Human Rights Litany

Leader: Someone is shouting in the desert: "Prepare the way of the Lord; make a straight path for God to travel! Every valley must be filled up, every hill and mountain leveled off. The winding roads must be made straight, and the rough paths made smooth." (Luke 3:1-6)

People: God of justice, your messenger has called us to prepare your way, to make your paths straight.

Leader: But the world is not ready to receive you. The roadway is choked with material possessions of people who have become rich from the labor of those who are denied access to resources because of their race, ethnicity, gender, class or nationality.

People: God of peace, your messenger is calling us to prepare your way.

Leader: But fearful threats exist. The highway is barricaded with armaments. The valleys are filled with landmines that kill innocent children, women and men.

People: God of compassion, your messenger is calling us to prepare your way.

Leader: But not everybody will be free to greet you. Some of the courageous languish in prison, tortured for their beliefs or for speaking truth to power. Many women are imprisoned in their homes, abused by their husbands and without means of escape because they are denied legal and economic recourse. Many children are chained in sweatshops or sold into prostitution.

People: How then shall we prepare the way?

Leader: In the name of God and for the sake of God's people, we proclaim in word and deed that all human beings are born with fundamental human rights.

People: How shall we prepare the way?

Leader: We will strive to guarantee the dignity and worth of the human person and the equal rights of women and men.

People: How shall we prepare the way?

Leader: We will work for a world in which human beings enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want.

People: Then we will go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before us shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. And every valley shall be filled and the crooked shall be made straight, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Order of Worship: Human Rights Day

Call to Worship (Psalm 67)

Leader: May God's face shine upon us, that God's way may be known upon the earth, the peace of God among all nations.

People: Let the peoples pursue your justice and your peace, O God. Let all the people pursue your peace.

Leader: Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon the earth.

People: Let the people pursue your justice and your peace, O God. Let all the people pursue your peace.

Hymn: 289 "O God of Every Nation"*

Prayer of Confession

Leader: God of life, Creator of all people
As equal in dignity and humanity;
You have called us to be one:
To live in unity and harmony;
To build faith and realize community.
Yet we are divided
Race from race; class from class;
Rich from poor; gender from gender;
Old from young; neighbor from neighbor.
People: O God, by whose love all enmity is brought to an end:
Break down the walls that separate us,
Forgive the sins that divide us,
Free us from pride and prejudice.
O God, give us the courage to repent honestly;
Give us the power to change our lives,
That we might be dead to sin and alive in Christ. AMEN

Assurance of Pardon

Leader: The mercy of God is from everlasting to everlasting.
As the dove gently settles on the tree, receive the gift of peace.
As the flame rises free with light and warmth, receive the gift of life.
As the wind moves and dances around the earth,
receive the gracious gift of the Spirit.

People: Come, O Holy Spirit.
Come as Holy Fire and burn in us,
Come as Holy Wind and cleanse us,
Come as Holy Light and lead us,
Come as Holy Life and dwell within us.
Convict us, convert us, consecrate us,
Until we are set free from the service of ourselves,
To be your servants to the world. AMEN.

First Reading Isaiah 2:2-5

Hymn 367 "Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love"*

Second Reading 2 Corinthians 5:16-20

Sermon

Litany of Commitment

Excerpts from the Beatitudes (Luke 6:17-22 and Matthew 5:1-11) and the Charter of the United Nations

Leader: God of all creation, we are your children. We are also the peoples of the United Nations.

People: Help us seek the security of the whole human family made in your image and for whom Jesus lived, died and lived again.

Leader: Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God."

People: God of Peace, we your children and the peoples of the United Nations are "determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war."

Leader: Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

People: God of Love, we your children and the peoples of the United Nations "reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, and in the equal rights of men and women and nations large and small."

Leader: Jesus said, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God."

People: God of Life, we your children and the peoples of the United Nations will "promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom."

Leader: Jesus said, "love your neighbor as yourself and love your enemies, do good and lend, expecting nothing in return."

People: God of Community, we your children and the peoples of the United Nations will "practice tolerance and live together in peace as good neighbors." We are called to be peacemakers to the Christ who came that we might know a peace that passes understanding. Lead us to rise up and be called children of God, citizens of a new world community. Guide us to speak boldly, with moral conviction, to the nations and to the world. Let us build, with your grace, a global community by acting now for world peace, for a flowering of justice, for an opportunity of love, for the realization of Your peace. AMEN.

Hymn 386 "O For a World"*

Charge and Benediction

Leader: "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto God's self and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation." Christ charges us to practice God's shalom and seek life in all its fullness for all God's people, everywhere.

People: And the courage of Christ, the peace of God and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit will be always with us. AMEN.

* The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990 Westminster/John Knox Press

As the children come forward make a few of them sit further away, perhaps on another pew, or do something that physically separates them — like cover them with a sheet (its probably best to pick children who you know are a little more precocious, and expect a little horseplay), you could even put a piece of tape on the floor and make some of the students sit on one side or the other.   

Start talking to the other children about how advent is a very special time of year; it's a time of year that we prepare for Christ's coming.  If the children you have separated try to participate, tell them that you won't listen to them. Tell the children, who aren't in the separated group, that because the other children are over there/covered up that they don't really matter.   

Pause a second, and ask if they think that separating people is how Jesus would like us to prepare for his birth.  Hopefully there will be a resounding NO!  Bring the all the children together.  And ask again why God wouldn't be very happy about separating and ignoring people. 

Close by saying: 

"Before Jesus was born, God told people what he would be like.  He said that he would bring release to the captives and freedom to the oppressed.  All around the world there are people who are separated away from others.  Sometimes its because they believe in Jesus, other times its because they are girls, sometimes because of the color of their skin or because they are poor.  And that's not what God wanted. Jesus came to the world to help so that all people can sit together. Everyone has the right to be a person and to be loved by God. 

In 1948, a group of leaders from around the world signed a document that says that people have rights, and that all people no matter what ought to be respected. But in order for that paper to matter, and in order for us to really prepare of Christ's coming, we need to make sure people aren't forced to sit apart from us. We need to work to love and respect all of God's people."

If you have time you might want to ask them how they could do this.

End with a prayer: 

Dear God,

Thank you for all of your people. Thank you for the people in this room and for the people around the world.  Please God; help us to love one another. Help all people learn to respect one another. Most of all God, thank you for sending us Jesus to show us the way to treat one another! In Jesus' Name, amen.

Excerpted from the Study Guide for Life in All Its Fullness 

While the Scriptures do not "codify" what the 20th century would consider human rights, the Scriptures do provide deep insight into any study of human rights from the viewpoint of God's purposes.  The Scriptures deal with the ways humans treat each other.  They deal with the way individuals are treated by the "principalities and powers" that exist in society.  They treat with special concern the poor, the widow, the orphan, the marginalized, and the powerless.

Although "human rights" may not be a biblical phrase itself, its basic components of freedom, justice and peace are central biblical themes.  They underline the basis for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December, 1948.  As we look at the biblical message concerning women and men created in the image of God, persons for whom Christ came to assure life in all its fullness, the biblical references to freedom, justice, and peace are all the more relevant.

Biblical history is freedom history.  To be created in the image of God is to be given the gift of freedom and the awesome responsibility that goes with that gift.  Our true identity and full potential can only be realized in freedom.  Authentic and mutual acceptance in human relations is made possible in the context of freedom.

Justice is required in human relations and in the ordering of social structures, not because we thereby prove ourselves worthy by acts of justice, but because we are responding gratefully to our oneness in creation and our oneness in Christ.  Justice in the Bible is both an ethical term and a salvation term.

As justice is possible only in the context of freedom, so peace is possible only in the context of justice.  Peace involves reconciliation, trust, and wholeness.  Wholeness, i.e., life lived in integrity, security and realization of human potential is possible only in a loving, forgiving, accepting community of persons, where the value of personhood has priority over that of property, race or social status.

The biblical foundation has become so much a part of our history and thought that its influence is clearly evident in the preamble of the Universal Declaration:

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. . . ."