© The Exploratorium,
www.exploratorium.edu

Theme Introduction

Shine

Nations will come

Wealth of Nations

City of the Lord

"The Nations Will Come to Your Light"
Introduction     Scripture, Readings, Prayers, Discussion Questions, Songs

  
           The New Jerusalem prophecy of Isaiah 60 speaks of a time when people will be drawn from far and wide to the brightness of the city’s light. No distinctions of size, shape, or color will be made there; only the distinction between the oppressor and the oppressed, between the rebellious and the redeemed. This eschatological vision offers us tremendous hope for the future while, at the same time, compelling us to seek the reality of our union with all Christians here and now, a union which flows out of our union with Christ. It is only because we have been reconciled to God through Christ that we can now be reconciled one to another, setting aside the divisions of race and ethnicity. Richard Mouw puts it like this: “Wherever the victory of the Cross is clearly acknowledged, we can appeal directly to the cleansing power of the blood of Christ for racial and ethnic relations” (pg. 92).

Sample Service

Responsive Scripture:
Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Lift up your eyes and look about you:
All assemble and come to you.
Hymn: O God of Every Nation
Psalm: Psalm 47:7-9
Scripture: Acts 11:1-18
Prayer: Prayer from The Book of Common Worship listed below
Hymn: We Are Called
Blessing: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14

Additional Scripture

Psalm 47:7-9 

7For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.
8God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.
9The nobles of the nations assemble
as the people of the God of Abraham,
for the kings of the earth belong to God;
he is greatly exalted.

Acts 2:7-11  7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs--we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"

Acts 11:1-18  1The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."
4Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened: 5"I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. 6I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7Then I heard a voice telling me, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.'
8"I replied, 'Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'
9"The voice spoke from heaven a second time, 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.' 10This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
11"Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. 12The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man's house. 13He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.'
15"As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 17So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"
18When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."

Galatians 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Genesis 11:1-9  1Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinarand settled there.
3They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
5But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
8So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9That is why it was called Babel -because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Isaiah 49:6  He says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

Revelation 10  1Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 2He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."
5Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, "There will be no more delay! 7But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."
8Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."
9So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." 10I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 11Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."

Readings

Race is a term used to describe people who share biologically transmitted traits that are defined as socially significant. It may surprise you to know that race is a myth…. Although race is commonly believed to be a scientific fact, there is actually no scientific evidence to support the categorization into biological races. Scientists have calculated that the average genetic difference between two randomly chosen individuals is 0.2 percent of all the genes. But the physical traits we use to distinguish one race from another, like skin color, eye color, and nose width, are determined by about 0.01 percent of our genes, and they adapt rapidly to various environmental factors.
Before the 17th century, ethnicity, rather than race, was the term used to describe different groups of people. An ethnic group is a group of people who share a common history, geography, language, religious tradition, and way of life that are transmitted from generation to generation…. Ethnicity, therefore, is a cultural phenomenon and not a biological one like race.
-from “The Myth of Race” by Shiao Chong in The Banner, March 2003 (pg. 38)

“Viewed historically, racial prejudice … is not really a new thing but simply the latest and most virulent form of man’s ancient urge for self-exaltation … put theologically, [it] is one of man’s several neurotic and perverted expressions of his will to be God.”
-Kyle Haselden, quoted by Thomas R. Thompson in The One in the Many (Lanham: Univ Press of America, 1998), p. 22.

These examples have one common thread: they are all based on structures that delude European Americans into thinking we are the norm. The problem with the Band-Aids is not that they are designed to match our skin. The problem is that the label “flesh tone” deludes us into thinking that materials that match our skin are the norm. Sin functions here when we are deluded into making an idol of our condition, our situation, our skin color. I and persons like me become the standard by which other human beings are assessed.
-from “Combating Racism in Church and Seminary” by Susan E. Davies in Ending Racism in the Church (Cleveland: United Church Press, 1998), p. 36.

Like Calvin’s founders, who claimed that “neutrality was frowned upon,” we are convinced that there is no benignly neutral, “non-racialist” ground on which to stand, least of all in America. Racism runs too deep to allow us the luxury of simply refusing to give it credence. Because it is woven into the basic structures of our lives, it requires us to take an intentional anti-racist stand in response. Because it takes such a variety of forms, it requires us to consider, and indeed welcome, a variety of strategies for implementing that response.
-from “From Every Nation: Revised Comprehensive Plan for Racial Justice, Reconciliation and
Cross-Cultural Engagement at Calvin College” (p. 28)

So, I conclude by saying again today that we have a task and let us go out with a “divine dissatisfaction.” Let us be dissatisfied until America will no longer have a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds. Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort and the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice. Let us be dissatisfied until those that live on the outskirts of hope are brought into the metropolis of daily security. Let us be dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history, and every family is living in a decent sanitary home. Let us be dissatisfied until the dark yesterdays of segregated schools will be transformed into bright tomorrows of quality, integrated education. Let us be dissatisfied until integration is not seen as a problem but as an opportunity to participate in the beauty of diversity. Let us be dissatisfied until men and women, however black they may be, will be judged on the basis of the content of their character and not the basis of the color of their skin. Let us be dissatisfied. Let us be dissatisfied until every state capitol houses a governor who will do justly, who will love mercy and who will walk humbly with his God. Let us be dissatisfied until from every city hall, justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Let us be dissatisfied until that day when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together, and every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid. Let us be dissatisfied. And men will recognize that out of one blood God made all men to dwell upon the face of the earth. Let us be dissatisfied until that day when nobody will shout “White Power!” – when nobody will shout “Black Power!” – but everybody will talk about God’s power and human power.
-from “Where Do We Go from Here?” an address by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

On the topic of why race can become an idol:
Race has become a primary means of finding our identities. I am white. I am black. I am Asian. It help us answer the question, Who am I? Ethnicity serves the same function. There’s nothing wrong with that except when it takes over our true source of identity. Our ultimate identity is in Christ; we are God’s children, made in God’s image. When race takes over that central identity, it becomes an idol. Our racial differences become more important than our Christian unity.
-from “The Myth of Race” by Shiao Chong in The Banner, March 2003 (pg. 39)

My favorite definition of heaven comes from a Benedictine sister, who told me that as her mother lay dying in a hospital bed she had ventured to reassure her by saying, “In heaven, everyone we love is there.” The older woman had replied, “No, in heaven I will love everyone who’s there.”
-from “Heaven” from AMAZING GRACE by Kathleen Norris, copyright © 1998 by Kathleen Norris (pg. 367). Permission sought from Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Christ is the world’s true light, its captain of salvation,
The daystar clear and bright of every race and nation.
New life, new hope awakes for all who own his sway.
Freedom her bondage breaks, and night is turned today.

In Christ all races meet, their ancient feuds forgetting,
The whole round world complete, from sunrise to its setting.
When Christ is throned as Lord, all shall forsake their fear,
To plowshare beat the sword, to pruning hook the spear.

One Lord, in one great name unite us all who own you.
Cast out our pride and shame that hinder to enthrone you.
The world has waited long, has labored long in pain.
To heal its ancient wrong, come, Prince of Peace, and reign.
-“Christ Is the World’s True Light” by George W. Briggs

Christ is our peace;
those who are divided
he has made one.
He has broken down the barriers of separation
by his death and he has built us up
into one body, with God.
To all who repent and believe
he has promised reconciliation.
So, live as people reconciled. Amen.
-The United Congregational Church of Southern Africa;
Gifts of Many Cultures, ©1995 United Church Press (p. 19).

Many are the lightbeams from the one light.
Our one light is Jesus.
Many are the lightbeams from the one light;
we are one in Christ.

Many are the branches of the one tree.
Our one tree is Jesus.
Many are the branches of the one tree;
we are one in Christ.

Many are the gifts giv’n, love is all one.
Love’s the gift of Jesus.
Many are the gifts giv’n, love is all one;
we are one in Christ.

Many are the ways to serve God, the Spirit is one;
servant spirit of Jesus.
Many are the ways to serve God, the Spirit is one;
we are one in Christ.

Many are the members, the body is one;
members all of Jesus.
Many are the members, the body is one;
we are one in Christ.
- Many Are the Lightbeams De unitate ecclesiae,
Cyprian of Carthage, 252 AD

Reformed Confessional Statements

All saints, that are united to Jesus Christ their Head, by His Spirit, and by faith, have fellowship with Him in His grace, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory; and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other’s gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man.
- Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 26, Paragraph 1

The mystery of His will God discovered to but a small number under the Old Testament; under the New (the distinction between various peoples having been removed), He reveals Himself to many without any distinction of people. The cause of this dispensation is not to be ascribed to the superior worth of one nation above another, nor to their making a better use of the light of nature, but results wholly from the sovereign good pleasure and unmerited love of God.
- 1619 Canons of Dort, Heads III and IV, Article 7

Prayers

Merciful God,
in your gracious presence we confess our sin and the sin of this world.
Although Christ is among us as our peace,
we are a people divided against ourselves
as we cling to the values of a broken world.
The profit and pleasures we pursue
lay waste the land and pollute the seas.
The fears and jealousies that we harbor
set neighbor against neighbor and nation against nation.
We abuse your good gifts of imagination and freedom,
of intellect and reason,
and have turned them into bonds of oppression.

Lord have mercy upon us;
heal and forgive us.
Set us free to serve you in the world
as agents of your reconciling love in Jesus Christ.
- The Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (USA), p.88.

1May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine upon us,
2that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
3May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.
4May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples justly
and guide the nations of the earth
5May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.
6Then the land will yield its harvest,
and God, our God, will bless us.
7God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear him.
- Psalm 67

Eternal God,
in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness,
no strength known but the strength of love:
So mightily spread abroad your Spirit,
that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace,
as children of one Father;
to whom be dominion and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
- The Book of Common Prayer, according to the use of the Episcopal Church

Discussion Questions

1. What is included in the definition of a “nation”? How is this different from the idea of race?

2. Many Old Testament texts (Gen. 12:1-3, Is. 44:1-5, Hos. 11:1-4, to name just a few) promoted Israel’s chosen nation status in ancient times. What other nations or ethnic groups view themselves as chosen people? How do we, as Christians, respond to that?

3. Who is the speaker in Isaiah 49:1-6? In light of this passage, how is the Old Covenant election of Israel re-appropriated in the New Covenant now that Jesus has come?

4. Richard Mouw says of the gathering of nations that, “it is difficult to think of this process, within the Old Testament framework, as anything but a ‘Judaizing’ of people from other nations.” How do we sometimes demonstrate the same attitude toward other cultures in our desire to gather other nations into Christianity? How can we be involved in evangelism without conveying this attitude?

5. How does the prophecy of Isaiah 60 that kings will come to the city bearing the wealth of their individual nations coexist with Paul’s statement that there is no Jew or Greek in Christ? Is Paul implying that we have no national identity in the New Jerusalem?

6. Mouw talks of a conversation he had with one congregation: “It was easy to take me as saying these white folks, as occupants of the City, should be welcoming these ‘foreigners’ from other ethnic groups as entering into a city presently occupied by white people. To be sure, the people in this group were pleased by this gathering in; but we were still picturing the situation as one in which ‘they’ were entering ‘our’ city.” How do we perpetuate this type of thinking in our thinking, conversations, and worship? What can we do to reverse that?

7. The Babel account (Gen. 11:1-9) shows that the division of people into groups by language was a result of sin. How do we reconcile this with the concept that the diversity of cultures around the world is a good thing? (In other words, how does God work good from bad?)

8. What is your response to the “From Every Nation” quote? Do you see signs of discrimination embedded in Calvin College as an institution and as a community? Where? What do you think should be done about it?

9. Does knowing that the Son of God was slain to purchase the redemption of people from every tribe, language, people and nation affect the way you think about the world? How?

Songs

Clap Your Hands All You People
Here From All Nations: PH 235
In Christ There Is No East or West: PH 540
Jesus Loves the Little Children
Many Are the Lightbeams
O God of Every Nation: PH 606