GOD said to Abram,
“Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
I will make of you a great nation,
And I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
And you shall be a blessing.

This is another beginning within Genesis; an entry into a particular covenant with God to help bring healing, repair, and blessing into the world. To follow the story and faithful history is to encounter a God that is faithful to this covenant and a people who often are still trying to figure out exactly what this covenant means for them - and what it asks of them.

We see both hospitality offered to wandering strangers and the conquering of neighboring kingdoms.

We see prophets convey the urgent concern for the vulnerable and priests equate divine favor with invincibility.

We see hearts repent and hearts turned to stone.

Turn to the news today and you’ll see the same story.

Within each of the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), there is a non insignificant presence of conviction that their particular covenant reveals a divine favor that is understood to be exceptional. At the more benign end of the spectrum, such exceptionalism is something that is made known upon death and judgment. At the more harmful end of the spectrum, exceptionalism is grounds for a particular community to be entitled to greater rights than others and exempt from responsibilities to others - for some, it may even grant a sense of mastery and dominion over all. Most acutely in this moment, we may hear the language of religious exceptionalism from a cast of national politicians in Israel and our United States and the clergy who fan these flames.

To witness the suffering that comes from such language and interpretation can cause both those rooted in the tradition and those with a more pluralistic view to do away with any such phrasing of “chosenness” or “favor” completely. And that may be needed for a time.

But there is also something so very moving and fundamental to the tradition and our spirituality that is held within all of this that is worthy of extracting from all this exceptionalism, and that is the intimate connection between the divine and us. This brilliant imagery where the holy speaks and calls us by name. This profoundly intimate communion where the sacred calls us beloved and invites us towards blessing. This can be heard and honored - and it should be.

The wisdom of the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks offers us a grounding and orientation to approach this idea of chosenness:

A chosen people is the opposite of a master race,

First, because it is not a race but a covenant;

Second, because it exists to serve God, not to master others.

He goes on,

A master race worships itself; a chosen people worships something beyond itself.

A master race values power; a chosen people cares about the powerless.

A master race believes it has rights; a chosen people knows only that it has responsibilities.

The key virtues of a master race are pride, honor, and fame.

The key virtue of a chosen people is humility.

A master race produces monumental buildings, triumphal inscriptions, and a literature of self-congratulation.

Israel, to a degree unique in history, produced a literature of almost uninterrupted self-criticism.

A chosen people is not a master race but its opposite: a servant community.

~ Not In God’s Name (Confronting Religious Violence)

This, is wisdom and grace.

God calls us beloved and chooses us for good and sacred work. There is intimacy and communion - with God and with the world. This sense of “chosenness” and “favored’ can not only play well with others, but nurture the soul that understands it - leading to humble service to others and a beloved community where we all know what it means to be chosen, favored, and exceptional.

May we be courageous, humble, and true to the calling upon us. May we offer our part of the covenant to God and neighbor.

Peace,

Rev. Chris McCreight

p.s. The manuscript and audio to the sermon, “One Covenant, Two Covenant; Red Covenant, Blue Covenant.” (A wonderful special guest during the sermon led me to utilize the audio rather than video to respect privacy)

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