WORSHIP RESOURCES

 

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Ordinary Time

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

Members of One Body

 

Additional Scriptures

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19; Luke 4:14-21; Doctrine and Covenants 165:2a

 

Prelude

Announcements, Share and Care

Welcome

 

Call to Worship

This day is holy to the Lord your God…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

—Nehemiah 8:9-10, adapted

Hymn

“Summoned by the God Who Made Us” CCS 330

OR “Kanisa Litajengwa/Oh, Who Will Build the Church Now?”    CCS 338

Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own. If this is unfamiliar, consider singing along with the vocal recording found on Community of Christ Sings Audio Recordings available from Herald House.

 OR “All Are Welcome"  CCS 276

 

Dwelling in the Word: Psalm 19:14

First Reading:             What captures my attention?

Second Reading:         How does this relate to my spiritual life?

Third Reading:            Where might God’s Spirit be nudging me?

 

Prayer for Peace

Light the peace candle.

Sung Peace Prayer

“Friend of the Streetwalker”     CCS 289

OR “One Common Prayer”    Sing twice     CCS 313

 

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

            Reader 1:         1 Corinthians 12:12

            Reader 2:         1 Corinthians 12:13

            Reader 1:         1 Corinthians 12:14-17

            Reader 2:         1 Corinthians 12:18-21

            Reader 1:         1 Corinthians 12:22-25

            Reader 2:         1 Corinthians 12:26

            Both:               1 Corinthians 12:27

 

Focus Moment: “The Hokey Pokey,” Many Parts, One Body

www.Sermons4kids.com/sermons/many-parts-one-body

 

Hymn Exploration: “We Need Each Other’s Voice to Sing,”   CCS 324

Teach the refrain to participants. Have each stanza sung by a soloist, duet, or ensemble,

followed by everyone singing the refrain. Repeat the refrain an additional time at the end.    

 

Sermon

Based on 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

 

Reflection: Blessings of Community

Project or print these descriptive phrases from Blessings of Community, an Enduring Principle.

• The gospel of Jesus Christ is expressed best in community life where people become vulnerable to God’s grace and one another.
• True community includes compassion for and solidarity with the poor, marginalized, and oppressed.
• True community upholds the worth of persons while providing a healthy alternative to self-centeredness, isolation, and conformity.
• Sacred community provides nurture and growth opportunities for all people, especially those who cannot fully care for themselves.

—Sharing in Community of Christ, fourth edition, Herald House

Spend a few moments considering these principle-based statements about

community. Which ones best describe your spiritual community? Which ones would be difficult for your spiritual community? What are some ways that your spiritual community could embody Blessings of Community?

Allow time for individual processing. Have meditation music playing in the background. If desired, ask participants to discuss the Enduring Principle of Blessings of Community in pairs or small groups.

Disciples’ Generous Response

Scripture: Doctrine and Covenants 165:2a   

Statement

When our lives are touched deeply by God, we want to be more Christ-

like in our living. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we acknowledge God’s

grace and love in our lives. Accepting God’s gifts means offering our

whole life to Christ as a faithful disciple. You are invited to a journey of

whole-life stewardship in response to God’s amazing generosity in your

life as we seek to build communities of joy, hope, love, and peace.

                        —Sharing in Community of Christ, fourth edition, Herald House

 

When we share generously, we help God’s love and compassion grow endlessly.

If you have participants joining the worship online, remind them that they can give through the church’s website at www.CofChrist.org/give or through eTithing at www.eTithing.org (consider displaying these URLs)

Blessing and Receiving of Local and Worldwide Mission Tithes

 

Hymn of Community

“In Christ There Is No East or West”     CCS 339

OR “Somos el cuerpo de Cristo/We Are the Body of Christ”   CCS 337

 

Benediction

Response

Postlude

 

 

SERMON AND CLASS HELPS

Year C—Letters

Third Sunday after Epiphany (Ordinary Time)

1 Corinthians 12:12–31a

 

Exploring the Scripture

The time between Epiphany and Lent is a season of illumination. It is when we begin to see God’s love for all people revealed to us in new and deeper ways. Paul’s letter clarifies God’s love and concern for the community.

The church in Corinth was struggling to live into oneness in Christ. Conflicts and division occurred as members competed for status and wielded power over others. Members promoted their worth by claiming some expressions of spiritual giftedness to have more value than less-charismatic gifts.

Some of this was understandable. The church in Corinth existed in a multicultural trading center. The city hosted well-known athletic competitions and valued strength and power. And Corinth was known as a hub of unfettered excess and immorality. All this was part of the environment that surrounded this group of disciples. Hierarchical social and political systems governed everyday lives. These ways of defining people by riches, status, and power had found their way into the church community.

In this setting, Paul addresses his letter. He reminds the people they became members of one body when they were baptized in Christ. He reaffirms the need for unity and mutual concern in a Christ-like community. Paul makes clear there are no divisions in Christ’s body. Class structures that uplift some while oppressing others have no place in the faith community. He especially lifts those who have been considered weaker or treated as less important than others.

To make his point, he uses a familiar metaphor for the people of Corinth. The idea of one body with many parts often was used to promote social hierarchy and political power. Those with greater status and power would be at the head of the body, and their giftedness would be more important than the gifts or yearnings of others. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul turns that way of thinking upside down by using the same metaphor to describe the body of Christ.

In Christ’s body, the giftedness of all members is valued, and those without status or money are honored. In Christ, all gifts are expressed for God’s purposes, and all members work together for the good of the entire body.

Paul wants the Corinth church members to set aside the cultural remnants of competition and class divisions. He hopes they will embrace oneness in Christ and live as an interdependent body of believers.

Community of Christ seeks this same interdependence as congregations and groups live the Enduring Principle of Unity in Diversity. Christ’s disciples are called to celebrate the diverse giftedness of the body without valuing one ministry or giftedness over another.

Disciples today still struggle with divisions and conflicts in Christian community. It is helpful to look anew at how Paul turns cultural norms upside down. What does his description of the body of Christ say to those swayed by cultural trends that devalue the foreigner, the immigrant, the poor, or the different? Today’s text reminds disciples they are called to embody Christ as a diverse, interdependent community that celebrates the giftedness and Worth of All Persons.

Central Ideas

1. God’s reign cancels social divisions and turns cultural hierarchy upside down. There are no class divisions in the body of Christ.
2. All spiritual and ministerial gifts are important and are to be used for the good of the whole body.
3. Disciples are called to move from personal importance to living as part of a diverse, interdependent community.
4. All spiritual gifts and roles have a place and purpose in Christian community, but love is the greatest gift. As disciples, we are called to develop and live the gifts of love, faith, and hope.

Questions for the Speaker

1. How do I find myself wanting status, power, or control?
2. What does it feel like to move from a perspective of independence to interdependence?
3. What hierarchies need to be taken apart in my community?
4. How am I using my giftedness for the common good?
5. In this season of light, is our congregation showing God’s love for all people?

 

 

SACRED SPACE: A RESOURCE FOR SMALL-GROUP MINISTRY

Year C—Letters

Third Sunday after Epiphany (Ordinary Time)

1 Corinthians 12:12–31a

 

Gathering

Welcome

The season after Epiphany includes the weeks between Epiphany and Transfiguration Sunday.

Prayer for Peace

Ring a bell or chime three times slowly.

Light the peace candle.

Today’s scripture shows us the power of reading and interpreting scripture in community. God gives us community to learn with and from. In January 2020, a small community of worshipers wrote a prayer for peace together during a worship service. This prayer is our Prayer for Peace today, and its origin in a gathering reminds us of the power we have in our communities:

Mighty Spirit of love, we come in search of peace, of calmness, of faith in the midst of adventure and misadventure. We live in a world in need of respect, fairness, and equity for all. At times, it seems easy for us to experience your peace, your calm, in nature and with those we love. And it can be easy to simply say, “Peace be with you,” and to cover our homes with doves and peace symbols. It is not easy to work for peace.

Empower us,
to act for peace,
to create goodwill,
to extend an olive branch,
to lay to rest the pain in the world,
to live into unity through our diversity.

Empower us to be our child-of-God selves, working with you to bring light.

In the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen.

 

Spiritual Practice

Dwelling in the Word

I will read a scripture aloud. As you hear it, breathe deeply and meditate on feelings that surface. Let them rest with you. After a moment of silence, I will read the scripture a second time. As you hear it, listen again and ponder on the deep emotions that may surface and what that means in your life connected to this scripture.

Read Luke 4:16–21 NRSVue:

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Pause. Read the scripture a second time. Invite group members to respond to these questions:

• What did you feel while listening to this scripture?
• How do you see the scripture “fulfilled” in the world today?

 

Sharing around the Table

1 Corinthians 12:12–31a NRSVue

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this.

But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts.

Our text today has one of the most famous metaphors in the history of Christianity. Paul introduces us to his celebrated analogy of the church as a human body. This analogy is not unique to Paul, but the way Paul explains it is. This example had enjoyed a long history in the classical literature of Paul’s day. Paul gave it a revolutionary twist.

The authors before Paul had used it as an example to reinforce hierarchy. The brain and heart were like the leaders, the most important body parts that were supported by the lesser organs and parts of the body, holding up the leaders. Paul shows us how each part is unique and important to the success of the entire body.

Paul inverts the force of the metaphor, as many liberation theologies have emphasized. Paul calls not for hierarchy or subordination; instead, he advances a rationale for diversity and interdependence. “Privileged” congregants instead are bound so intimately to their brothers and sisters in one body that the notion of status is subverted. The eloquent preacher could not be heard if the sound technician does not properly operate the sound system.

In Community of Christ, membership and priesthood are viewed as a linear concept. In our Western culture it is easy for us to look at the structure as hierarchical. But Paul’s metaphor continues to remind us that no one is more or less important than the other. The ministry of presence on Sunday morning is just as meaningful as the sermon. The difference in the gifts that are brought before God never should become the foundation for hurtful comparisons.

 

Questions

1. What hierarchies within your faith community need to be taken apart?
2. How are you using your giftedness for the common good?
3. How is your congregation showing God’s love for all people?

 

Sending

Generosity Statement

Faithful disciples respond to an increasing awareness of the abundant generosity of God by sharing according to the desires of their hearts; not by commandment or constraint.

—Doctrine and Covenants 163:9

The offering basket is available if you would like to support ongoing, small-group ministries as part of your generous response. You also may give at CofChrist.org/give.

The offering prayer for Epiphany is adapted from A Disciple’s Generous Response.

Revealing God, may we always be generous. You have gifted each of us with boundless grace and unending love. May our response to that love and grace be humble service to others, and may generosity be part of our nature. Amen.

Invitation to Next Meeting

 

Closing Hymn

Community of Christ Sings 337, “Somos el cuerpo de Cristo/We Are the Body of Christ”

Closing Prayer

Optional Additions Depending on Group

• Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
• Thoughts for Children

 

 

Thoughts for Children

Materials:

• printer paper
• coloring supplies

Name different body parts (four or five) and ask: What is important about that part?

Examples:

What is important about a nose? (We smell with it.)

How about an eye? (We see with it.)

God wants people to be in healthy relationships with God, each other, and Earth. Part of this is recognizing we all are different, but we all are part of the body of Christ—part of God’s community. One person is not more important than another, just like one body part is not more important than another.

Draw a picture of your favorite body part and tell us what is important about it.

Wait a bit and return later for kids to share.

How wonderful it is that we all are different, but all are important in the body of Christ—God’s community.