It’s All About the Party Preached for Wollaston Congregational Church On January 16th, 2022 Scripture: John 2:1-11 Who doesn’t love a good wedding? Admittedly some of us have attended weddings we didn’t enjoy. These days weddings can be complicated and extravagant. Sometimes the hosts’ anxiety over every little detail can lead to some tension that is felt throughout the party. I doubt that this was a concern, though, in the time of Jesus. Weddings had a set pattern. The entire community was invited so no worries about who was or was not included. Everyone catered: the women of the community probably cooking and baking for days for the days-long feast. If the family could afford servants, they would serve the food and wine, leaving everyone else to relax. And, of course, the wine would flow for as long as needed and for as many guests who showed up. I have attended a number of weddings during pandemic times and have even officiated one. I have to say that they have been more joyful, beautiful, touching than anything in the “before times”. Of course, it has been stressful and incredibly sad for couples to have to postpone weddings planned for 2020. Our close friends’ daughter, Hannah and her now-husband Brad, as well as our own son, Charlie, and his wife Louisa were among that group. Hannah and Brad were both medical residents in large hospitals at the time, on the front-lines of the battle with COVID-19. They decided to postpone their main event by one year. They still wanted to be married on the original date. And so they went to the Court House and Zoomed in their parents and siblings for a simple and sweet ceremony. A year later, in May 2021, there was a wonderful wedding celebration at which joy flowed in abundance. Tears came to many eyes, as Hannah and Brad’s 2 month-old baby boy was brought down the aisle wearing a tuxedo onesie. They had not wasted any time. Our son, Charlie, and our daughter-in-law, Louisa, decided that the most important aspect of their wedding was to gather with family and friends. And so they also decided to postpone one year. Still some family members from the UK and Europe were unable to attend and the guest list shrank. But the wedding was perfect in every other way. In the 100 degree real feel heat we could remain outdoors and feel safe enough to celebrate without restraint. And, of course, there was the beautiful ceremony we hosted in WCC for Alice and Miles. Alice’s family members also had to Zoom in, and the wedding party was very small. And still, their close friends brought wonderful music and Miles’ parents brought the needed support of family. We will remember their wedding for many years to come. In today’s reading, from John’s gospel, we meet Jesus and his disciples, along with Jesus’s mother at a wedding feast. My own church-going family is pious about weddings, saying things like “the service is the most important part” and keeping long serious faces during the proceedings. In the story of the wedding in Cana, though, there is absolutely no mention of a ceremony. Jesus has only just gathered the disciples. He has not yet begun his public ministry. This threshold moment is an event that demands our attention. The very first act of Jesus’ ministry is to turn the water from six enormous stone jars into fine wine. Jesus and his new friends, the disciples, seem to be kicking back at the wedding party. They’re just a few of a great many guests from all over the community. It’s a few days into the celebration now, so things have really loosened up. The little children duck and weave through the gathered adults in a rambunctious game of tag. The old men who are huddled in one corner, have pulled out a smuggled pack of cards. They’re done with the talking and the social graces. They’ve had out their arguments over politics, the state of the village and now they are engrossed in a game. The older ladies have produced so much food that everyone is stuffed. Now, they sit together, finally taking a cup of wine for themselves, and placing low stakes bets on the gender of the couple’s first child. The musicians have struck up the best dance music, and the bridesmaids have shed their responsibilities to join the dancing. The groomsmen relax in another corner. This is not their first cup of wine. They laugh about which one among them will be the next to marry. The servants look at one another, hopeful that this means their shift is over and they can relax too. But Jesus’s mother is paying attention. She notices a tense exchange between the Chief Steward and his head servant. Listening in, she realizes that they have run out of wine. This will be a grave embarrassment for the groom, not an auspicious start to married life. And so, Mary intervenes, telling the Steward to do whatever Jesus says. Jesus is not asked to step in as an officiant at this wedding. In fact, Jesus is never asked to perform civic or priestly duties in the gospels. Instead, his mother, Mary, comes up with the idea that Jesus will be able to help with a sudden shortage of wine. She is right – he is able and he does. You know the rest of the story. Six massive stone jars, are filled with water that becomes the finest wine. Even though the guests are already drunk and can’t tell one wine from another, there is an abundance of new wine to bless the wedding party. This is the first sign. This is the way that God chooses to reveal the God’s glory in Jesus. This is the way that God is with us. And the way that God plans to be with us. This points the way to God’s dream, God’s kin-dom on earth. Some people mine the Bible to try to figure out what a marriage should be. But this is the reverse of what the scriptures can tell us. We, people, already know what marriages and wedding celebrations are like. Wedding feasts and marriages are described in the Bible so that we will know what God is like. Old Testament scriptures talk about the adornment and eagerness of the bridegroom, to describe God’s love and passion for humanity. In the gospels, a wedding banquet is a metaphor for the great heavenly community God anticipates when the kin-dom is brought to fruition in our midst. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells the parable of an extravagant wedding banquet in which the original guests refuse to come. And so, people who live on the streets – both the good and the bad - are invited. The vision for the great heavenly banquet is much like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision of “Beloved Community.” The rich and the poor; peoples of all nations and ethnicities; peoples of all genders and orientations; people of all political parties - people who formerly rejected the other – all will gather and eat, at peace with one another. The Beloved Community provides justice for all people so that joy will flow in abundance. We rehearse this community over and again, each time we celebrate communion. And so we may wonder, does our communion look like the wedding feast? Does our worship look like the wedding feast? Does our invitation and welcome to worship look like an invitation and welcome to a wedding feast? During the times when we have been unable to gather in person, I suspect that coffee hour has been missed more than worship. The conversation and connection, as well as the hot drinks and treats, bring out joy in a way that worship does not. And I wonder, what it would look like to bring our coffee hour into worship, or worship into coffee hour? Would the joy and relief of water turned into abundant fine wine become a part of our service? Would we see laughter and loving kindness in one another’s eyes? Would we create a place where all are welcome and all feel welcome? Think of the enthusiasm people have for the Holiday Fair, the Yard Sale or the Trivia Nights. If Jesus was to look in on our worship services, perhaps he would laugh at our long, serious faces. Perhaps he would chuckle at our insistence on a priestly role for our pastors and ministers. Perhaps he would say “do you actually remember my first act in ministry?” There’s one more thing. If you think that this story of water being turned to wine has something to do with alcohol and it’s use in social settings here’s another story. Perhaps you know that there is a trend to serve cocktails named for the marriage partners in weddings. Charlie and Louisa thought that they would follow this trend, as Louisa really enjoys a particular recipe made with maple syrup from her grandfather’s farm. But, Charlie does not drink. Not alcohol, not juice, not soda, not tea or coffee. He simply drinks water and a lot of it. And so, the joke plan was that wedding guests would be offered “the Louisa” with maple syrup, lemon juice and bourbon, or “the Charlie” – a simple glass of water. In the 100+ degree heat, we ate, and drank – many Charlies in particular – and danced for hours to joyous music. Family members, college, school and work friends: people from all over and all kinds of backgrounds. Somehow this young couple had brought together a unique gathering and crafted an event to make everyone feel at welcome at the table. In the end it didn’t matter, whether you had drunk water, wine or cocktails, the joy was the same. Church, our separation from one another has been long and hard. And still, we hold onto the hope that our separation will pass and in time we will be able to gather fully and without restraint. And when we do, we will feel the happiness and relief of the wedding couples of 2020. Whether we drink fine wine or water, joy will flow in abundance! May all God’s people say, Amen
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Baptism in the Holy Spirit: God is at the Center Scripture: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 Today we celebrate Baptism of Christ Sunday, with the renewal or reaffirmation of our own baptisms. And yet, the story we read this morning, from the Gospel of Luke, may leave us feeling a little disappointed. Jesus’s baptism does not seem to be central to the story. Luke focuses on a transition of leadership in this infant religious movement of baptism and repentance. The transition is from John the Baptist to Jesus. As I sat with this story, I began to imagine that the heart and the themes of the story fit together like a Russian doll. A Russian doll is really a family of dolls nested one inside the other: the largest doll is the outermost layer, the smallest doll is at the center. In our story, one theme is nested inside another, with God at the center, as is always the case. In my imagined Russian doll, the transition leadership is the outermost layer, the largest doll and she is the one you see first. But, you know there is more to this doll than meets the eye. Open her up, and inside you will discover the baptism of Jesus among the crowds who come to John. Open one more layer and you come to Jesus, beginning his ministry, submitting to baptism by John, and receiving God’s blessing. Inside the Jesus doll, of course, is the Holy Spirit of the living God, the center of everything. We first encountered John the Baptist, this liturgical year, just a couple of weeks before Christmas. We read the verses that introduce today’s story on that “John the Baptist Sunday.” You may remember that John’s preaches to crowds who come to him for baptism. His message is quite stern, he scolds the people calling them a “brood of vipers” and asking who warned them to flee from the wrath to come. He tells the Jewish ones among them not to assume that their ancestry will save them. Instead he compels them all to repent, and to bear fruit worthy of their repentance by helping the poor and the hungry. In spite of John’s severe message, the people keep coming. They are filled with expectation and hope, could this be the Messiah, the one who will lead them out of oppression and to freedom? According to Luke, John responds humbly, telling the crowds that one who is more powerful than himself is to come. John gives up any desire for power and influence in the Christian story. He relinquishes his leadership role, saying he is not even worthy to untie the thong of the new leader’s sandals. John says that he is only able to baptize people with water. The One is coming will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. This is dramatic stuff. The One who is coming is by no means milder than John. John uses farming imagery, saying he will “clear the threshing floor, gathering the wheat into his granary,” but will burn the unusable part of the grain in an unquenchable fire. Jesus’s arrival in their midst of this scene is almost an anti-climax. There is no dramatic baptismal scene. It is as though Jesus does not yet even know that he is “the One.” He simply gets in line, with all the crowds. Baptism, in Jesus time, and still today, is a communal event a great leveler. Jesus is simply baptized in the river like everyone else. Afterwards he prays. Perhaps he comes out of the river and finds a quiet spot to connect with the Holy One. Maybe he prays for guidance, or prays for his people, or even for the whole world? Perhaps he simply basks in gratitude for the blessing of John’s leadership. Whatever it is, this is the moment, for Luke. This is the moment when the heavens open, and the Holy Spirit comes down – in bodily form, like a dove – and a voice resounds “You are my Son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.” That is the story, except there is a little insertion between one section and another. Perhaps this is another layer to the Russian doll. These verses are often left out, because they describe something that is out of sequence with the story. John is arrested and put in prison, because he has spoken out against the king. John has already been speaking truth to power, but now he attacks the king for his decadent lifestyle. Herod has divorced his wife and married his own niece, Herodias, who is also already his brother’s wife. The critique of Herod’s personal life is the final straw: Herod takes John out of the picture. Luke makes is plain: John is locked up and so he is taken out of action. Later he will be beheaded, but Luke does not tell this story. John is simply gone. The leadership must transition to Jesus. The crowd expected that John was the Messiah. And so, Luke shows John passing the mantle by declaring that his baptism with water will be replaced by Jesus’s baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire. And so, here it is, inside the transition of leadership, there is the baptism layer of the story. The mark of the transition from John to Jesus is a baptism with the Holy Spirit (and fire). I wonder, if this leaves us feel that our own baptisms with water are lacking. If the true baptism, from Jesus, involves the Holy Spirit and the unmistakable presence of fire, why are we in the mainline Protestant church still satisfied with a little sprinkling? Many years ago, I got caught up in a quest to understand the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I had become curious about the Charismatic movement that was sweeping through some of the churches in England at the time. I had heard stories, from trusted sources, of miraculous healings and lives transformed by a “Baptism in the Spirit.” I wanted to see what it was all about. So I went to a number services and events in churches and among groups that had adopted the charismatic way. I persuaded my new boyfriend, who is now my husband, to come along to the first church I had in mind. It was a Sunday evening service, but the music was loud and upbeat. There was lots of singing and all kinds of instruments. It was a Baptist church and there were going to be a number of baptisms, all total immersions in a large baptismal font. The sermon given that night was a little “off”, but the baptisms were really moving. One young woman, in particular, emerged from the water with so much joy you could feel it. I was sure she was filled with the Holy Spirit and I wondered where I could get that baptism like that myself. I had been baptized as an infant, at around 2 months old. The exact date is inscribed in the leather-bound Bible given to me on the occasion. Photographs were taken in our garden at home after the church service. Only my mom tells me the roll of film was lost by the developers and so I have no pictures of the event. But I do have a story. I know that I was sprinkled. It was done at the great sandstone font that confronted everyone who stepped inside our Victorian Parish Church. I know that I was wearing a white dress, and that my mother’s sister, Shirley, my dad’s brother, David, and my mom’s college friend, Pat, served as God-parents. My parents tell me that they insisted that I was baptized during the Sunday morning service. They didn’t want the Sunday afternoon Christening slot that the Vicar usually arranged so that he could “do” several babies in a row. My parents wanted me to be baptized in the presence of the congregation, because it was my introduction into Christ’s family. I am so glad that they did. And so, I decided that I could not be baptized again, even with the hopes of receiving the Holy Spirit “this time.” In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes that there is only “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” That is why a baptism in any church ought to be recognized by any other church. Was the Holy Spirit present in my baptism? Was She present and in yours? Of course. The Holy Spirit is every bit as present in a quiet sprinkling as in loud singing and total immersion. We generally do not have pyrotechnics during baptism at Wollaston Congregational Church. But still, in every baptism I have ever performed, I have been quite sure that the Holy Spirit was present. And those baptismal candidates who’ve been old enough to say so, have all described a feeling of deep blessing and welcome into Christ’s family, the Church And so, we return to the Russian doll of the story. The outermost doll, a transition of leadership, is important. In these days we know that wise leadership is necessary in our churches, in our communities, in our nation. That leadership often seems to be sadly lacking, as in these past weeks and days, when we witnessed a very rocky return to school after winter vacation. The next doll is baptism: our baptisms along with all the other people. Baptism makes a place of belonging for you and me, among the family of Christ, the Church. And, also, it is our reminder – a leveler if you like – that like Jesus, we are baptized together with the whole congregation, all the saints of the Church. And with that, we relinquish our need for power and influence, as John did. We are content to serve among the family of the saints. And yet, the Holy Spirit is always present. In the next doll, Jesus promises that she will be. Belonging to Christ’s family marks the beginning of our service and ministry with God. A life of ministry is joyful and it is challenging. When leadership is inadequate we may be called, like John and like Jesus, to speak truth to power and suffer the consequences. But, we can rest assured, that no matter what … our God – through the power of the Holy Spirit – is at the center of it all, saying “You are my Child, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” May all God’s people say, Amen |
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