Sermon

January 14, 2007

“What Gifts Do You Bring?”

John 2: 1-11

January 14, 2007

Shopping for a wedding gift today may not be nearly as imaginative as it once was.  You don’t even have to leave your home; you can shop online, by credit card, and, most importantly, you can make your selection by a computerized gift registry.  If you have waited too late, then your imagination may have to kick in and you may end up turning to some bizarre items that nobody needs – items that are sometimes difficult even to identify. 

No one knows what gift Jesus might have brought to the wedding at Cana.  Some people use this passage to say that it is Jesus himself who is getting married, but we read, “….a wedding took place…..and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited.”  It was most important, then, and still is among some cultures and denominations, to make sure that there was/is enough wine for all who have come to celebrate as a community on this momentous occasion.  The important part of this passage, the part we want to keep our eyes on is the turning of water into wine.  In both Greek and Hebrew, the interpretation says, “God’s revealing God’s self.”  Dionysian history tells us that the tradition for a very long time among the priests was that if the water were ever turned into wine, that would be a sign that God had at last come!

Remember, Jesus has just come from the River Jordan, from his baptism by John the Baptist.  When the wine runs out, then, Jesus’ mother comes to tell him, “They have no more wine.”  Quickly, Jesus responds in what some people consider a very negative and critical way, “Woman, what is that to us?  My time has not yet come.”  But he relents and quietly, miraculously, saves the host from embarrassment.  This was the sign, then, that God had revealed God’s self!

Some students of the Bible are quick to point out that Jesus’ mother must have known his powers, that her faith was strong and was finally acknowledged in her son’s act of turning the water into wine.  Others point out that this wedding, found only in the gospel of John, is not unlike our communion services.  Still others note that this first miracle of Jesus perhaps served as Jesus’ wedding gift.

Thanks to Jesus, instead of the host and guests pointing fingers at each other, everyone had a great time!  People who might not have had anything else in common had come together because of the wedding.  Rather than have many of the guests without refreshment, all were refreshed.  These were people who had probably not been together for years, yet here they were, renewing old acquaintances, making new ones.  In many ways, then, the wedding feast resembled the kingdom of God.  And Jesus made all of that possible by providing the gift of joy this wedding day.  (Lawrence Wood, “Wedding Gifts,” Christian Century, p. 16.)

What gifts do you bring?  This year, in education, in Bible study, we are asking the question, “Does your Bible study, your Sunday School class, your small group study, lead to the formation of your spirit?”  “Does your baptism, does your church attendance, result in Christian Living?”  Scripture tells us that we are all given spiritual gifts.  Many are not tangible - like the joy in Cana.  Instead, they have to be revealed in us.  They come from God.  Sometimes, they are discovered at our baptism; sometimes, they are revealed to us in our conversion; sometimes they are revealed at a UMW meeting where 16 women and a similar number of men share some of their gifts at 8 AM on a rainy morning.  Whenever our gifts are revealed, even in a crisis, our faith tells us, “God has something for me to do, and it will be revealed! – it may be being the strong one, the role model, in a group that is out on the town; it may be stepping up to assume a position that requires more time and thought; it may be taking charge of putting together a dinner so that others might come together for a significant purpose and have a meal together; it may be exhibiting patience and love in the midst of addressing controversial issues; it may be reprioritizing some of the things in your life so that your children can have the time they need here at the church to learn Christian Living in both word and song. 

Sometimes our gifts are revealed to us in moments of awakening such as Emmaus; sometimes they are revealed in us in a life-changing moment such as a wedding.  Doesn’t marriage reveal spiritual gifts?  Suddenly, you realize you have patience, humor, forgiveness, putting someone else first? 

At the marriage of Cana, the bride would have been brought to the groom’s family.  After the appropriate greeting and rituals, a lot of washing with their jars, the groom would have signed the kethubah or marriage contract, promising to work for the bride, honor her, keep her, and care for her.  The dowry would have then been delivered.  Hands would have been washed and the feast begun. 

What gifts do you bring?  As part of spiritual formation, as part of acknowledging that we have at baptism been marked by love, the education ministry this year is focusing on marriage and parenting during the “love” month, the month of February.  Dr. Terry Parsons, the conference guru of marriage counseling, the author of “The Intimacy Jungle,” and an ordained United Methodist Minister, will be with us on Friday night, February 2, for a session on “What Women Want…..What Men Want, Too.”  I invite you to come, to participate, and to seek your unique spiritual gifts.  Maybe this event will start you on a year-long journey of a new and multi-gifted you.

What gifts do we bring?  Someone with many gifts was the late president Gerald Ford.  When his biographer asked him what was his greatest regret in life, President Ford thought for a moment and said, “Well, I wanted to play more football as a sophomore and junior, but one year ahead of me, Michigan also had an All-American center, Chuck Bernard.  I was the better offensive center, but Chuck was 25 pounds heavier and better on defense.  And in those days a coach played one guy.  So that was my great regret.”  “But, Mr. President,” asked James Cannon, “what about losing the election in ’76?”  He laughed and said, “Oh, well, that too.” 

Gerald Ford was someone who had the gift of forgiveness and used it not only in his marriage but in healing his country.  As a husband, he loved and supported his wife.  As he was preparing for the election of ’76, McCall’s magazine interviewed his wife.  They asked her, “Hypothetically, what would you do if your daughter told you she was having an affair?”  She replied, “Well, I wouldn’t be surprised….”  When she came in from the interview which had been televised, she asked her husband what he thought.  He said, “Well, that probably cost me about 20,000 votes, but I love you anyway.”  Still, when her drinking and addiction to prescription drugs got out of control, he participated in a family intervention.  Each family member, sitting in a circle around Betty Ford, told her how her drinking and taking pills had hurt them and her.  President Ford’s hardest decision was almost surely the decision that cost him an election.  And in September of 1974, Gerald Ford was almost alone in understanding that there can be no healing without forgiveness.  The criticism was fierce, but President Ford had larger concerns at heart.  And it certainly is not the worst fate that a man be remembered for his capacity to forgive.  This was such a man, a solid and faithful Episcopalian who believed in the power of sharing God’s gifts in community. 

Another such man who believed in the power of sharing God’s gifts in community was Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we celebrate tomorrow.  Whereas President Ford’s gift was forgiveness, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s gift was vision.  He really was not that good at impromptu speaking.  He always spoke from a prepared script.  When he was getting ready to go to Washington, his staff begged him not to go with his “I Have a Dream” emphasis that he had repeated so often all over the country.  He agreed and prepared new remarks.  As he began speaking from his prepared script in Washington that day, legend has it that Mahalia Jackson yelled out, “Tell them about the dream, Martin.  Tell them about the dream.”  At that point, one of the staffers said he looked up and saw Martin turning his script face down on the podium and he said, “Oh, expletive deleted, no!”  Another staffer watched Martin as he went into his sincere, longstanding and earnest theme of “I Have a Dream.”  As the cadence built, he remembers thinking to himself, “Most of these people don’t know it yet, but they are getting ready to go to church!”  Martin Luther King believed in the power of the body of Christ, that we all have gifts to bring, that the Spirit helps us to bring out the best in each other, that no one has all the gifts; it’s when we come TOGETHER that we are fully blessed. 

What is remarkable is Paul’s suggestion in his letter to the Corinthians that these varied gifts, some of them so ordinary, build the kingdom of God, one household at a time.  This year we have the slogan “EMI,” Every Member Involved, because we believe that your baptism does make a difference; we believe that when you joined FUMC, your pledge to use the gifts God has given you in serving God should not be in vain.  What gifts do you bring? 

At the wedding in Cana, Jesus revealed his own gifts.  He set aside his own priorities and didn’t distinguish between wants and needs.  Out of water came wine; out of duty came joy. 

A wedding day is supposed to leave a surplus, isn’t it?  It is supposed to bring joy.  Maybe that’s what the six tall jars of wine signified: abundant joy - enough to last until the kingdom of God.  What a gift!  Thanks be to God for each of our gifts!  Thanks be to God for the faith of Mary.  May our faith increase!  Amen.