January 20, 2019

Second Sunday After Epiphany
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 36:5-10
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
John 2:1-11

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you from the God of abundant life. Amen
 
Today Jesus turns water into wine.
It’s one of his most well known miracles or signs
 even among those otherwise uninterested in Jesus
 but who are fascinated at the possibility of this power,
 ‘oh the savings they cry as they buy yet another bottle of wine,
if only I were Jesus, all I would need is some water… ‘
which as wonderful as that may be
 misses the point of the story entirely.
 
The wine is not the point,
it’s what the wine is for,
the restoring of relationships
which Jesus does in abundance.
 
Jesus and his friends and family are at a wedding,
just as with now
weddings in ancient times were complicated social affairs
 lasting days if not a week
during which the families of the bride and groom
were to provide appropriate refreshment,
 
an important act of hospitality to be sure
but also a way of gaining social capital
 in an honor shame society.
 
Gaining honor or being shamed
had serious social and even economic consequences
 so it was important for the new couple
 to start their life together in good standing with their community
 by providing a good wedding feast
of course including wine.
 
Which is why it is a crisis
when the wine runs out
before the end of the feast,
 the couple’s standing in the community is at stake.
 
Jesus’ mother,
 who knows he can do something about this
points out the situation to Jesus
 and while he is initially reluctant to act
he does what his mother asks,
 
telling the servants to fill the big stone jars with water
 then to draw some out and take it to the chief steward,
 the one in charge of running the party,
 
and when the steward tastes the wine that the water has become
he goes and honors the groom for saving the best wine for last
 and the relationship between the new couple and the community is restored,
even increased.
 
Now of course Jesus didn’t just make a little of this wine,
John tells us that the six stone jars hold 20-30 gallons each,
180 gallons of the best wine.
 
When Jesus gives,
 he gives abundantly
and the abundance of God
leads to restored relationships.
 
 And that is the essence of Jesus’ mission in the gospel of John.
 in John 10:10 Jesus says
 “I came so that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
 It’s his mission statement,
the guiding principle of his life,
 providing abundant life for all.
 
Now when we think of abundance
we tend to think in material terms,
 a lot of wine, money, land, cars, those kinds of things
 and often the getting or having a lot of things
is attributed to the blessing of God,
or interpreted as a sign of God’s favor.
 
But we are well aware
that many people who have a lot of stuff,
 who are rich in material goods
 do not act in ways that please God
an abundance of things is not an automatic sign of the favor of God.
 
 As Jesus shows us in the gospel of John,
 abundant life is much more holistic,
 abundant life happens when relationships on all levels are in harmony,
 abundant life happens in community.
 
Karoline Lewis, a professor at Luther Seminary says this about the communal nature of the abundance of God:
 
“Abundance, as it turns out, is never just about you and Jesus alone,
 as much as we want it to be that way,
 hope it will be that way,
but about bringing us into relationships when once rejected,
 into a community when once abandoned,
and into life, true life, abundant life, once thought to be lost forever.
 
What difference does this make?
 Well, it means that abundance can never be an individualized affair.
 It’s not just that abundance is not yours to keep;
 it’s that abundance reorients your way of being in the world.
Abundance is known in relationship.
Abundance cannot be realized
 unless it is experienced in relationship with others -- and fundamentally, with God.
 
Because being on the receiving end of abundance
 is never for abundance alone,
 especially yours alone,
but is for the sake of seeing the absence of it in others
 and doing something about it.” (Karoline Lewis, Working Preacher, 1/13/19)”
 
The abundance of God is received and lived out in community.
 
We as a community are living in a time of abundance.
 At our annual meeting after service
we will reflect back on the abundant life of the last year
 and we will look to the future
which holds exciting things.
 
For example
 we have been given a monetary gift to start an endowment
that will allow us to do something when we see a lack of abundance in the lives of others.
I am very excited about this but we’ll talk about it more in a bit.
  
But more important
is the abundance found within the people of this community.
 
 In our second lesson
 Paul talks about the gifts of the spirit,
 who has given a gift to everyone for the common good.
We all have gifts to share.
 
The spirit gives a different gift to each of us
and brings us together in community to work together-
 Paul goes on to liken this to a body,
 many members and different parts
 that work together to be a whole,
 with each different part necessary for the good of the one body.
 
Each of us has different gifts
God doesn’t expect us as individuals to be good at everything,
God does expect us to live in community
 with others whose gifts are complimentary
 and all together as a community
 live lives turned outward,
sharing the abundance of God.
 
The spirit has given us many gifts as a community,
each of you,
with your gifts make this community what it is
 and as we welcome more people as members
 all of us become richer in the gifts of the spirit.
 
We are living in a time of abundance as a community,
 our big stone jars are filled to overflowing with the best wine,
it is time for us to both savor the taste of God’s grace
 and find ways to share the abundance with others,
especially those who lack.
 
Together we will listen to the call of the holy spirit,
dream about how the abundance of God in our lives can be used to serve others
and then, as one body with many members
we will share the abundance entrusted to us
so that in the name of Jesus,
all may have life and have it abundantly. Amen