In Sorrow and in Rejoicing

As we enter this three-week stretch focusing on Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, we also focus on what I think is one of the key questions of Ordinary Time; namely, how do we live our faith day after day after day? Paul certainly seems to address this question in his missive to the Corinthian Christians, but I would hazard a guess that the Corinthians found his answer as hard then as we do now. Open your heart. Please, Paul, anything but that!

I wonder how many of our congregants might be sitting in the pew thinking the same thing. Please, Pastor, anything but that! As Paul indicates, opening your heart means being open to all manner of censure, criticism, and persecution. Opening your heart means trusting God’s grace and maintaining integrity in a world of distrust and division. That’s some daunting, scary stuff to hand to congregants in the first century and today.

So, when planning worship, consider how you prepare the congregation to receive the proclamation of the Word with receptive and willing hearts. Sing the heart songs that have informed their faith for years or even generations. Fill the altar with familiar art and symbols that point to God at work among the gathered body. Invite a layperson to share a brief testimony about the impact maintaining an open heart has had on his/her life. Remind the church of God’s faithfulness to them and how they’ve witnessed God’s grace in their midst in the last year.

Moreover, consider incorporating a simple prayer practice following the sermon. You might invite those gathered to sit with a couple of questions that invite them to apply Paul’s words to their own lives. Or you might supply paper hearts and pens and invite congregants to write one area of their lives where they want God to help them open their hearts. Perhaps they might fill the offering plates with those hearts as they’re passed or come forward and attach the hearts to a poster or a piece of netting. Imagine what it might look like to add hearts of different colors over the three weeks of this series. However you choose to approach this Sunday and this series, find ways that are appropriate to your context to make Paul’s call to open our hearts real and accessible and meaningful to your congregation.