This Sunday I am returning to the Collingbournes, Kingston and Ducis to lead worship. You will be very welcome to join me at 9.30 am for Holy Communion or 11am for Family Worship.

We are still in the season of Epiphany and this week we have one of my favourite moments of revelation of Jesus’ true identity, The Wedding at Cana. It is a well-known passage, even if it is mostly for Jesus performing his first miracle, turning water into wine.

Jesus, his friends and family have been invited to a wedding when, shock horror, the wine runs out! This would have been such a dishonour to the bride and groom’s families that Mary steps in and pushes Jesus forward, ‘do as he tells you’ she says in her best pushy mother voice (I tend to hear Maureen Lipman). At first Jesus is reluctant. He may be the Son of God, and Mary may well be quite right in encouraging her boy to do all that he is capable of doing, but once this miracle has been performed there will be no turning back for Jesus, he will no longer be able to fly under the radar.

Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

John 2:11

We all know just how tough life can be. Daily footage of death, famine, pestilence, and war, can make us fear that the end is nigh, and perhaps it is (Jesus tells his disciples that no-one will know the time or hour). We are reminded that even our best laid plans, such as just how much wine can be drunk by guests at a wedding, can fail us. We can swing so easily from having it all, to having nothing at all. A church I spent time with in the US whilst training to be a vicar has now been destroyed by the wildfires in LA.

Jesus knows how fragile and vulnerable life is. Jesus knows how the world can flip from songs of hallelujah to cries of crucifixion. Jesus knows how much can hurt us, and yet, in the midst of everything he chooses to love. When Jesus is not ready to be revealed for who he truly is, when he wants one more drink, one more care-free dance, he steps forward to turn water into wine so that he may bless others. When he hangs from that cross he speaks words of reassurance to the prisoner next to him, and forgiveness to those carrying out his death sentence. And as we struggle with the doom and gloom of these present times, we are given these readings to remind us of God’s love for us.

The Old Testament passage for today comes from the prophet Isaiah. Israel is not in a good place, in fact it is in Exile. Israel is being punished, but it is not forgotten. The words Isaiah has been given to share are promises of marriage, promises of a new home, of a new start, a reminder that they are beloved of God.

Weddings are times of joy and hope. They are times when we laugh and cry and cheer, and celebrate the happy couple, and perhaps even reflect with love upon our own marriages and relationships. The vows of a church wedding seem poetic and beautiful, but there are harsh words there too. As the bride and groom take deep breaths, shed a tear, swallow a nervous giggle, they make vows to love and cherish and protect each other for better and for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer. Of course on a day when the flutter of rose petals and the peel of bells fill the air, we tend only to think of the positive half of those vows. Those of us who have been married a few years (27 years and counting) know that just isn’t possible.

In our spiritual marriage with Jesus, in God’s created world in which we live, we know there will be times which are more for the worse than the better. We also know that it doesn’t mean that Jesus loves us any less. Even when we mess up, even when others mess up, Jesus is still loving, forgiving, merciful.

We can live our lives being fearful or angry or disappointed. We can slump into feelings of everything is just getting worse and there is no better. Or we can remind ourselves that God is love, that Jesus blesses the wine that we drink, and seek to bring hope and love to others.

You can read the story of Jesus at the Wedding here and Isaiah’s prophecy here.

This year’s Petite Retreat for Lent will be Live in Love. Watch this space for more details.