Listen to Reading and Sermon 4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the [...]
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4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Audio reading and sermon (http://sunshinecathedral.org/sermons/audio/20100117_6.mp3)
// < ![CDATA[ YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() { YAHOO.sunshine.setBtn("20100117_1"); }); // ]]> Listen to Readings and Sermon Turning Water into Wine The Good News Written Psalm 36.7-9 (NRSV) 7How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 8They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give [...]
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Turning Water into Wine
The Good News Written
Psalm 36.7-9 (NRSV)
7How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 8They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. 9For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
John 2.1-11 (NRSV)
1On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. 9When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, January 17, 2010.
Today’s gospel story is unique to the Gospel of John. Like most of what we find in the 4th gospel, the story is highly symbolic, metaphorical, philosophical and offers us the most when we view it through the lens of allegory.
John’s gospel is written more than 6 decades after Jesus’ execution and almost 3 decades after the Temple in Jerusalem is destroyed. The Temple was a place of gathering, pilgrimage, celebration, hope, opulence, ritual cleansing, a place of blessing. It was a place where people were reminded of their unity with the divine; a place where any false sense of separation from the divine could be healed. But it’s gone when the gospels are being written and long gone when this particular gospel is being written. Without the Temple, where is God housed now? Where might God be found in a world that no longer has this sacred shrine? Today’s reading from John actually answers that question with quite a bit of detail.
