4th Sunday in Advent

What does it feel like to be chosen – to be chosen by family, friends, work colleagues or others we respect?  What does it feel like to be chosen by God?  The theme of the Bible reading this week is fundamentally one of being chosen.  God chose humanity, God chose the people of Israel, God chose Mary and Joseph.  That is the Christmas message.  What did it feel like to Mary and Joseph to be given the baby Jesus to care for and raise?  It must have felt like a mixture between terrifying and an indescribable honour.  In the Bible we also read that we have been chosen to belong to Jesus Christ.  Two initial thoughts spring from this.  Firstly, how should we feel about this slightly terrifying but indescribable honour and, secondly, we might ask the question, what have we been chosen for?  As we journey through this Christmas season into the new year, our prayer is that we might marvel at what God has done for us and discern his true purpose for our lives.