Isaiah 62:1-5, John 2: 1-11
You may have noticed the wedding theme in our readings today. Isaiah uses the bridegroom and bride in an example of how God feels about us. And the story of the wedding in Cana, John calls it the first sign in the ministry of Jesus.
The weddings got me reminiscing. I've done a few weddings in the 22 years since my first commissioning as lay pastor; 19 to be exact. The first was a joint service with Truman for Matt and Tamara Detert, second was a memorable one, Mark and Nancy Chamberlain and third, my brother-in-law remarried after the death of my sister. A few messages stand out.
You may have noticed the wedding theme in our readings today. Isaiah uses the bridegroom and bride in an example of how God feels about us. And the story of the wedding in Cana, John calls it the first sign in the ministry of Jesus.
The weddings got me reminiscing. I've done a few weddings in the 22 years since my first commissioning as lay pastor; 19 to be exact. The first was a joint service with Truman for Matt and Tamara Detert, second was a memorable one, Mark and Nancy Chamberlain and third, my brother-in-law remarried after the death of my sister. A few messages stand out.
For one, Pastor Mark got a new suit on his birthday that year. He wore that suit for the wedding. We like to tease him about getting married in his birthday suit. In Stephen and Julie's wedding, we did a children's sermon and made a ring around the bride and groom; an unbroken circle of love like the rings they exchanged. In my niece's wedding, my first outdoor wedding, I completely forgot to have the best man and Maid of honor sign the license. I had to run them both down the next day.
I was privileged to preside at the individual weddings of two sisters from Harrison Presbyterian Church. Lauren's was such a fun wedding and I want to share verbatim from my message: “(husband) Grant is going to grad school to study Quantitative Biology. So I thought I'd go online to find out what that meant... not that I thought I'd really be able to understand it. I found a paper by the American Society of Cell Biology. I read for awhile then ran across this question: 'What does a mathematician looking at bacterial division under a microscope have in common with a biologist programming a stochastic simulation of microtubule growth?' Sounded like a joke to me! So I though I could make the nervous groom more comfortable with a couple biology jokes—that maybe only he will get. For instance, did you know that Biology is the only science in which multiplication is the same a division? Did you hear about the famous microbiologist who visited 30 different countries and spoke 6 languages? He was a man of many cultures. Oh, and I want to share Grant's favorite pickup line for Lauren: 'You're so hot, you denature my proteins.'”
One more, from Mathew and Beth's wedding, who I must explain are huge Star Wars fans “The Greek word for light is fos. I'm borrowing from Pastor mark Chamberlain here, but it seems appropriate in light of our Star Wars theme. A wedding blessing...that the light of Christ continues to shine in there live, 'May the fos be with you.'”
Enough of that. I don't want to give the impression that marriage is not a sacred and serious subject. It is joyful and special and sacred. Jesus must have felt that the celebrating was important. He made sure the celebration went on although being a non-drinker, the drinks aren't that important to me for celebrating. The celebration comes from the promises of love and the uniting of two lives into one. And the inclusion of Jesus in our vows. One more memory, here is how I concluded Christa and Jacob's wedding, “One hand, one life, one heart, one vow; one in Christ. It is a mystery that in God's economy of marriage, one plus one equals one. We celebrate that oneness of marriage today with the prayer that God blesses Christa and Jacob with a unity of heart, mind, body and soul.”
There's the reason to celebrate, unity of two people with vows made in the presence and with the promises of God. That likely is what Isaiah had in mind with his marriage comparisons, unity with God. And Jesus, we know held the vows of marriage in high esteem but obviously liked to enjoy the party as well.
Elisabeth Johnson ,Professor Lutheran Institute of Theology Meiganga, Camero wrote in last week's Christian Century, “It is perhaps a bit surprising... that the first miracle of Jesus’ ministry in John’s Gospel is one that seems almost frivolous. In fact, John doesn’t call this act a miracle, but a sign. It is the first of seven such signs in John’s Gospel. Signs point us to something beyond themselves. The sign of Jesus changing the water into wine at the Cana wedding points us to something far more valuable than the wine itself, as fine as the wine may be. It points us to the source of all life and joy.”
We recognize Jesus as the source of all life and joy and so the point of this sign was not simply that the party would go on. The miracle, the sign, is about Jesus being the source of love and joy, of grace and mercy, of the new math where a bride plus a groom plus Jesus equals one; the unity of the Spirit.
And there is more to this wedding theme, the vision of the church as the bride of Christ is a common one in scripture. Specifically, the vision in Revelation of the great wedding feast in heaven. In Revelation 19, John wrote this, “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride (My note, the church) has made herself ready... And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." Here is the promise of celebration as we gather and experience the perfect union with our Lord and Savior as well as the connection with the saints and our loved ones. The wedding feast at Cana gives us a glimpse into the importance that Jesus put on the celebration of eternal life as well as his strong connection to us in our humanity.
John's gospel records Jesus saying this about life, “I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly” (10:10). We don't always see it play out the way it did at this wedding, and weddings don't always have a living happily ever after byline, but abundant life means more than success and the absence of sorrow and plenty of wine. It means living with a connection to Jesus. And the abundant life comes from Jesus walking with us through the valley; and Jesus celebrating with us in our times of joy. It is dwelling in the house of the Lord, it is connecting with the source of life; the source of peace, the source of true joy.
Jesus gives his first sign that he is Messiah by changing water to wine. He didn't save anyone's life, heal a cripple, open blind eyes that day. But he did recognize the joy of unity in marriage. And our message today is that Jesus wants that kind of unity for us. Unity in our marriages if that's where we are in our lives today. But more, unity with him in the person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus wants us to know and be known intimately. That means making a commitment to be with, to know, to communicate with Jesus. Not just on Sunday morning. Have you ever made that sacred commitment with Jesus. “Yes Lord, I am yours.” He stands at the door and knocks. And he waits with all of the saints of every time and place to welcome us to the wedding feast of the Lamb. And it will be a celebration of joy and reunion and understanding. And not just for u but for our Lord. Isaiah tells us, “and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” How wonderful, how marvelous is the union we are can have with our Lord. Amazing love, amazing grace, amazing unity. Amen.
Hymn: I Stand Amazed at the Presence 294 HLC
I was privileged to preside at the individual weddings of two sisters from Harrison Presbyterian Church. Lauren's was such a fun wedding and I want to share verbatim from my message: “(husband) Grant is going to grad school to study Quantitative Biology. So I thought I'd go online to find out what that meant... not that I thought I'd really be able to understand it. I found a paper by the American Society of Cell Biology. I read for awhile then ran across this question: 'What does a mathematician looking at bacterial division under a microscope have in common with a biologist programming a stochastic simulation of microtubule growth?' Sounded like a joke to me! So I though I could make the nervous groom more comfortable with a couple biology jokes—that maybe only he will get. For instance, did you know that Biology is the only science in which multiplication is the same a division? Did you hear about the famous microbiologist who visited 30 different countries and spoke 6 languages? He was a man of many cultures. Oh, and I want to share Grant's favorite pickup line for Lauren: 'You're so hot, you denature my proteins.'”
One more, from Mathew and Beth's wedding, who I must explain are huge Star Wars fans “The Greek word for light is fos. I'm borrowing from Pastor mark Chamberlain here, but it seems appropriate in light of our Star Wars theme. A wedding blessing...that the light of Christ continues to shine in there live, 'May the fos be with you.'”
Enough of that. I don't want to give the impression that marriage is not a sacred and serious subject. It is joyful and special and sacred. Jesus must have felt that the celebrating was important. He made sure the celebration went on although being a non-drinker, the drinks aren't that important to me for celebrating. The celebration comes from the promises of love and the uniting of two lives into one. And the inclusion of Jesus in our vows. One more memory, here is how I concluded Christa and Jacob's wedding, “One hand, one life, one heart, one vow; one in Christ. It is a mystery that in God's economy of marriage, one plus one equals one. We celebrate that oneness of marriage today with the prayer that God blesses Christa and Jacob with a unity of heart, mind, body and soul.”
There's the reason to celebrate, unity of two people with vows made in the presence and with the promises of God. That likely is what Isaiah had in mind with his marriage comparisons, unity with God. And Jesus, we know held the vows of marriage in high esteem but obviously liked to enjoy the party as well.
Elisabeth Johnson ,Professor Lutheran Institute of Theology Meiganga, Camero wrote in last week's Christian Century, “It is perhaps a bit surprising... that the first miracle of Jesus’ ministry in John’s Gospel is one that seems almost frivolous. In fact, John doesn’t call this act a miracle, but a sign. It is the first of seven such signs in John’s Gospel. Signs point us to something beyond themselves. The sign of Jesus changing the water into wine at the Cana wedding points us to something far more valuable than the wine itself, as fine as the wine may be. It points us to the source of all life and joy.”
We recognize Jesus as the source of all life and joy and so the point of this sign was not simply that the party would go on. The miracle, the sign, is about Jesus being the source of love and joy, of grace and mercy, of the new math where a bride plus a groom plus Jesus equals one; the unity of the Spirit.
And there is more to this wedding theme, the vision of the church as the bride of Christ is a common one in scripture. Specifically, the vision in Revelation of the great wedding feast in heaven. In Revelation 19, John wrote this, “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride (My note, the church) has made herself ready... And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." Here is the promise of celebration as we gather and experience the perfect union with our Lord and Savior as well as the connection with the saints and our loved ones. The wedding feast at Cana gives us a glimpse into the importance that Jesus put on the celebration of eternal life as well as his strong connection to us in our humanity.
John's gospel records Jesus saying this about life, “I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly” (10:10). We don't always see it play out the way it did at this wedding, and weddings don't always have a living happily ever after byline, but abundant life means more than success and the absence of sorrow and plenty of wine. It means living with a connection to Jesus. And the abundant life comes from Jesus walking with us through the valley; and Jesus celebrating with us in our times of joy. It is dwelling in the house of the Lord, it is connecting with the source of life; the source of peace, the source of true joy.
Jesus gives his first sign that he is Messiah by changing water to wine. He didn't save anyone's life, heal a cripple, open blind eyes that day. But he did recognize the joy of unity in marriage. And our message today is that Jesus wants that kind of unity for us. Unity in our marriages if that's where we are in our lives today. But more, unity with him in the person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus wants us to know and be known intimately. That means making a commitment to be with, to know, to communicate with Jesus. Not just on Sunday morning. Have you ever made that sacred commitment with Jesus. “Yes Lord, I am yours.” He stands at the door and knocks. And he waits with all of the saints of every time and place to welcome us to the wedding feast of the Lamb. And it will be a celebration of joy and reunion and understanding. And not just for u but for our Lord. Isaiah tells us, “and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” How wonderful, how marvelous is the union we are can have with our Lord. Amazing love, amazing grace, amazing unity. Amen.
Hymn: I Stand Amazed at the Presence 294 HLC