HOMILY CONNECT–JANUARY 16, 2022 – Second Sunday in ordinary time

Scripture: Is 62:1-5   1Cor 12:4-11   Jn 2:1-11

REMEMBER MALCOM GUITE – ANGLICAN PRIEST IN CAMBRIDGE ENGLAND?

From his book: Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year.

“The Miracle at Cana”

Here’s an epiphany to have and hold,

A truth that you can taste upon the tongue,

No distant shrines and canopies of gold

Or ladders to be clambered rung by rung,

But here and now, amidst your daily living,

Where you can taste and touch and feel and see,

The spring of love, the fount of all forgiving,

Flows when you need it, rich, abundant, free.

Better than waters of some outer weeping,

That leave you still with all your hidden sin,

Here is a vintage richer for the keeping

That works its transformation from within.

“What price?” you ask me, as we raise the glass,

“It cost our Savior everything he has.”

IT’S INTERESTING

• The Orthodox Church Feasts of the Epiphany, the Baptism of our Lord, Changing Water into Wine at Cana are linked
• They are the three great Theophanies – Theophany – Revelation of God
• Jesus manifested in as the Lord God to the Magi from the East
• All people welcomed him in His Heart
• Jesus manifested on the shore of the Jordan River – “Listen to Him”
• Jesus manifested as God in his first miracle in Cana – “You have saved the best wine until the end”

THE WEDDING FEAST – HEBREW/CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY

• Reminds us of the closeness of God to His People
• Through Jeremiah, God declared – “You shall be my people and I shall be your God”
• For Christians, Jesus is the marriage between heaven and earth – divinity and humanity
• Jesus is Bridegroom to His Church – His Spouse
• He has fallen in love with us – we are to fall in love with Him
• Jesus is so close, tender, compassionate – He spares the couple embarrassment

CANA – THE EARTHEN WATER JARS

• Water jars in hallway provided water for handwashing -purification ritual –
• Ritual was reminder of wedding attendees’ sinfulness
• Jesus does not focus on sin – but transforms the water into wine

1. RICHARD ROHR – CHRISTIANITY IS MORE MYSTICAL THAN MORAL

• Somehow morality – sexual morality- became focus of Christian life
• Catholic Church might obsess about laws and rules – We might judge – feel superior
• Negative and critical thoughts are like Velcro -We seem to hold on tightly

WHAT DID JESUS HAVE IN MIND – FROM A MYSTICAL POINT OF VIEW

• Maybe something other than the fixation on moral teaching
• Maybe preferred the water to be changed into wine
• Maybe religion is about being intimately connected to the Lord God
• Maybe religion is about having a heart that is open and non-judgmental, joyful

JESUS IS ABOUT TRANSFORMATION -HE WANTS TO

• Fill our hearts with his love, turn our lives around, lift us up from the bottom of barrel
• He wants to give us his Holy Spirit who is about love, peace, gentleness, gratitude, joy
• How can you and I be transformed?

FINAL WORD

• Let these words of the Rev Malcolm Guite echo in all of our hearts!

But here and now, amidst your daily living,

Where you can taste and touch and feel and see,

The spring of love, the fount of all forgiving,

Flows when you need it, rich, abundant, free…

Here is a vintage richer for the keeping

That works its transformation from within.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

• What impacted you from the readings/homily?
• Is it possible to become inebriated with the gifts of the Holy Spirit?
• Have you ever drunk too much of the Holy Spirit?
• What would our world be like if the friends and followers of Jesus were truly overwhelmed with the joy of the Holy Spirit?

LIVE CONNECTED Consider the areas of your life that might need a transformation.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to come into your life to bring you joy.