[Propertalk] FW: Sermon Resources for January 20 - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

Sermons for Epiphany 2

John 2:1-11 - "Saving the Best Till Last" 
1 Corinthians 12:1-11 - "In the Service" by Leonard Sweet
 
 John 2 ,  the sermon title "Saving the Best Till Last"  
 
The Jews attached great importance to the high moments of life. Thus a
wedding was not just a brief ceremony, but an experience shared by the
entire community. The typical wedding feast could last up to seven days.
That sounds strange to our modern way of thinking, but this offered a bright
interlude in an otherwise dreary existence. The ceremony would begin on
Tuesday at midnight. After the wedding the father of the bride would take
his daughter to every house so that everyone might congratulate her. It was
a community experience. Weddings were a time of joy.

Years ago when Johnny Carson was the host of The Tonight Show he interviewed
an eight year old boy. The young man was asked to appear because he had
rescued two friends in a coalmine outside his hometown in West Virginia. As
Johnny questioned the boy, it became apparent to him and the audience that
the young man was a Christian. So Johnny asked him if he attended Sunday
school. When the boy said he did Johnny inquired, "What are you learning in
Sunday school?" "Last week," came his reply, "our lesson was about when
Jesus went to a wedding and turned water into wine." The audience roared,
but Johnny tried to keep a straight face. Then he said, "And what did you
learn from that story?" The boy squirmed in his chair. It was apparent he
hadn't thought about this. But then he lifted up his face and said, "If
you're going to have a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus!" The little boy
was on to something. Weddings are time of Joy.

At the wedding, which Jesus attended in Cana of Galilee, there was great joy
but a problem developed. There was a shortage of wine. Not only was that a
social embarrassment, it was also a symbol. For a wedding to run out of wine
was an omen that there was little chance of this particular marriage
reaching its full potential, maybe joy was not meant for this couple.

So Mary approaches Jesus and asks him to do something. His response? "Why do
you involve me woman?" Sounds harsh, so unlike him, and it has long puzzled
biblical scholars...
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 1 Corinthians 12 ,  the sermon titled "In the Service" by Leonard Sweet  
  
Anyone here remember what they used to call places where you put gas in your
car? 
They weren't called "gas stations," or "fueling centers," but "service
stations." 
When you pulled in, someone (or sometimes even more than one) raced out to
greet you, ask what you needed, and proceeded to fill your gas tank with
fuel. While you sat, warm and comfy in your car, the "service station"
attendant washed your windows, checked your oil, even checked your tire
pressure. After filling up the tank they took your payment and wished you
well and waved you off. 
"Service stations" also used to give out gifts after so many gallons of gas
had been purchased (unbelievable, right?!) I will bet that a lot of us here
this morning grew up drinking from juice glasses provided by Shell or
Texaco, instead of Steuben or Tiffany. 
 
What is the first thing that comes to mind today when someone asks if you
ever were "in the service?" There used to be two primary meanings of that
phrase "in the service." The first was military service -- the "service"
given by all those men and women who "served" to defend and protect our
country. That why George Washington asked for no pay for serving as
Commander-in-Chief of Continental forces during the Revolutionary War. He
looked at what he was doing as a "service" to his country, so he refused to
accept any pay. Nor he did submit expenses, which when added up amounted to
nearly ten times what his salary would have been. Before taking office as
President, he again offered to serve without pay if all his expenses were
covered. This time Congress courteously declined. (Sebastian De Grazia, "A
Necessary Evil is Also a Nece ssary Good," TLS: Times Literary Supplement,
26 May 2000, 12.)
The second association of being "in the service" is now made bare in a hit
television show, now in its third series. Any fans of "Downton Abbey" out
there? What did it mean in the early twentieth century to be "in the
service?"
Of course, it meant being a "servant" to others. "In the service" meant a
life lived in service to others -- whether that service was being a butler,
a governess, a cook, a maid, a footman, or a working, serving part of a
larger whole, and probably not receiving a whole lot of accolades for doing
what you're doing. Service has always been part and parcel of being "in the
service".  
 
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 A Sense of Awe 
 
I consider it divine good fortune that we have a scripture lesson so early
in the year which encourages us to ponder a miracle. You and I need to
become more sensitive to the possibility of miracles. Such a sensitivity
will help us recognize present miracles, which we either do not see or which
we take for granted; and it will prepare us to receive still more miracles.

 
Walt Whitman felt that "each part and tag" of his own person was a miracle,
and that "a mouse is miracle enough to confound sextillions of infidels." He
reminded us that we are surrounded by the glorious and the miraculous and do
not know it. Science ought to have increased our sense of awe, as it has
unfolded the marvels of the heavens above and mysteries of our bodies
within; but we take the attitude that if we know how far it is to a given
planet, we have, therefore, encompassed all its significance. We need to
know that God is at work in our world. The affairs of this world, and of our
individual lives, often seem to be out of control. At such times we can be
reassured by the knowledge that God has worked wonderfully in days past, and
that he is still at work.  
 
J. Ellsworth Kalas, Epiphany: A Faith to Work Miracles, CSS Publishing.
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Soaking Up God's Goodness 
 
A friend of mine is one of the best chefs in the United States (and has been
so acclaimed by people who know what they are talking about). The celebrity
chefs on Food Network notwithstanding, most chefs tend to be introverts. My
friend, too, is certainly a rather shy and retiring person. He'd rather stay
in the background than be center stage with a spotlight shining on him. But
like most chefs, the one thing that brings my friend joy is seeing others
enjoy his food. More than once when eating in his restaurant, I have seen
him standing in the shadows near the kitchen, watching people delight in his
culinary creations, and beaming in happiness at seeing the diners'
enjoyment. Most will never shake hands with my friend. Most will never
bother to seek him out to say "Thank You" or send a letter of appreciation
to the restaurant at some later point. Nor does my friend str oll through
the dining room tacitly and subtly soliciting praise. He's mostly content to
look upon people's delight from afar. 
 
I wonder if God is not accustomed to this as well. At Cana, Jesus watched
people enjoy an outstanding wine whose origin most people never learned (and
maybe would not have believed even had they been told). And if people did
not thank him, it was nothing new. As Augustine first observed - and as C.S.
Lewis later enjoyed pondering - what Jesus did at Cana (as in many of his
miracles) was really no more than a speeded-up version of what he does every
year on a thousand hillsides as vines silently turn water into wine.
Millions of people enjoy that wine every year without for a moment
recognizing the divine origin of it all. It's a reminder that we serve a God
whose effusive overflow of providential gifts knows no bounds. It's a
reminder that God is also often content to watch people-sometimes even
Christian people who should know better-from afar as they soak up the
goodness of his creative work. 
 
Scott Hoezee, comments and observations on John 2:1-11.
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Inviting Christ Brings Joy 
 
Why do we bring Christ into the wedding ceremony? Because if we would only
bring Christ into our marriages, we would have better marriages! A few years
back psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers was quoted as saying that for about
half of all American couples, marriage is a "quiet hell." Many other
marriages have degenerated into a "tired friendship," as someone put it. I
submit to you that this is a tragedy, and in order to prevent such
tragedies, we ought to take the traditional marriage ritual seriously and
invite Christ to be a guest at our weddings, just as He was invited to the
wedding at Cana in Galilee.  
 
Above all, in this quaint and lovely little story, John is proclaiming the
Good News that Jesus Christ is the Life of every party, that he is the one
who livens things up, brings life abundant for all, even anonymous brides
and bridegrooms in an out-of-the-way peasant village located somewhere
(where, we are not sure) in the Galilee. As William Barclay put it in his
commentary on this passage: "...whenever Jesus comes into our lives there
enters a quality which is like turning water into wine. The trouble with
life is that we get bored with it. Pleasure loses its thrill. There is a
vague dissatisfaction about everything. But when Jesus enters our lives
there comes a new exhilaration!" 
Donald B. Strobe, Collected Words,
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