Ambassadors for Christ
For as long as I have been a member of the men’s choral group here at St. Andrew, we’ve struggled to come up with a name for ourselves. For a while we went by the moniker “The Sonshine Boys” (courtesy of Jan Bahman) and you can even find some of our music on YouTube. We were also “The Men’s Quartet” back when we only had 4 members. Lately we’ve been using “The St. Andrew Men’s Ensemble” (aka the SAME old guys). Though I’ve enjoyed these catchy titles, on Christ the King Sunday (November 22nd) we will debut a new piece which includes some text I believe clearly articulates who we want to be as a group.
The piece is called “If Anyone Be in Christ” by Joseph M. Martin. Mr. Martin used the following scripture text as his inspiration:
“And [Christ] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! [And] we are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” – 2 Corinthians 5:15, 17, 20-21
In this text, Paul is trying to clarify that his ministry has nothing to do with himself or those who are helping him evangelize, but rather it is all about Christ and the gift Christ has given us.
Even though we occasionally sing something a bit “contemporary” or even secular (such as our Shrove Tuesday barbershop pieces), in our hearts we sing offertory music because we believe in the message. We truly want to be ambassadors for Christ through our music. I’m not talking about ambassadors in the diplomatic sense but instead as “a person(s) who acts as a representative or promoter of a specified activity.”
I also believe that everyone at St. Andrew can be a Christian ambassador as well. No, you don’t have to sing in the choir nor teach Sunday School nor serve on Church Council nor volunteer as an Assisting Minister, although these are all excellent ways to fulfill the role. You can simply be an ambassador for Christ in your everyday life; in how you act and interact with the world around you.
Our empowerment by the Holy Spirit is to be witnesses of the gospel both in our community and “to the ends of the earth.” [Acts 1:8] With Christ as King, go forth as ambassadors, commissioned through baptism and nourished by the word!
Sing Alleluia!
David Krueger