He Had Us In Mind...
Jeremiah 31:7-14; Ephesians 1:3-14; John 1:1-18
Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
He had us in mind...
Let’s just sit with this statement for a moment or an hour or a day or two. (Pause)
This audacious, bold, wild claim.
“...just as He chose us IN CHRIST before the foundation of the world...” is how Paul writes it.
Before the Spirit hovers over the deep, before the declaration of light, before the unfolding of all of creation, God has us in mind. God centers the simple faith of 1st century Christians, with a through line all the way to today and your simple faith. This great cosmic plan of redemption includes the particularity of you. This is what ‘chosen’ means. To be brought in, close, wanted, desired, loved, from the very instant when God imagined you. We are now members of God’s Household.
Quite a claim, don’t you think? Almost unbelievable. What? Little ole me matters to God? Really? There is more than 7 billion people alive right now, let alone all the ones who have died over the thousands of years. Right. True that. God had all of us in His mind? This is the claim of the gospel, the Word of God.
An old evangelical adage comes to mind: if you were the only person alive on earth, Jesus would still have come to show you how to live, to die on your behalf and be raised again. Petersen says, “...God settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love. What pleasure He took in planning this!” It’s kinda like a woman getting pregnant after a deep struggle. 9 months, first of fear, then of longing, anticipation, hope, another dose of fear and the baby arrives! Life is never the same.
Yet, This is what gives our lives meaning! Who you are and what you do matters for eternity. Even if you measure yourself as small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, God has marked you with His signet, His personal authority dripped on your forehead in baptism, never to be erased.
Let’s be clear. It is God at work in you, not for you to conjure up a ‘good Christian witness’. Rather, you have been called to receive redemption IN CHRIST, as Paul writes over and over. IN CHRIST! From this well-spring of salvation, you are to grow into your full stature as a creation of God, dreamed about before the beginning of the world. You are to be a person of deep and abiding appreciation for all that has been done for you, IN CHRIST. You are to live your life with gratitude, in abundance, to the praise of Christ’s glory.
And you are to rest.
I mean it! You are to rest in this loved embrace, an alternative reality if you will, whereby measurements of worthiness are cast aside in favor of God’s delight in you. He had us in mind...
But not only us. The church is called into being through Christ and in every age has to reinvent itself in response to the socio-economic, religious, political, environments it finds itself in. Mission and ministry grow out of our deep and abiding recognition and appreciation for all that God HAS done, all that God IS doing and all that God WILL do in the years to come. Through our redemption we are called to be builders of kin-doms, not kingdoms, rather relational communities that live into the justice, mercy, compassion, service and hope offered IN CHRIST. We have been included. Who should we invite?
Church history is replete with all those who have been left out. We know this. The list is staggering - and has caused some to give up on Christianity as too narrow minded or judgmental — too close to white supremacy, too willing to compromise with empire for political gain. These critiques are fair, in my mind. But the choices before us are more robust than just walking away. We have a chance to declare our WPC community as a place that is filled with people who first, know they are beloved and second, have the will to witness to the possibility of beloved’s embrace extended beyond our reach and confines. It is a posture that begins in gratitude, a bowing if you will, to the Holy One who has called us. Then we move to wide-open extended arms, to reach the least, the farthest away, the ones who have no idea they are welcomed. It might be called Redemption’s Dance.
This movement is necessary as we participate IN CHRIST with the in gathering of all the scattered pieces of creation, whereby we hold onto the vision put forth:
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We have see His Glory. From His fullness we have received grace upon grace. It is this continued outpouring that makes it even possible to pray for our enemies, for instance, or even to befriend them as we are assured that the dividing walls of hostilities will one day be broken down for good. An enormous challenge, I realize.
It is essential we hold onto this vision as the principalities and powers try to strip away the golden light of eternity’s salvation. It is hard work—this faith does not come easily or cheap. But As we all know, the beauty of communal faith is when you falter, we will be there to lift you up. Likewise when i go down, you all will be there, believing in my restoration. It is truly a magnificent gift.
He had us in mind...amen