Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Fourth Sunday after Trinity. Our Church Services today are at the usual times of 9.15 am at St Agnes' and 11 am at St Thomas'.
If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "Love is His Word"
Today's Bible Reading
2 Corinthians 6:1-13Paul’s Hardships
As we work together with Christ, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,
“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”
See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honour and dishonour, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see - we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return - I speak as to children - open wide your hearts also.
Reflection
Before discussing the text of the passage above, it might to be useful to provide some background for context.
It is clear from the Paul’s wider exchanges with the Corinthians that the newly formed church has not been fully supportive of Paul’s ministry, and that they have also struggled amongst themselves to get along together and fully accept the Gospel teachings.
In 1 Corinthians, we can see evidence that the new believers in Corinth have argued about several key elements in the Gospel; the importance and greatness of the gifts of the Spirit, and the resurrection to name but two. This in turn has led to disputes over leadership and forms of worship, and risks undermining the fundamental foundation of their new church.
Hence the opening plea in verse 1: “As we work together with Christ, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain.”
Paul is worried that his preaching has not been successful and, despite previous attempts, his teaching has still not fully landed as intended with the Corinthians. He stresses that unless they accept and believe in the risen Christ then their faith is meaningless and empty.
Notwithstanding his frustration, Paul therefore implores them to open wide their hearts and fully accept the transformational power of God’s word through the Gospel. He reminds the early church that in order to become true Christians, they need to use the gospel to establish the pattern of their behaviour.
Paul also wants them to understand that, despite his anguish and annoyance, he still loves them and wants to support them in filling the emptiness in their faith.
He therefore outlines a whole raft of personal sacrifices he has made in order to bring them and other fledgling Christian communities the good news of Jesus.
To put it another way, he is outlining his credentials, and the personal sacrifices he and his followers have made in order to demonstrate how important faith in Jesus is to him, and how passionate he is about helping the Corinthians to fully understand the significance of the gospel.
As well as exasperation, Paul also reveals a sense of impatience and encourages the Corinthians to stop procrastinating. He urges them to act with a sense of urgency and stop squabbling amongst each other when he writes; “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” In other words there is no time like the present to get on with loving each other and living the Christian life.
But what does all this mean for us?
I think sometimes, like the Corinthians, we can look around the church or our local community and fail to see how we can live more faithfully.
Are we doing enough to love one another? Are we truly inclusive and understanding of others, or are there some groups that we might be judgemental about? Are we brave enough to stand up for the rights of minorities, or do we worry too much about what others might think? Are we prepared to put our heads above the parapet to do what we know is right?
As Paul shows us, failing to love one another, for whatever reason, is a sign of accepting the grace of God in vain.
Now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation. Now is the time to stand up and be counted and show our love to those who need it most. Paul
Our Prayers
Loving God,
We praise you that through Jesus we can be part of your loving church.
Open wide our hearts
that we may show generosity and love,
to remember that there are always others more needy,
who need our love and support.
Amen
Today's final hymn is "Brother, Sister, Let me Serve you"
