Christian Citizenship Sunday

Sharing Peace as Lambs among Wolves
Luke 10:1-11,16-20

"If anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person. But if not, it will return to you."----Luke 10:6

Background
The idea of Christian Citizenship can be a difficult one for children to grasp. Young children, especially, think concretely and theological talk about God's kingdom being "already and not yet" is hard to make concrete. This year's theme, "Sharing Peace as Lambs among Wolves" gives children a very concrete image to hold on to as they are urged to think about what it means for them to live in the United States as part of a Mennonite church family.

The image of the wolf and lamb is a familiar one, and we may think immediately of Aesop's fable about the young shepherd boy who cried, "Wolf!" too often. In this story children learn indirectly that wolves prey on lambs. In more current dramatizations of this relationship, the movie "Babe" depicts the fear and violence that wolves represent for sheep. Few of us in North America live on sheep farms, and when we venture out into pastoral settings, we don't usually see many wolves prowling around.

Yet, the image of the wolf and lamb has deep symbolic meaning for us as humans. Sheep are referred to a lot in the Bible. One of those places is Psalm 23 where God is compared to a shepherd who protects his sheep from predators like wolves. Or in the New Testament when Jesus tells the parable of the Lost Sheep and the risk the shepherd takes to find that one, vulnerable lamb. We know from the book of Isaiah, from both 11:6-7 and 65:25, that God's vision and hope for the world is of a place where enemies become friends. The sheep no longer fear wolves and, wolves no longer prey upon sheep. The both embody gentleness, one of the fruits of the Spirit.

Logo and mask outlines are also available in GIF format: wolf, lamb , logo

Wait for responses. If none, provide an example like the following: When I say, "My grandma's hair is white and fluffy like a cloud," I don't really mean that her hair is cloud, but that it makes me think of a cloud.

Do you think Jesus wanted his disciples to be afraid? No! He told them to greet people by saying, "Peace to this house!"-that's what the olive branch symbolizes. Why do you think he gave them this instruction? [Wait for responses.] Yes, because he knew that it is possible for lambs and wolves to become friends.

Distribute wolf and lamb masks to children.
Invite older children to help younger children put them on.

One of the sad things happening in our world today as we gather here as a church is that there is violence and war in many places. If we use lamb and wolf as similes, who or what would we say are like lambs? like wolves? What would it take for them to not fear or hurt one another? They need to see that God's loves everyone-God loves the things that make us different (we speak different languages, wear different clothes, eat different foods, have different skin colors, come from different countries, etc.) and God wants us to be able to love each other even though we are different. This is what it means to be part of God's kingdom. This is what it means to follow Jesus.

To show the world that we want to live peacefully and work together like Jesus taught his disciples, we are going to form a Peace Procession! We will sing and wave our streamers and celebrate God's peace that makes enemies friends.