2nd Sunday after Epiphany, January 17, 2016

Collect for the Day

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

                                                                        
Reflections: Last week Janiece Omos entered the Body of Christ through the waters of baptism (without crying even once)—and with her, we remembered our own baptism. We marked the first deliberate step in the lifelong journey through which God calls us into the fullness of Christ. Today we celebrate Christ as Light, and pray that Christ may so illuminate scripture and sacraments that this Light may shine in us and through us.

 First Reading: Isaiah 62:1-5

For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
    until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch.
The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory;
    and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.
You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
    and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
    and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married;
    for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

Reflections: Sometimes we feel abandoned, desolate; we despair. The world around us and the judgments of others may reinforce our misery. Acquaintances may avoid us; perhaps even those closest to us. But even if we give up, God has not, God never abandons us.

Admittedly, it’s easy to spout reassurances if you’re not the one suffering. Well-meaning phrases are meant to console. “It’s okay, honey. It’s for the best.” “I’m sure God did it for a purpose.” “When a door closes, God opens a window.” But I suspect that we often say these things because we really don’t know what to say. We want the other person feel better. We want to feel better, too. The truth is, other people’s misery makes us uncomfortable. Could it be that their predicament has the potential to make us ask very hard questions we really don’t want to face?

It takes tremendous courage to face a devastating situation without resorting to too-quick reassurances. It’s difficult to sit with pain, with hard questions. On the other hand, scripture assures us, it is in the darkness that Light shines.

I suspect that prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah opened themselves to the disturbing reality of Israel’s situation instead of fending off the troubling reality (and defending God) with quick answers.

I suspect, in fact, that courage and vulnerability and questioning may be important in their discernment of God’s voice in and through very situations.  

Psalm 36:5-10  Dixit injustus

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens,*  your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the strong mountains, your justice like the great deep;* you save both man and beast, O Lord.
How priceless is your love, O God!* your people take refuge under the shadow of your wings.
They feast upon the abundance of your house;* you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the well of life,* and in your light we see light.
Continue your loving-kindness to those who know you, * and your favor to those who are true of heart.

Reflections: God, who provides all our needs cannot be comprehended. The psalmist breaks into poetry: God’s love reaches to the heavens, God’s righteousness like mountains, and justice like the unfathomable depths. But the psalmist doesn’t use these images simply because he is inspired by the natural world; God is so great that Divine Love embraces the whole of creation.

God cares for us and gives us mall we need. But God also gives us more than the obvious needs: nourishment, shelter, companionship, and so on. But more than that, God is “the well of life.” Human beings yearn to know God, even those of us who are unaware of it.

It is in that yearning that God already resides. It’s not our own great ideas that teach us about God; it’s not even memorizing the Bible or the doctrines of the church. These things are only (at their best) expressions of something far greater. And that far greater thing is the indwelling Christ in whose “light we see light.”

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.
           Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

Reflections: The first paragraph reminds us that the best that is in us comes from God. I am reminded of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 15 that it is not what goes into us that defiles us, but what comes out. This suggests that it is not our circumstances—and certainly not our nature—that defiles us, but our own doing. To walk in purity, on the other hand, is not something we can do on our own. IN fact, we are never alone, and that is most visible when we are at our best.

St. Paul then addresses spiritual gifts. It is easy to get caught up in “spiritual gifts,” discerning, categorizing, and reclassifying them. Sometimes this trends in the church. OF course, we all want to know that have spiritual gifts—especially if they’re not obvious examples on one of Paul’s lists. In this passage he cites wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. Later in the same chapter he adds apostles, teachers, and givers of guidance. In Romans 12 he also mentions serving, encouraging, giving, leading, and showing mercy.

The list is extensive, and seems continually be under expansion or revision. It seems as though Paul keeps thinking of more and different signs of the Spirit at work, as though in the end there is no authoritative list.

What if, during those times when we get preoccupied with identifying our gifts, we are focusing on the wrong thing? What if the real point isn’t the categories, but variety? Could it be that the Spirit is at work in every moment that we (with intent or by accident) think or act out of selfless love, and for the common good?

Could it be that we exercise myriad and innumerable “gifts” whenever we unselfconsciously allow Christ expression in our daily lives? 

Gospel: John 2:1-11 

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it.

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

Reflections: This reading invariably sparks a lot of discussion, ranging from observations about the place and nature of Mary to the fact that Jesus is not depicted as austere and judgmental of the bridegroom’s poor planning or days of drinking and partying. All that and more deserve comment, but I’m going to focus on three things that struck me that last time I listened to this reading.

          First, (however we interpret it) Jesus’ response to his mother tells us that he isn’t inclined to act. Nevertheless, when directly confronted with the problem, he responds—and responds generously. I can’t help but think about the many times each day when something unanticipated comes up. Maybe it takes me out of my comfort zone (a homeless person?), is inconvenient (a flat tire? an impediment to my lunch hour?), or is not my responsibility (a coworker who asks for help doing something she should already know how to do?). At such times I have a choice. I can protect my time and space and refuse to respond (and sometimes that’s the best to do). Or I can accept the interruption and trust that God will meet me in the situation right in front of me.

The second thing I noticed in this story was the behavior of the servants. Now, it’s reasonable to assume that servants had no obligation to follow the instructions of a guest. That makes their quick obedience surprising. What is more, Jesus’ instructions involved lugging six stone jars to the water source, then filling them to the brim, and bringing them back again. Jars holding 20-30 gallons each.

Now consider, what is the largest container of liquid you buy? How easy is it to haul from your vehicle into the house? What if it were made of stone?

Then put yourself in the servants’ shoes. Surely they must have wondered “why?” What was the point of filling these great heavy jars with water, anyway? Jesus wasn’t yet known for miracles.

Third. “You have kept the good wine until now.” Anybody with any money sense would save money by serving the good stuff before people had imbibed too much to care. By the third day, the guests probably couldn’t tell the difference. So the steward is surprised: now comes the good wine.

The steward doesn’t say “the best wine.” That would imply that the wine served first was good, and the water-become-wine was better. It would mean that the early and the late wine were of the same type of stuff, simply occupying a different place on the continuum from worst to best.

Rather, the implication is that this wine is different. While the steward thought the first wine was good, once he tasted this wine he realizes that the first wine wasn’t even particularly good. This is the good wine. There is a new experience that helps interpret customary experience.

What God in Christ offers us is not the same reality we already know—our status quo—only better.  It is a whole different order of things, a new way of being. It is new life that really can’t be categorized; it can only be lived.