Photo: Youth received temporary tattoos with the word “Beloved.” Photo by Vada Snider

Youth worship on Wednesday at Mennonite Church USA Convention 2017 focused on God’s love for each individual and God’s love for our enemies.

“God loves me…no strings attached!”

Melody Pannell of Harrisonburg, Virginia, encouraged youth to love God and let God love them rather than focus their energy on trying to please God. Pannell is the Founder and Executive Director of Destiny’s Daughters Empowerment Ministry LLC and the Assistant Executive Director of Men About Positive Purpose LLC as well as an Assistant Professor of social work at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg.

Pannell spoke about growing up in Harlem and how she often felt disconnected from God, because she believed that she had to be perfect for God to love her.

She said Scripture says that God knows everything about us, and rather than comforting her, this would scare her. She would think, “Lord, if you know all this stuff about me, how can you still love me? Not only do you still love me, but you want to use me to help someone else.”

Pannell said the problem often is that we are not open to God’s love because of this belief that we have to be perfect.

“It’s not about pleasing God, it’s about loving God,” she said. “When you are loved by God, you can be optimistic.”

“You are God’s beloved,” she repeated several times throughout the message.

Jon Heinly, youth worship leader, said in his closing words, “You may struggle to claim God’s love, but that will not change God’s love.”

As the youth left the auditorium, they were each given a temporary tattoo with the word, “Beloved.”

“God loves you…and so should I.”

At the beginning of evening worship, John and Michele Sharp of Hesston, Kansas, spoke to the youth through video chat about the death of their son Michael (MJ) earlier this year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Michele said the rebel groups MJ worked with looted, raped and killed and were very easy to see as enemies. When reflecting on how her son responded when asked how he could love these people, she said, “MJ said, ‘you can listen.’”

John said that by loving and listening to his enemies, MJ and those he worked with persuaded 1,600 rebels to lay down their weapons.

It was dangerous work, but Michele said MJ Sharp felt called to it.

“Where else should people live, who believe in nonviolence, but in the middle of violence?” asked John. While they continue to grieve, the Sharps said they are grateful that God used MJ to make a difference in so many people.

“Your convention theme is ‘Love is a Verb,’” John Sharp said. “Peacemaking is a verb, too.”

Following a standing ovation from the youth, the service continued its exploration of

loving enemies.

Lisa White Cameron, director of empowerment at the YWCA Lancaster (Pennsylvania), and Abby King, sophomore at Goshen (Indiana) College offered a drama focused on a table set for five people.

The drama asked the youth, “What five people would you have to dinner if you could? Oprah Winfrey, Malala, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr, Beyoncé and her twins?”

The youth were then asked, “Who are the five people you don’t want to invite to dinner?” They referred to these as the “top or first five” for youth to consider.

The drama challenged youth to think about the people they hate and reminded them that those are the same people God created and loves and that they need to love

Cameron ended with the line, “Make your list. The first five could change your life. Your heart.”

Heinly invited the youth to consider their “top five” and then led them in a prayer of confession.

“There is room at God’s table for all,” Heinly said.

His final reflection question for the youth was, “What one risk will you take in following Jesus this week to love one of your first five?”