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Ambassadors Yesterday and Today
Mennonite Heritage Sunday - October 29, 2006
Call
to Worship - based on 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Leader:
We gather as Ambassadors for Christ.
People: God through Christ reconciles us.
Leader:
Once we stood apart from God.
People: God through Christ reconciles us.
Leader:
Once hostility distorted our vision.
People: But now we see a new creation.
Leader:
Once envy and bitterness blinded us.
People: But now we see a new creation.
Leader:
Ambassadors for God have gone before us.
People: They help us see the new creation.
Leader:
Ambassadors for God give us courage.
People: They help us act with boldness.
Leader:
Once we saw with human understanding
People: But now we see as ambassadors for a new creation.
Leader:
We gather as ambassadors for Christ's New Creation.
All:
To worship the God who is bringing reconciliation.
Songs:
- In Christ there is no East or West - Hymnal, A Worship Book 306
- I'm pressing on the upward way - Sing the Journey 96
- The love of God - Sing the Journey 44
- We are people of God's peace - Hymnal, A Worship Book 407
- Heart with loving heart united - Hymnal, A Worship Book 420
Old
Testament Reading: Exodus 1:15-21
The Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, were early conscious objectors.
They refused to follow Pharaoh's edict to kill the Hebrew babies. They
feared God. They were ambassadors for God's way of life.
New
Testament Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Sermon
Idea: What is reconciliation? Consider the job of being an
ambassador for God's reconciliation project. An ambassador lives in a
foreign nation. He/She represents his or her homeland. As Christians we
represent God's homeland, the New Creation, the nation where
reconciliation is the expected norm.
Readers
Theater: An optional reader's theater is found at the end. If
you do not use the reader's theater option, you may want to include one
or more of its stories in the sermon. [Click here for full reader's theatre dialogue.]
Children's
Time: Dr. Seuss, Sneetches, (New York: Random House, 1961.) God
loves us all whether we have stars on our bellies or not. God wants us
to get along with different people. Sometimes we see a different group
and we think they are better than we are (town kids vs. country kids,
kids with cool clothes vs. ordinary dressers, kids from one ethnic
group vs. another, etc.). God wants us to treat each other with
kindness.
Benediction:
Go now as God's Ambassadors of Reconciliation! Showing love and
forgiveness in a divided and messy world.
Jane Yoder-Short
Kalona, IA
July 2006 |
