This Sunday is Laity Sunday. The sermon is going to center around a Prayer Litany that I found in the United Methodist Book of Worship.
From the begining, God entered into covenant with the human family;
with Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah,
Moses, Hannah, Ruth and Jeremiah.
Through baptism, Jesus Christ calls us into the covenant
and makes us ministers of Christ's righteousness.
All Christian ministry is Christ's work of outreaching love.
It demonstrates a common life of gratitude and devotion,
witness and service, celebration and discipleship.
All Chrisitans are called to Christ's servanthood in the world,
to the glory of God and for human fulfillment.
The Church, as the communitiy of the new covenant,
participates in Christ's ministry of grace.
It stretches out to human needs
wherever service may convey God's love and ours.
In our ministry of servanthood is this ultimate concern:
that all may be renewed in the image of their Creator
and that all Chrisitans are called to minister
in deeds and words that heal and free. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
The beginning of the litany reminds us of God's story as it is woven through history. How does this list of people change/influence your opinion of what it means to be a Christian?
What is the life changing significance of the fact that God makes a covenant with us, in the same way that God made a covenant with them?
What does it mean to be ministers of Christ's righteousness?
The litany describes the essentials in Christian ministry as gratitude and devotion, witness and service, celebration and discipleship. Where are your strengths? Where are your weaknesses?
The litany ends by saing that our ultimate concern is that "all might be renewed in the image of our Creator." What does it look like to be "renewed in the image of our Creator"?
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3 comments:
Minister(verb): "To give attendance or aide; provide for the wants or needs of someone." The New International Webster's Comprehensive Dictionary, 2004.
Compare this to how your dictionary defines minister the noun. Somewhere we have forgotten the verb, and have become dependent upon the noun to verb for us...
I feel small and inconsequential when included in the biblical lineage, but ironically, i feel larger and more important when I realize God chooses to have a personal connection with me. and very small again when i think of the responsibility of being a minister of Christ's righteousness?
Report Card
gratitude C+
devotion C-
witness D
service B-
celebration C
discipleship D
Does God grade on the curve? or is it pass/fail? I guess Jesus already took the final exam for us.
Renewal in my mind is not a one time event; it is a breathing, day / night, seasons, constant rebirth, baptism of the spirit. peace in the midst of fear.
Unfortunately, I missed the service. As a Lay Speaker though, the subject of lay ministry is a special interest to me. What did I miss?
What did all you bloggers get out of the message? The sign of a good sermon to me is that you leave not with the answers, but with more questions than you brought!
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