VISITORS AT A WEDDING

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON JANUARY 14, 2007

John 2:11

“This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory.”

Today we are calling Visitor's Sunday - so welcome to all who have been blackmailed, invited, cajoled - whatever brought you here today. Welcome, especially if you are friends of members of our congregation.

If you were brought up Catholic you may be familiar with our traditional Episcopal High Mass. If you weren't you are probably wondering what on earth is going on here. The best thing about High Mass is that if you don't understand the Rector's accent there is plenty to watch!

Today's gospel reading is perfect for Visitor's Sunday - for visitors who are being subjected to the intricacies of High Mass at All Saints Church. Jesus' first miracle, the Wedding at Cana, must surely be a very familiar situation. All of us have been to weddings, perhaps our own or family members. At this wedding at the village of Cana Jesus performs the miracle of turning water into wine - and lots of it. You are all invited into the hall after Mass, where not only will you be offered tea and coffee and goodies - but on the wall of the hall one of our parishioners has painted this very scene of the wedding at Cana - and we are very proud of that wonderful work of art in our hall.

Think about a wedding for a moment. The wedding service has a whole lot of rules and ceremonies, not unlike a traditional High Mass. There are some things very essential - the vows, usually in ancient language. So don't let anyone say that when you come to church you shouldn't have traditional language! There is the obligatory giving and receiving of rings. And of course there is the grand processions of attendants, parents, g room and finally the bride - all well organized by that modern invention, the wedding planner. And of course as well as the ceremony, the language and the traditions, certain things have to be worn. It would be unthinkable that the bride didn't wear white, for instance, and the groom wouldn't wear a tuxedo or something similar, and their attendants would dress in specially chosen clothing. That is the reason why vestments are always a significant part of worship. And every one will be dressed in their Sunday best. So a wedding sounds a lot like what is going on now!

When we get to the reception there is also something to teach us here. No expense will have been spared for the reception. There is wonderful food and plenty to drink, obligatory speeches, the cutting of the cake and the bridal waltz.

When we go to a wedding we expect ceremony, words, tradition and customs. So we should not be surprised that at this - the main celebration of our parish - a similar thing is happening: clothing, ceremony, words - things all laid down by long tradition.

I think that it was more than coincidence that Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding, though he does seem to be reluctant at first when his mother asked him to fix the problem.

St. John says it was "the first of his signs."

My dear friends - Jesus' first sign was at a party with tradition and celebration. On that day he set the pattern for Christian worship and Christian living. He established the wonderful truth that Christianity is a joyful religion, and its worship is always a celebration. Even more than that, this first miracle is at a wedding because a wedding is the starting point of a new family and cements the bonds of community.

Think about a wedding. There are usually three groups: the brides family, the groom's family and the friends of the bride and groom, who often have nothing to do with the other two groups. All joined together as a community to celebrate something. Here is the image of the church, where we all come together in joy and unity to celebrate God's love.

Jesus today established his kingdom as a community of celebration and love and joy, where all are embraced. But there is more to it. In fact that's almost a cliché these days. The church is not only a place for celebration and love and joy - a community of love and welcome. It's also to be (by the very act of Mary) a community of prayer. You see Mary is going to Jesus with a request, and despite his initial reluctance Jesus responds - not only by granting the request, but granting it in abundance - gallons of wine. I think that party went on all night!

So you see a pattern is set here: the church is to be a place where people can go to Jesus and ask him for something. We are to come to Jesus with our needs and in our times of trouble - and he will hear us. He might say "your hour is not yet come." Or he might give you more than you dreamed of.

Not only is this pattern established at the wedding at Cana - but also established is that we can ask others to pray for us too. We can ask our church community to offer prayers, to go to Jesus like Mary did. Or you can ask your priests - and you do, and we put them on our prayer list. Or you can ask his mother Mary, just as she did on that day on behalf of the guests. Mind you if you ask Mary she might also say "do whatever he tells you". I know - look where I ended up!

There is one more thing about this miracle: it is a miracle. Obviously we believe in miracles at All Saints otherwise I wouldn't be talking about it. That needs to be said, because you can go to some churches where they don't believe in miracles. They say you don't have to believe in them to be a Christian. Nothing is compulsory and maybe they are in bed on a cold morning rather than hearing the gospel today. And what a miracle it was. Jesus turned 2 Buck Chuck into Australian Merlot!

This is the key to the sign. Jesus didn't just do a miracle……he turned ordinary water into rich, wonderful, superb wine. And Jesus does that all the time. He is always turning ordinary things into something rich and full. Isn't he always turning our lives around and making them richer and fuller? And doesn't he turn ordinary things of our lives into the means of his presence? That we somehow know we have been with him?

Take this morning for example. Soon he will transform the bread and wine we offer into his very body and blood. It is beyond our comprehension, a bit of a mystery - but happen it will. And when we receive the bread and wine we receive far more. We receive, like those guests at the wedding, something richer and fuller - a vehicle of God's presence.

And Jesus does that in all the other sacraments: baptism, confirmation, marriage, anointing, ordination, and confession. He takes ordinary things like bread, wine, water, oil, hand, words, and they become vehicles of his life, his love, and his grace. And we talk about sacramental grace. It is what we receive when we come to the altar this morning. And all this transforming is called the sacramental principle. That God will take things of our creation and make them things of his presence. And that is why the sacraments are not only important, they become central to Christian living.

What the sacraments do is affirm that everything about creation, everything in the world, is good, and loved by God, and is the means of his presence - in general and in particular, like this morning.

It first happened at that Wedding in Cana of Galilee.

And St. John says: "His disciples believed in him"