering a well in the desert. Once you have touched wet ground, you want to dig deeper” (p. 31). 

Friends this is why Jesus came: to show us to this well of being chosen. So often, we stumble around listening to that voice of criticism and judgment. God is standing here ready to speak in that soft tender voice: “It’s ok, you are my child. I made you, and I love you. I know every hair of your head, every mistake you have made and every mistake you will make, and I still love you. I just want to be in relationship with you. Don’t turn your back on me.” 

So, will you say “yes” to this life and “yes” to this voice? When the voices of self-rejection start getting louder and louder, will you tell them to hush, so you can hear God’s voice? Because, you see, we get to choose.

And God wants us to choose this life – the life of being the chosen by God. We are God’s chosen children, loved by God. Remember this. Claim this. Live this. We are God’s chosen children.  Amen.