Open M Open Heart, Open Mind and Open Door
Open Heart, Open Mind, and Open Door
“Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Open Doors” is the United Methodist’s trademark phrase expression its mission for evangelism. It is a wonderful catch phrase. And its essence contains the Christian message as well as the Methodist Social Affirmation to the world. To whom and how should we open these three doors: with our hearts, minds and opportunities? I see three doors in this catch phrase.
Jesus said, “I am the gate for the sheep: whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, freely and find pasture.” We need to see people we meet and world we live with Jesus’ heart, Jesus’ mind and Jesus’ door.
First of all, there is a door of the heart. What does it mean to have an “open heart”? Until I came to the United States, I had not known what racism is and how it matters, since in Korea, I grew up in a racially homogeneous country. There were some foreigners who were traveling and assigned to stay for a time in Korean, but all the permanent residents were homogeneously Korean. So, there was no concept such as racism in that society at that time. But, in United States, we can see many, many different races and cultures are mixing together in this “melting pot” nation, and so, racism matters.
Until I came to the United States, I had not realized that I, too, had tendencies to feel separate and different from people of other races, which is really a sin before God. When I learned about the issues of racism in seminary in the United States, I found in myself that I had a tendency to see people differently because of my own racism in my heart. One day, I confessed to myself that I had been wrong in my attitude toward others, whom I saw as separate from, and not equal to myself. That was an open-heart moment for me.
When I was ten years old, my family adopted a girl who was the same age as I was. Her name was Kum-sun, and she had no relationship to my family. One night, my oldest sister took this girl from her
“Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Open Doors” is the United Methodist’s trademark phrase expression its mission for evangelism. It is a wonderful catch phrase. And its essence contains the Christian message as well as the Methodist Social Affirmation to the world. To whom and how should we open these three doors: with our hearts, minds and opportunities? I see three doors in this catch phrase.
Jesus said, “I am the gate for the sheep: whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, freely and find pasture.” We need to see people we meet and world we live with Jesus’ heart, Jesus’ mind and Jesus’ door.
First of all, there is a door of the heart. What does it mean to have an “open heart”? Until I came to the United States, I had not known what racism is and how it matters, since in Korea, I grew up in a racially homogeneous country. There were some foreigners who were traveling and assigned to stay for a time in Korean, but all the permanent residents were homogeneously Korean. So, there was no concept such as racism in that society at that time. But, in United States, we can see many, many different races and cultures are mixing together in this “melting pot” nation, and so, racism matters.
Until I came to the United States, I had not realized that I, too, had tendencies to feel separate and different from people of other races, which is really a sin before God. When I learned about the issues of racism in seminary in the United States, I found in myself that I had a tendency to see people differently because of my own racism in my heart. One day, I confessed to myself that I had been wrong in my attitude toward others, whom I saw as separate from, and not equal to myself. That was an open-heart moment for me.
When I was ten years old, my family adopted a girl who was the same age as I was. Her name was Kum-sun, and she had no relationship to my family. One night, my oldest sister took this girl from her