[Propertalk] 2 Epiphany c rcl

[Robert P Morrison]

I began this, and wrote the bulk of it, on Monday. Then the earthquake in Haiti happened and I added those references on Thursday evening. Since then I've been at Diocesan meetings and an ordination. Now I'm settling in to re-read this for tomorrow.

God's peace - 

Bob

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY 	    2 EPIPHANYC RCL
ISAIAH 62:1-5                          17th JANUARY, 2010
1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-11	        PSALM 36:5-10
JOHN 2:1-11

	I’ve got WAY too many books. I mean, I just finished moving books out of the office at the Church in Lincoln City, which is a good thing. But where do I put them now? It seems from the way I’ve lived my life I’ve never seen a book store I didn’t like! 
	Is there a book-buyers’ anonymous? There must be, somewhere. And yet there’s something tremendously satisfying to simply picking up a book and reading the dust cover, checking out what the author has written or done previously. Simply hearing about or reading a book title can set the imagination off on some wild exploratory dream. Either positively or negatively, one can be taken to some exotic places, or put on a whole new journey, simply by the juxtaposition of words.
	Such was the case with a book I saw described on an Episcopal Church web site this week. It’s a book of decent length, although I haven’t seen the type size; it’s published by a House which has a very good reputation; and the author is someone of whom I haven’t heard before. But the title – I wonder if it was hers, carefully worked out over a long time, marinating as she wrote on the subject. Or was it her editor’s?  Either way, for me it was a winner, because I made me think of things I already knew or suspected, but from a different perspective.
	“A Paradise Built in Hell” – that’s the book’s title. That’s catchy enough to sell the book even at $27.95! 1
	I’d be willing to bet that most, if not all of us, in this room think of Paradise, of the place of God’s perfection, and glory, and joy being worked out among humans, I’d be willing to bet that most of us here have always thought of Paradise as being such an incredibly wonderful state of being that it’s never ever crossed our heads to think of it as anything less than wonder-filled from before time came about.
	But here’s Rebecca Solnit, suggesting that this may not always be the case, indeed, that Paradise may be even BETTER, in our own individual experiences, at least, for having arisen out of what she calls Hell. And yet – there may be very few of here this morning who haven’t experienced a bit of Hell in our lifetimes.
	Maybe we’ve been knocked over by an accident or an illness that enveloped a family member or loved one. Possibly we’ve made financial commitments – to friends, to spouses, to banks, to stores; we’ve bought and furnished homes and cars, only to have our source of income appear to dry up, if not actually disappear.
	I heard that the month of December past presents some horrible statistics about joblessness, and economic stagnation, despite being a reasonably busy sales month. Certainly from the crowds packed into New York’s Times Square and the stores there a couple of days after Thanksgiving, you could have fooled me that people weren’t confident about their economic situation. But the news issued a week or so ago wasn’t nearly so rosy.
	A friend who used to live in Lincoln City but moved to Michigan, e-mailed the other day to say that her six-year-old grand-daughter, for whose birth she moved in the first place, has just been diagnosed with type one diabetes. She’s SO upset. She’s SO close to her grand-daughter. And this is a friend whose niece had flown from Portland to Thailand for her Christmas vacation, only to be killed on the 26th December, 2004, when the tsunami in the Indian Ocean caused such horrendous devastation.
	And then there’s Haiti.
	Hell isn’t that far away, even for those with good, rooted, strong faith. Not even the most detailed of plans can prevent the bottom from falling out of our worlds. It seems that way too often we’re pressed into situations of asking ourselves, or asking others, “Why do we suffer? Why don’t things run smoothly? What is it about this world in which we live and the people whom we know that makes life not only unpredictable, but dangerous?”
	Until the book title popped off the computer screen at me the other day, I hadn’t thought of that wedding in Cana as being on the fast track to social disaster, if not actually Hell. Weddings are supposed to be fun. Not always, but usually the couple are in the full bloom of youth; they’re beginning careers; they have plans, and hopes, and dreams – as do their parents and friends. A wedding is a time for fantastic celebration. So in a society and a time such as Jesus’, to have anything mar the joy, to have anything make anyone look unprepared, or careless, or stupid, would depress not just the families, but the whole community which was engaged in the celebration.
	So Jesus’ Mum dragged Him into a corner and hissed at Him to “fix things”.
	That couple were lucky. So were the families and guests, so was the entire village! Jesus not only bailed them out, He lifted the party to an entire new level. And that’s what John wants us to take home from here this morning. The story is packed with symbolism. The water represents Baptism and formal membership in the community of God. The wine is Jesus’ Blood offered at His torture and execution. And the wedding itself represents the Paradise into which God longs us to enter so that we may experience incredible, unending joy and peace.
	But this story shows how that image, that promise, grows out of potential disaster, and actually symbolizes the worst treatment one human being can inflict upon another. The Gospel writer intentionally, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry – His first day on the job, in fact – the Gospel writer wants us to be prepared for all the wrangling, and name-calling, and brutalization of character; for the violence of every kind possible. This isn’t just flirting with danger, or skirting the edge of catastrophe. The Gospel writer wants us to see Jesus as the One who can bring us out from the very depths of wretchedness and help us not only to put our lives back together, but to build them on the very things that would try to keep us in the Hell in which we find ourselves all too frequently.
	However, as with most of the Gospel stories, this isn’t merely the journey of an individual. It’s the journey of community, of people living and working together; people growing because they share one another’s burdens, and console one another in their grief, and sympathise with one another in times of stress and need. This story is one of hope for the whole family of God, that Hell will NOT prevail, no matter how dark, and frightening, and empty our experiences may be occasionally. This story, to leap forward to the end of Jesus’ human life, as John wants us to do by mentioning the symbol of wine, this story reminds us of what was described in the First Letter of Peter – namely that Jesus Himself, after His death on the cross, descended from His own Hell to that of others, to bring them out into the glorious Light of Paradise.
	Thus, indeed, I’d be willing to guess that just about all of us find “Paradise built on Hell”, if not from our own experiences at some point in our lives, then from the experience of someone very close to us. Therefore we’re to learn to live in hope – hope that God’s love conquers everything, and will enable us to face and work through the most depressing disaster.
	This life isn’t one with guarantees that a child will never get diabetes again; or someone not be swept out to sea; or crushed in a car wreck; or lose one’s job and financial security. But this life IS one that promises that the transformative power of God WILL lift us up.
	We keep wondering – I do, anyway, from time to time – HOW on earth is this going to happen? How CAN I survive what seems like the worst nightmare imaginable?
	The answer comes from the second part of the picture. I’m NOT here alone. There is ALWAYS community, even when I find it difficult to see it. Even when that community is made up of the least likely, sometimes most disagreeable people. Jesus acted for the couple, of course. But He acted also for the entire community. And He expects that we’ll be able to learn to act this way ourselves.
	I haven’t been in Albany – I mean, REALLY a part of the community of Albany, to know too much about it, other than the closing of the Millersburg plant, and the potential for layoffs in other areas. I’ve heard of folk from this congregation, and of friends of yours, who’re facing the difficulties brought on by increasing age and declining health and strength. I’m guessing that, like congregations of every size, not only in the U.S., but across the world, there are stresses here about finances, and keeping up with all the ministries to which you may feel called. But the second part of the wedding picture shows people in Paradise TOGETHER, not separate. People are working with one another, helping one another to eat and drink, and to share in a joke, and to deal with a crisis.
	“As we continue to hear about the devastation that the powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake caused, our thoughts go out to the victims of this disaster (in Haiti), and those who are working to help the nation recover.
	“Disasters like this one are especially devastating when they strike places that are already struggling to provide the most basic of services for its population. With weak government and private sector institutions, and with uncertain security conditions, Haiti is the poorest, least developed country in the Western Hemisphere, and the majority of Haitians live in poverty. The sheer scale of poverty in the country means that the government has limited capacity to meet even the simplest needs of its people, let alone address a disaster of this magnitude. Haiti’s lack of development—which translates into a lack of government capacity for emergency preparedness—magnifies the impact of this tragedy. In addition to creating a very real and immediate humanitarian tragedy, this earthquake and the struggle to navigate its aftermath will be an enormous setback to the hard-won gains that Haiti has achieved in recent years in securing a more stable environment and fighting poverty.” 2
	The person summarising that book with the title which grabbed my imagination – “A Paradise Built in Hell” – that person précised the book with these questions.
	“Why is it that in the aftermath of a disaster – whether manmade or natural -- people suddenly become altruistic, resourceful, and brave? What makes the newfound communities and purpose many find in the ruins and crises after disaster so joyous? And what does this joy reveal about ordinarily unmet social desires and possibilities? 
 	“In ‘A Paradise Built in Hell’, award-winning author Rebecca Solnit explores these phenomena, looking at major calamities from the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco through the 1917 explosion that tore up Halifax, Nova Scotia, the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. She examines how disaster throws people into a temporary utopia of changed states of mind and social possibilities, as well as looking at the cost of the widespread myths and rarer real cases of social deterioration during crisis. This is a timely and important book from an acclaimed author whose work consistently locates unseen patterns an meanings in broad cultural histories.” 
	You know, there’s NOTHING you and I cannot do. No matter where we are in life; no matter how short we may seem on resources; no matter how much we may disagree and even try to blame one or another. The only thing Jesus suggests, as we work our way to tasting the miraculous Wine of New Life, is that we stay together. That we drink it together. That, above all, we SHARE it together. Oh, and make sure Jesus is included at all the parties of our lives. That way, we’ll be in Paradise before we even know it. And THAT’S no empty promise.

NOTES:
 	"A Paradise Built in Hell - The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster" from Penguin Group, by Rebecca Solnit, 353 pages, hardcover, ©. 2009, $27.95  see http://www.wfn.org/2009/10/msg00145.html
2	Keren Dongo, Community Engagement Manager, ONE 13th January, 2010
one-help at list.one.org 	We encourage you to read more and stay engaged on the ONE Blog:
http://www.one.org/blog/category/earthquake-in-haiti/?aux=27&id=1390-2942415-Psnm3Xx&t=1  



---- Joe Parrish <JoeParrish at compuserve.com> wrote: 
> ...it is the only wedding in the New Testament; and then the action doesn't really take place at the wedding, but at the wedding reception. There are no wedding ceremonies in the Bible.
> <>
> So treasure the gifts that God gives you. It might not be immediately apparent, as it was at Cana, but when God gives you something, it is the very highest quality-and I assure you that He didn't get it off the bargain rack, it comes custom-made, special order, with all the options, and at a high cost. You should be more grateful, perhaps.
> 
> http://www.kencollins.com/jesus-09.htm
> 
> Kenneth W. Collins 
> - - - - -
> 
> Catholics and Protestants strongly disagree on this matter. Catholic scholars, consistent with their exaggerated view of Mary's importance, are convinced that she uses her influence on Jesus to get Him to do what He would not otherwise have done.96 The text seems to tell us just the opposite. Jesus reminds her that she is just a woman, and that He, as God, cannot comply with her wishes if and when they are not in "His time."
> <>
> We would have to agree that these stone waterpots would be heavy when empty, and even heavier yet when full (the weight of the water alone in a full pot would be about 200 pounds).
> 
> http://bible.org/seriespage/first-sign-jesus-turns-water-wine-john-21-11
> 
> Robert Deffinbaugh 
> - - - - -
> 
> The story then relates the changing of water into wine, and we recall the wine that is used at the Lord's Table. Another clue is 6 jars (not 7, the perfect number, which will be the number of "signs" in this gospel). Only 6 jars, the number for imperfection, held the water that would be used "for the Jewish rites of purification." 
> This change from water to wine, then, is really about Jesus' identity as the One who initiated the transition from Judaism to Christianity.
> 
> http://www.env-steward.com/lectionary/lectc/c-ep2-g.htm
> 
> John Gibbs, 1998
> - - - - -
> 
> Here in the realm where death still appears at every wedding and sits silently through our feasts, we continue sharing the wine that Cana's guest brings to our table. Sometimes that wine is sweet and wondrous beyond all imagination. At other times the wine proves sour. We sip it from a sponge like those that the hospice people bring for times when the lips dry up and crack.
> 
> Both drinks, however, come from the same cup, the one we share with the Bridegroom who takes us as his own for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, and in whose arms we shall rest when death comes to close off all our other stories. Accordingly, we dress even now in wedding attire. We drink his wine and give our hearts away in the breathtaking risk of believing--a form of falling in love, really.
> 
> http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_36_117/ai_68866509/
> 
> Frederick Niedner, 2000
> - - - - -
> 
> Many scholars have put an emphasis upon the number of jars, "six," which represented an unfulfilled state in the time of Jesus. The number "six" conveyed a message. Judaism lacked its Messiah and the Kingdom he represented. Jesus used the jars (representing the tradition of Judaism) to reveal a taste of God's kingdom. In this sense, Jesus completed and transformed the traditions of Judaism. His action completed what was missing.
> The water turned wine has many meanings. God's kingdom was to be a feast with endless wine and merriment. Water has a baptism motif, while wine is Eucharistic. Both foreshadow the water and blood (wine) that flow from Jesus' side at his death. 
> 
> 
> http://www.word-sunday.com/Files/c/2-c/A-2-c.html
> 
> Larry Broding
> - - - - -
> 
> For example, when Jesus' mother reminds him that the wine has run out at the wedding, Jesus says, seemingly irrelevantly, "my hour has not yet come" (2:4). But once we combine this with other statements, such as in 7:6 ("My time has not yet come, but your time is always here..."), and 7:8 ("Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not yet come") or the narrator's comments in 8:20 ("He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come"), we see that the proper time is the hinge on which the ministry of Jesus turns. Thus, when Jesus says, "The hour has come..." (12:23) or when the narrator says, "Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world..." (13:1), we know that the wheels of time have fallen into place. The Fourth Gospel's focus on time not yet ripe and time fulfilled helps set the stage for our reflections today on how to be alert to our proper "times."
> 
> http://www.drbilllong.com/Lectionary/John2II.html
> 
> William R. Long, 2007
> - - - - -
> 
> This is a sign of the abundance of God's love for us.
> It is also a sign that reveals the engagement of God in the intimate and joyful fabric of human life.  The God of Jesus is not utilitarian, not prudish, and certainly not mean-spirited or disapproving.
> 
> After all, a utilitarian, grudging God would have told them to make do with water. 
> 
> http://gospelforgays.com/?p=673&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+GospelForGays+(Gospel+For+Gays)
> 
> Jeremiah Bartram, 2010
> - - - -

--
Robert P. Morrison
Lincoln City, Oregon, 97367

541-921-1076