Jesus turns the water into wine! The ordinary into the extra-ordinary. The simple into the elegant. Water is plain, but wine is spiritual…(it’s all symbolic in this story)
I can talk up here about the sacred qualities of wine, but if you really want to taste and feel our gospel this day, I want to encourage strongly you to take a big gulp of the wine this morning at communion--maybe two gulps!--and feel this grace of God warm your whole body. That’s a little obnoxious, I know, but so is God’s love for you, if you think about it. Do you really deserve grace and forgiveness and love and eternal life? If Jesus came back in body today and took a hard look at your life, your home, your work, at our world, the way we treat each other (the poor, the children, the outcast) do you really think we would qualify for forgiveness and grace and love? Seriously, we always have extra wine anyway that Altar Guild has to pour out, so don’t be shy, gulp it! Make the assisting minister work...
This amazing story is symbolic; it’s telling us something about God...that the kingdom of God is a great party! And we’re called to live into that party. Enjoy it, friends in Christ. God’s grace and love overflows, it is obnoxious. I feel like I say that a lot, but let’s let that message sink in, as we gulp it in...recalling the Cana feast Drink the wine today. Take too much. God’s grace is too much...like loud music at a party or confetti. God’s grace is excessive and over-the-top! And everyone’s invited. No secret in-groups or left-out losers. With God’s wedding banquet, and Jesus as the host, everyone comes in (“Mine is the church…”), everyone enjoys themselves, everyone dances and is offered a beverage and stays ‘til the sun comes up. Even the quiet and shy ones have a great time. Even the grumpy ones crack a smile once they taste the dessert. Because the kingdom of God is a party! [pause]
Reflect for a moment on the places and the times in your life when God’s grace has filled you and warmed you and gratified you, brought you enjoyment, like a big ol’ gulp of wine. Liquid grace. This happens, obviously, at more places than great banquets and wedding feasts, which are wonderful, but only come around once in a while: God’s grace flows into our everyday. Today is a day to celebrate these gallons of grace that are poured out for you...all the time. What are they for you?
Do you have a forgiveness story? A time when you thought you were really going to “get it” for something you had done, and instead you hear an announcement of forgiveness?
When I was in high school, I was coach of a swim team, and I abused the privilege and the trust of our boss, a great big Texas football coach in the regular season. LeeRoy Johnson. A group of us snuck into the pool at night and threw a party once. Abused the privilege of having a key. And when we got busted, we thought that he wasn’t just going to tell our parents and fire us, we thought he was going to have our hides too. Smack us around a little.
And yet, he called us together, and told us (me and the 3 other older boys, the leaders) that he loved us like his own sons, and if anything ever happened to us, he wouldn’t know what to do.
Grace. Water to wine. Love overflowing. Surprising and undeserved.
Have you ever had a friend or a parent or sibling just forgive you for something that you said to them that was terrible. Just plain old fashioned “Look, I forgive you. And l love you. Let’s just put this behind us.” Grace. Like a gulp of wine, going down. Makes us warm and giddy. And a little bit dizzy. That’s God’s grace. That water into wine. What are your grace stories? Just little things.
A child giving you a hug, or a scenic vista take your breath away, or an entree that makes you just blurt out at a formal dinner party, “Oh my God, this is so good!” That’s what we’re talking about today. God’s grace. The Kingdom of God is a party. Over the top. Not just 3 or 4 bottles of wine, 180 gallons of grace and joy!
Have some fun this week--whatever that means for you (have dinner with a friend, or take a walk by yourself, take your grandkids to the park, drink a bit of wine, or just go to bed early if that would be a treat…) have some fun this week, go a little over the top--and do it with a mind to prayer and thanksgiving, knowing that God blesses your holy celebrating. The kingdom and grace and love of God is a party.
I’m afraid we don’t hear that enough, as followers of Jesus, and it’s not not whole picture of who we are, but it’s a big part of it. We are a people of celebration! Not celebration for our own sake, our celebration and no one else’s, a private party, but celebrating with strangers. Like the way strangers celebrate with each other over a World Series trophy and there’s dancing in the streets, or a presidential inauguration...
I was in Washington D.C. for 2 days this week to visit my brothers, and we read a story about a metro train back in 2004 broke down in a tunnel underground for over an hour. It was on the way to the Presidential Inauguration in 2004. And the article said that everyone was in such a festive mood, they just broke out into song: started singing “Lean On Me”. Their particular joy was just that great on that day. Isn’t it a great image? Trapped in a dark tunnel, singing? Probably made them late for the event, but joy poured out of the windows of the train. Water into wine. And it’s not just a party with your friends: it’s singing with total strangers. Imagine the maintenance crews running into that dark tunnel to rescue the trapped civilians, only to hear a hope-filled melody echoing down the cold, damp chamber.
Saw the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, too. A great stone monument of King, standing upright, with a quote etched into the side. “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope”. Think of all the singing with strangers that happened during those civil rights days that we recall in these days. Talk about water to wine!
God’s party. Grace and forgiveness, that flows like wine, friends! Like a song in a dark tunnel. It’s all for you, freely given. Take it in this morning. Christ turns our ordinary into extraordinary, our water into wine. Gulp it. Enjoy it! It is poured out for you. And there’s plenty for us to share with fellow travelers on the train--even those we don’t know or don’t like. Pass the cup around. Jesus turns our water into wine, and that’s worth celebrating. Cheers!
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