The chosen race
Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me
A priestly kingdom and a holy nation. Exodus 19:5—6
Read 1 Peter 2:9—10
I will think, this quiet time, about those I am with in church. Some have had to cry like the blind man by the road, ‘Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!’[1] or, like the repentant tax collector, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’[2] God has heard. They are at the table of the Lord with me. I, of course, am among them, crying for mercy too, I who know my own sin from the inside. We are not worthy to gather up the crumbs under the table, but there we all are, welcomed, called, chosen by the Lord who always has mercy. It is all his doing. None of us comes to the Lord because it was our bright idea. We have responded to a call. And we are all fed as though it is his greatest honour to have us there! As I think of this I see a kind of glory, not only in him, but also in each other, in those he has gathered around him, and I wish I could love them more than I do.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you have chosen not to be God without us. This is who you are. You choose to have and you want to have a people. You choose to be not only the Father loving the Son, not only the Son loving the Father, saying ‘Father, dear Father,’ in the fellowship of the Spirit, but you choose for this love to be a love in which humans know you too. For humans of the very neediest kind to know ourselves included in the Son, raised with him into the flow of love. Even I am included within this gracious call. And I thank you for the privilege that I have been given brothers and sisters to know truly by loving them. It is a fine and lovely thing for me to cherish them. I learn that from you.
[1] Mark 10:48
[2] Luke 18:13