Water into Wine

It's been a while since I've posted anything (even though I have plenty to post--there is a ton of material from my trip to South Africa, notes/reflections from prayer stations we used for All Saints Sunday--not to mention pictures from Advent when we followed traced the story of God's presence through the entire Jesse tree)...

But this past Sunday, I preached on John 2:1-12 Jesus' miracle at the wedding in Cana (otherwise known as Jesus turning water into wine).

At first I was drawn to the servants--those who listened to Mary's words ("Do all that he tells you" she said, pointing to Christ) and their willing obedience to Jesus.
They must have drawn a LOT of water. (six stone jars holding 20-30 gallons of water, filled to the brim; that's 120 gallons on the low side. ....calculate that a gallon of water weighs about 8.5 pounds and those servants hauled over a half-ton of weight in water--On TOP of their normal duties as servants). What incredible faithfulness!! How powerful that Jesus' first miracle relied on the participation and obedience of servants.

Then I kept thinking about the miracle itself: the transformation from one substance to another. 

This particular lectionary cycle put that text in the first Sunday of ordinary time--immediately following the Baptism of Our Lord Sunday. Which meant that I was contemplating John 2 while Allen was preaching about baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit that brings transformation into our lives and the lives around us. That's the miracle of sanctification--our pursuit of holiness and Christian perfection happens by God's miracle and our participation (obedience) of that grace.

That's when I noticed the shift from water into wine foreshadows the story of Christ's ministry-- From the waters of Jordan to the wine of the last supper. from baptism to the blood of crucifixion.

So, too, does our Christian faith follow this shift from baptism to a gradual transformation into being Christ-like. Our communion prayer asks that we, like the blood of Christ, would be poured out in obedience and service to the world. And, indeed, the ACT of servant obedience and active participation in God's grace is the very means through which we are transformed and changed.

Thus my final sermon image--a call to holiness, obedience, participation and action (so that as we do everything Christ tells us to do, we would be made into the image of Christ):

Canadian Bacon

I'm late posting this, but I preached last Sunday on 1 Corinthians 8 (Paul's discussion about food sacrificed to idols:

Food. Meat. Thus the bacon...)

Per Allen's suggestion, I'm working hard to keep my sermons focused on ONE idea--which is hard since every text has twenty possible implications.  And even then I struggle over whether I'm faithfully preaching 'the text' or 'the theme'.And whether I'm picking the right theme for the needs of my congregation ...still struggling through all that, actually.

But last week week, there were two implications that stuck to the drawing board: 

1) faith isn't something we do alone. ("look beyond the bacon question and notice the person sitting next to you. Community is important.")

2) sometimes being right is less important than being love. ("we may have to sacrifice/inconvenience ourselves in order to welcome everyone to the table. You can have all the right answers and still miss the point. Community is important.")

The second idea is particularly relevant considering our church still has some fiesty divisions over worship etiquette (coffee refills during the sermon ruffle feathers at one service. Coffee at all would be a sacrilege at the other)--but I went with the first theme, because you have to SEE the person beside you before you're willing to sacrifice for them.  

--> full disclosure, my sermon still tried to straddle both themes a bit, but the similarity held then together. And the main idea was clearly the first theme. 

Images that resonated:

Pushing to be first. To be right. And causing others to stumble. Found online: http://www.gbcdecatur.org/sermons/Trippin.html

And my painted meditation:

In this case, painting was a LAST process (a reflection--not early exegesis) so it affirmed the direction and solidified the theme. 

"Notice the big picture. Don't get caught in black and white questions or 'choosing sides' because you'll miss the green spaces and areas of growth. Our call is to abide in Christ, the vine, and grow in faith together."