Sermon: January 14, 2007 (Epiphany II)

“Try doing the math!” Wedding at Cana

-years ago I had a college room-mate named Glenna who was notorious for her parties—most every week-end the wine and the food flowed in abundance

-a few years later when after we had each gone our separate ways she called me from Saskatchewan to ask if I would preside over her wedding

-I was planning to make a trip home that summer so I gladly agreed

-the wedding was to be take place at her mother’s place, another woman who was famous for her hospitality

-well I arrived on the bus to Moose Jaw a day before the wedding and was picked up by Glenna’s brother

-I was quizzing him about the party because I knew it would be grand

-where was the banquet to be held, I asked—well it turns out that her parents had built an addition just for the occasion

-and I thought, gee that must be some addition

-and what about the dance I asked…there was going to be a dance

-“oh, yes”, he replied

-and where would that be—in the addition he said

-well, it was quite the addition—a huge room with a cathedral ceiling with a bar that would make any establishment proud

-but they loved a party

-and I always think of them when I read the story of the wedding at Cana

-I mean really, what extravagance, building an addition the same size as your house just so you can entertain guests

-but according to John, the first miracle that Jesus performs is equally extravagant

-it’s a wedding banquet and people have been partying for a while because the wine has run out and this was a household with means because there are servants so there has already been a significant amount of wine consumed

-in response to the crisis Jesus directs the servants to fill 6 stone pots used by the Jews for the ritual washing with water

-and he proceeds to turn the water into the finest of wines

-now there is all kinds of stuff going on here—this is after all, John, prince of symbolism, master of epiphany

-John wants his audience to read the signs—now sometimes they’re really convoluted and you have to understand the context and the culture to decipher them

-and most times there are at least two layers of meaning, the literal and the metaphorical

-but first let’s do the math

-6 jugs of water each holding 20-30 gallons are transformed into great wine

-so lets average it out and say we have 6 x 25 =150 gallons of wine

-now your average bottle of wine is about a litre

-that means the equivalent of 600 bottles of wine show up at the banquet after everyone has probably already had more than enough

-and it’s good stuff even though by now there will be some guests who can no longer distinguish between wine and strong vinegar

-so now that we’ve done the math let’s think about the literal meaning of this passage

-it’s simply, really:

-the party will go on—now of course this has all kinds of social implications, the hosts will not be shamed, the guests will not be disappointed, the bride and groom will not remember their wedding with embarrassment—all that is true because the party will go on

-I have received one e-mail from a parishioner in the last week

-it was a most wonderful e-mail to receive during the first full week of my ministry here.

-this is how it reads

-Tom Leighton and Conrad Kipping, an amazing Celtic and folk duo, are slated to perform at the Barley Room-that’s the Waring House Pub on the 26th-27th this month.  Do you and Phil take a pure fun break now and again? We seldom miss them when they come to Picton

-well, I couldn’t get my agenda out fast enough—Celtic music at the Pub—doesn’t get any better than that

-the party will go on- I wonder what that means for you; now we’re talking about Jesus and a party and a whole lot of wine

-so is it time you took a break?

-is it time you lightened up?

-is it time to reconnect with people you love?

-is it time for more joy?

-because this first miracle that Jesus performs and if John makes it the first miracle then that a sign that it’s a super significant miracle, well it’s about making sure the party will go on, the joy will go on, the fellowship will go on, the belonging will go on

-Phil and I never had parties until we moved to the farm—I wonder if that’s why the farm felt so much like home—it was just such an inviting place, a place that we had to share and I know that we were transformed and others were transformed because of the community we experienced there

-the party will go on—a good party is a bit like a Sabbath time, don’t you think—it gives us a chance to shed the weight and the woe from our lives; to live in community; to share joy

-and all of those things are healing—they restore balance to our lives so when Jesus shows up the party will go on

-I wonder what that might mean for you

-so what other signs is John pointing to with this first miracle—well there is tons of symbolism: water into wine, old into new—but the math I think, provides the most obvious sign and that is that there is going to be more than enough wine flowing at that party

-too much probably, more than they’ll need and such I believe are the gifts of God to us

-more than enough and good quality too though we aren’t always alert enough to recognize them

-more than enough

-now let’s talk church for a moment—I suspect that you could divide churches into 2 categories: those who think there’s enough and those who don’t

-and I bet if I told you what category a church fit into, you could tell me about its approach to life

-and the same goes for people too

-those churches like those people who think there is never enough are always just a bit worried, anxious, suspicious because if there’s not really enough well then they have to make sure they keep what they have safe

-but if you know there’s enough well, you can be generous, be joyful, be at peace

-this congregation has accomplished so much in the last few years in so many areas including in the area of money

-last year you set a budget of $104,000 and I know many of you were very nervous about that budget but you met it and surpassed it by $5,000

-now that’s a sign worth paying attention to because behind that money is all kinds of energy and commitment and creativity—and behind all of that energy and commitment and creativity is God’s generous Spirit who is always giving us more than enough

-more than enough is a theme that runs through the biblical text-it points to a generous God who can be trusted

-and remember how Alexander described a quest last week; he called it “a dangerous adventure”

-and you know how all the knights get together for one humdinger of a party before they head of on their quest

-well, this wedding at Cana is a bit like that –there is all kinds of danger ahead of Jesus; there is all kinds of risk involved in following Jesus

-and so this miracle, this party, this abundance—these are signs we’ve got to hold on to because they will get us through those parts of the “dangerous adventure” that are going to be really hard

-like when the darkness sets in and it will set in from time to time, and when it looks like the money will run out, and when the road beneath us is shifting

-we need to remember that God’s gifts to us in our personal lives, in our life together, will be more than enough

-and we may be not always be in the right kind of shape to recognize the gifts, like those who’d been drinking for days at the wedding banquet

-very often it’s only when we look back that we are able to discern that all along God provided us with more than enough

-so here are two more signs that we belong to God, signs that we may need to remind one another about from time to time, signs that we need to celebrate from time to time, signs that are worth telling others about:

#1-The party will go on

and

#2-There will be more than enough…

Thanks be to God.