ࡱ> ;=:q`  bjbjqPqP .*::@ @ @ @ L l l l l l l l l /111111$fhjU]l l ]]Ul l j   ]"l l / ]/   l ` ~7VX@ R /0 8.8  8(l 6 t:#l l l UU l l l ]]]] 13th January 2008 Youre Called Isaiah 49.1-7, John 1.29-42 Three boys were playing at school when they started talking about what their dad's did for a living. The first boy said that his dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a poem and they give him 5. The next boy said that his dad did the same, but called it a song and they paid him 100. The third boy then proudly admitted that his dad also scribbled a few words on a piece of paper, but he called it a sermon and it takes two people to collect all the money. When it comes to Christmas giving, I'm sure you all chose very carefully what to give the people you love. If it's a well chosen gift it can be worth so much more than it cost because of the sentiment and care that went into it. I read about a missionary in Africa who told the natives about giving gifts at Christmas to celebrate Jesus' birth - as an expression of love and joy. One of them then walked a huge distance to a special bay round the coast to search for a particularly beautiful shell that was only found in that bay. The missionary had admired such shells in the past and knew where they came from, so when he was presented with it he was very touched by the effort - to which the reply came, 'Long walk, part of gift.' Choosing and giving are really important things at Christmas - and not least for us all is the gift of God's own son. In proclaiming something of that gift at Jesus' baptism, John talked about Jesus being chosen since before the time of the prophets. But what always strikes me as every bit as wonderful is that God has chosen us too. In the Old Testament reading Isaiah spoke about the chosen-ness of Israel, "Hear this: Before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name." This was said as the people of Israel were sitting in exile in Babylon, they may not have looked a pretty sight, but there was no denying their calling. And it's the same for all of us, we may not feel very holy, but we are chosen and called, by God himself, however unlikely it sounds. The reason it may not seem very plausible to you is that with God it isn't a case of what you see is what you get, but rather what you don't see is what you get - one of the most important parts of the gift I mentioned at the start was the walk, the unseen part. For Israel, God had an identity and a plan even before her birth as a nation, and despite everyone feeling that it had all gone wrong in exile, God still had a plan. In the gospels, Jesus is a failure - it all looks like a big disaster when he ends up on the cross. But God's purposes lie hidden in the destruction of Israel, in the crucifixion of his Son - and in the unlikely choosing of you and me. When Andrew had met Jesus, he went off to get his brother, "And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas'". Jesus had plans for unlikely Peter because he sees what a person is like and what they can become. Michael Angelo was once asked what he was doing with a piece of stone and he replied, "I'm releasing the angel imprisoned in this marble." I'm sure one of the greatest wastes through the ages is what we don't do because of our reluctance to believe that God has chosen us. A new term at school brings a new sport and the boys have to go through a new selection procedure. Which hockey teams wil the boys be in? Of course the answer relies entirely on their own particular abilities. But if they always went onto the pitch with a brilliant side-kick just alongside wearing an invisibility cloak, then mysteriously, great things would happen and they would probably be playing for the County - even if people couldn't quite work out why they seemed to be so much more effective than their apparent speed and skill would suggest. At the baptism of Jesus, John said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" But John didn't know this because he was particularly holy - he said, "I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptise with water told me." John couldn't do it on his own and neither can we. But John wasn't on his own, he had help - and so do we. Of course some of you might begin to believe that God does think you're a good thing - but the size of the task is the next hurdle. Michael or Matthew might be good enough to make the hockey team, but if the opposition is much, much stronger, it won't make any difference. God loves a challenge. Getting the Israelites out of Egypt and safely across the Red Sea was quite a feat. When Elijah took on the false prophets of his day he challenged God to light the sacrifices he and they had prepared - only he completely drenched his with water first, just to make it a bit harder. When God chose a nation to be his people and bring salvation to the world, he picked one that didn't even exist at the time - and he said to them in exile, when all seemed really hopeless, "It's too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back Israel. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." God said, 'Why stop with just you lot, that's easy - let's see if we can save the whole world.' If you think you still need more, remember in John's gospel when Jesus asked the two who were following him what they wanted. They didn't reply by saying they wanted to know the secret of eternal life or anything like that, they didn't seem to want answers to the really big questions, instead it was simply, "Where are you staying?" They saw the need to follow first, that a relationship with Jesus would bring all the answers they needed. God is not a careless God, he chooses with perfect knowledge and understanding, and he chooses you and me. And we must assume, because he's God, that he's made the right choice - who are we to argue. Having been chosen we now have to listen to the call and where it might lead us - confident that we can fulfil it with God, undaunted by the size of the challenge, and being a little more obedient than questioning. God's plan is perfect, and it's always good news for us to be part of it. $%AD# &    \_+.lo#&-0 ѿhNhV>hV>CJOJQJ^JaJ#h,Zh,Z>*CJOJQJ^JaJh,Z>*CJOJQJ^JaJ#h,Zh,ZCJH*OJQJ^JaJh,ZCJOJQJ^JaJ*$%BD$ &   ]_,.mo$gdV>$a$gd,Zgd,Z $&.0 gdV> ,1h/ =!"#$% @@@ NormalCJ_HaJmH sH tH DA@D Default Paragraph FontRi@R  Table Normal4 l4a (k@(No List*$%BD$&    ]_,. m o $&.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000BD$&    ]_,. m o $&.0K0I0I0I0I0I0K0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0 0h $  j# k# l# m#3n#o#3p#q#r#ls#5t#u#v#Dw#++KK: : w w      11RR@ @ } }     8 *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsCityB *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagscountry-region9*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsplace 0      s y n q 39h m DNt~333333%$HPR2 R2JQR2K2R2R2R2H R2k; R2% R2)5vR2R2-R2<R2je R2L\/R2 "2R2M%3R22d3R2+*6R2c&?R2OR2EQR2?RR2iTR2!QVR2VR2BYR2JsaR2? cR2C_cR2KYeR2@zPlR2o!{R2@{R2r~R2R2V>,ZN@  "  0@UnknownGz Times New Roman5Symbol3& z Arial"qhff , ,!24vv2HX)?V>2Epiphany 2 Isaiah 49xxxxxxxxxxOh+'0|  8 D P\dltEpiphany 2 Isaiah 49xxxxxNormalxxxxx2Microsoft Office Word@Ik@|'UX@Nq1VX՜.+,0 hp|  , v Epiphany 2 Isaiah 49 Title  !"#$%&'()+,-./013456789<Root Entry Fr7VX>Data 1Table8WordDocument.*SummaryInformation(*DocumentSummaryInformation82CompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q