Mary and the miracles

 Story:  John 2 1-11 You can find the story here :

John 2:1-11 NLT – The Wedding at Cana – The next day – Bible Gateway

 Sounds like a good name for a band, doesn’t it?

You know, there are times when we just get to see fun miracles.  The events that look like a disaster in the making; then something just goes so right that we have to start laughing in joy.   For me, Stuart McLean’s story of Morley’s Christmas Pageant is like that.   So is this one of Jesus’ wedding miracle in the gospel of John.

There’s about to be a fiasco of Martha Stewart proportions.   The family hosting the multi-day wedding banquet is about to run out of wine.   Mary, Jesus’ mother, steps in and lets him know the problem, and preps the servants for action if needed.   Jesus comes, gives a command to fill the huge jars of water,  and the servants get to work immediately.  

 The water is changed to wine, the best wine.   The banquet is saved, and celebration continues for everyone. 

 For me, the most joyful part of this miracle is that Jesus doesn’t just wave his hands and everything happens.   The miracle happens because Mary recognizes Jesus for who he is and what he’s capable of doing, gets the servants ready, and the servants obey.  It’s through the obedience of the servants to the commands of Jesus that the miracles happen. It’s through the words of Mary that they know who to listen to.

Who are your Mary’s? Who are the ones who are helping us get ready for miracles? Let’s keep our eyes and ears and hearts open.  Jesus has amazing, wonderful moments and miracles for each one of us–and by listening, being guided by the Holy Spirit, and taking obedient action, we’ll get to work with him on those miracle moments, every day.

Hope your week is blessed.

Peace in Christ,

Susan

The Invitation  

Reading: John 1:43-50

Come and see this for a minute.

You’ve heard it, I’ve heard it.  The whispered invitation and the frantic waving to come. The smile that comes when you see the child curled up sleeping with the puppy or the first flakes of snow falling; the wonderstruck expression when a simple turn of our head shows a sky at sunset that’s exploding with colours or the shaft of light that hits a piece of old glass and a once dull room is transformed into a myriad of rainbows.

Come and hear this for a minute.

Stopping, we put in the earbuds and hear a word, a poem, music that sets us dancing or a song that echoes right down into the deep places of our heart that needed to be lifted. 

Come and try this for a minute.

Taking the socks and shoes off, we wade into dew-soaked grass and squishy earth.   We feel the miracle of warmth when we rub our hands together quickly. We breathe.

These moments are nothing about what we’ve done, nothing about what we’ve planned.   But we experience these irreplicable moments because we accepted an invitation.

So that’s how I’d like to begin this journey, if that’s ok with you.   Not with pronouncements of prescriptions, but with an invitation to seek Christ together and live in the reign of God as much as we can. Together, we humbly ask God to show us where to look, what to listen to, where to go.  God’s story has such a beautiful diversity of adventures that we’ll run out of time before we get to see all of them.   Some are easy, some aren’t. Some are dazzling, and some take perseverance and questions and tough love to find where God is.   We’ll journey together.

In the story above, Philip just says to Nathaniel, “Come and see”.   Come and see who Jesus is for yourself.   Come and live the story God has for you. That’s a good place to start.   Welcome here.   Welcome just as you are.   And as I invite you to come and see Christ with me,  I’ll learn from you, too, as we journey together.

To think about: Where are you seeing/hearing God’s invitations this week?