by Marcia Mount Shoop
Isaiah 65:8-12
“Chosenness shows itself in our choices–our choice to seek after God, to listen when God calls, our choice to practice right relationship in the ways we relate to resources, relationships, and our own sense of self.
How different would things be if people of faith understood chosenness as a practice, as reciprocal relationship with God, rather than a birthright that comes to us and is a static identity?
The Divine Council suggests to the people that all have the capacity to choose God. Those who do choose God will feel at home in the world in a different way than those who choose the idols of greed and superiority.
Chosenness is first and foremost about humility–about knowing our limits, knowing how much we need each other to be trustworthy, knowing how much we depend on each other to be honest about what we need and what we have to offer, knowing that God is uniquely powerful and abundantly present, knowing that being human is being vulnerable, and that we do harm when we forget how much the world needs us to know ourselves as capable of love and capable of transformation that is led by love.”
Watch the full GCPC service on 11/9/25 here
(Sermon begins at 1:44)