January 18, 2004 - Second Sunday after Epiphany
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January 18, 2004 - Second Sunday after Epiphany - The Very Reverend James B. Lemler
FIRST READING: Isaiah 62: 1-5
PSALM: 36: 5-10
SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11
GOSPEL: John 2: 1-11
I would like to begin this sermon in two ways, if I might. First, by saying simply how delighted I am to be here today. I have heard about this congregation for a long time now - from Miriam, from Michael, from our distinguished alumnus. Doesn't he look that way? Your rector - very distinguished indeed. And it is a great and glorious wonderful, growing, alive, and vital congregation, and that is what we need in the Episcopal Church today. So, it is a delight to be here, and the weather is better than Chicago this weekend! So, I want to begin by saying thank you.
The second way I want to begin is by asking a question that stems from the Gospel story that we have just heard, and it is this question: Isn't it just great? Isn't it just great that Jesus of Nazareth chose a party for his first miracle? I know I am in Palm Springs! The truth is, He might have chosen some other occasion, right? The Gospels are just brim-full to overflowing with miracle stories. He might have done a healing, an exorcism, calming the winds and the waters - all of those things that He does and that we read about - but His first miracle is intentionally at a party, a feast, a festival, a wedding banquet. And, even though He might have shown some reluctance at the beginning of things to do the miracle (and I am not going to preach about the relationship between Jesus and His mother, today) - even though that was the case, He did the miracle. He made the water turn into wine. He saved the party. He did His first miracle at a wedding feast, and there was good reason for this. I am sure that Jesus cared about His friends - that He wanted this to be a good occasion for His friends' wedding feast. He wants His friends' party not to become a bust, somehow.
But, there is even a stronger reason here. You see, if you read the Old Testament, what you will find is that God's love, God's work, God's Kingdom and reign and rule, are often depicted as being one heck of a fine party! A rip-roaring party, particularly a wedding party, because those were so highly valued among God's people. And, it makes quite a statement for Jesus to make His first miracle, to do His really big first thing, at a wedding feast. It is a way of saying, "Look folks! We are here! Look folks, God's love is here. God's work is here. God's power, purpose, reign, and rule are here. Let the good times roll!"
But - there is another reason that is equally important. Jesus' first miracle is at a party because parties are fun - because parties are ebullient and joyful and happy occasions, and Jesus wants to make it quite clear that His mission and His purpose, His manifestation, His Epiphany (that is the Greek word for it) - that those things are about happiness, joy, love, and hope.
Now, please, don't get caught up in the B.Y.O.B. parts of this story. The 180 gallons of the Vintage Extraordinaire are not the point. In fact, if you want to read a really good story sometime, look at ancient Greek mythology. The fun-loving god, Dionysus, turns the whole Aegean Sea into wine - now that's a miracle! And quite a good guy to have at a party! No, the point is not that this is a vintner's dream come true (and I am reluctant to say that here in Southern California, wine country), but the point is that Jesus is making an epiphany here - the word that means a revelation, a manifestation. He is manifesting and revealing who He really is and what He is really about. And the story, itself, manifests some things that are even more important than the volume or the quality of the wine. It shows that Jesus cares about people deeply and especially cares about people when they are making expressions of love and covenant with each other. It shows that God's way is a way of joy and hope and not a way of gloom and doom. And, most importantly, to quote the Gospel writer, himself, here, it is important because Jesus did this to reveal His glory. That is why He did it - to reveal what God is like, to reveal Himself as the one who manifests and shows forth what God is like - a God who is loving and merciful, joyful and forgiving. And we do well to listen to this story, with its words of joy, with its actions of caring, with its message that God's love for you and for me is ebullient and joyful and brimming-over with hope. We do well to listen, because this is really good news - the good news that invigorates and enlightens and gives us hope.
The message is clear. There is good news for us in the life, the mission, the ministry of Jesus. Jesus came to us, in the first place, because God loves us. He reveals it over and over again through virtually everything He does - His miracles, His teaching, His preaching, His feeding of 5,000 unexpected supper guests, His embracing of little children, His death on the Cross - the message is clear and it is this:
God loves you.
God loves you.
God loves you.
And that message, that reality, is anything but sad; it is joyful. It is anything but dreary; it is hopeful. It is anything but gloomy; it is jubilant. Through this message, we human beings are invited to the great, the magnificent party of God's love and God's Grace.
Now, sometimes, unfortunately, in the Church, we get it backwards. We turn it around in the wrong way, and we can even portray God as being morbid and gloomy, or portray God as being uninviting or not forgiving. One of my favorite stories comes from a campus chaplain of a few years ago. I was a campus chaplain, myself, in my early ministry, and we have thousands of people from Northwestern University walking back and forth by Seabury Western at Evanston. This particular chaplain-friend was in a symposium where he was, as chaplains often do, talking about God, and the students were there, and the conversation was going on. And, finally, one bold student, kind of at the back of the room, held up her hand, and said, "Chaplain, I just want you to know that I don't believe in God." Ah! How to make a priest's day, huh? But, rather than becoming defensive about that, do you know what he did? He said, "O.K. Would you tell me about the God in whom you do not believe?" So she did. Whew!! What a God! Gloomy, judging, not very kind, no one you would want to invite to a party, always kind of looking out over God's glasses to make sure that you are doing the right thing, and, if you are not, BAM! Just like that! Well, he listened, and then, when there was a pause in the description, he said, "You know what? I don't believe in that God, either. Let me tell you about the God in whom I believe." And he did - a God who is loving and forgiving, full of generosity, merciful, a friend, a companion, a guide - someone who is always there with you and, when you mess up, receives you into the embrace and the arms of God's mercy. Sounds like a party, doesn't it? Invitation, hospitality, openness. Now, the sad thing was that the young woman, who had described God as a kind of vengeful and non-forgiving God had picked up that message somewhere - had picked that message up from the Church, as a matter of fact - had picked up the message from those of us who have the responsibility of celebrating and shaping and proclaiming how much God loves us.
Sometimes, we get it wrong. Sometimes, we present God as grim and angry. Sometimes, we don't even look like a Church of joy. There is a story of a new Bishop showing up at St. Paul's Cathedral in London at the beginning of the 20th Century, and all of the canons were there, and all of the clergy were there, and all of the choir boys were there, and everyone was standing there. And this new Bishop walked in, and he looked around; and the only verse of Scripture that came to his mind came forth from his lips, and it was this: "And the sea shall give up its dead".
Folks! This is a party! This is a table of Grace and festivity - the bread and the wine of which we partake is the food of joy and hope and life and vitality - and our call is to present that God and that invitation to this world.
Friends in Christ, Jesus of Nazareth's first miracle, His first epiphany, His first revelation and manifestation of who He is was a feast and a festival and, in such a way, He manifested the joyous love of God for us.
In our personal lives, that means that we can be joyful - that we can be thankful that God's freeing gifts are poured upon us so abundantly. It means that we have those gifts of love and hope given to us - not that life will always be a party, but that God's love will always sustain us and be with us, always welcome us, always comfort us, always forgive and strengthen us, even when life isn't such a party. It means that God's Grace is present with us, and that God is our companion and our friend. That is what it means to us in our personal lives.
In our life as a Church, it means that we can be boldly joyful - that we don't have to get stuck or distracted in the things that are barriers to the love of God - rather we can own the fact that our proclamation and our purpose involves welcome and invitation. Maybe, the real issue that is dividing us in the life of the Episcopal Church right now is how we perceive and present God. Will we present our God as a loving, welcoming, embracing, hopeful God? Or will we not?
A friend of mine at the Alban Institute - a kind of think-tank in Washington, D. C. - did research on congregations around the Episcopal Church to see what the marks of growing Episcopal Churches were. Do you know what he found? He found that the primary mark was a joyful and hopeful and welcoming message - that growing Churches were places where people liked each other, that growing Churches were places where, when a visitor showed up, that person was welcome, and someone actually said, "You know, we are glad you are here. Welcome to the party!"
And finally, for our leadership in the Church to perceive and present the God who is full of joy and mercy and love for us is to shape the way in which we prepare and develop our leaders. I had to say that - I am the Dean of the seminary, after all - and what we are trying to do at Seabury is to develop leaders who have hope - leaders who present the inclusion and optimism and hope of God - leaders who know that developing congregations is to develop a community that embraces and invites all kinds of people. Why? Because God welcomes us here.
So, here we are, folks. We are at the party of God's Grace. We are at the table of God's invitation and welcome to us. We are in the community of abundant love and proclamation of that love. We can taste it. We can see it. We can own it. We can experience it. That love is always with us. That love brings us joy, hope, and peace. The invitation is to come to the feast. The invitation is to live out the feast in our lives, in our Church, in our leadership. As the Body of Christ, God has brought us here to the feast of God's own love. So, what can we say? How about this:
Enjoy!
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