Worship this Sunday will be rooted in John 3.1-17. Read the full text here.
John 3.16 states: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Where have you seen this verse in public? What feelings does this text bring up for you? What questions does it engender?
The Wedding at Cana is my favorite text because there is a lot of humor in it. There’s humor in a mother approaching her son and telling him to do something without ever actually telling him to do it. There’s his pouty resistance to his mother’s non-demand while she completely ignores him and paints him in a corner. There is humor in a raucous wedding reception where the people are so “lit” that the wine has run out. And, for me, it’s particularly humorous that there’s this huge, beautiful secret of which only a few people are aware.
Those people include Jesus’ mother and the select servants who help him pull off the miracle that inaugurates his ministry. Servants are normally meant to be inconspicuous, so I wanted to focus on the servant who goes to the chief steward with a cup full of what, as far as he’s concerned, is water.
If Jesus—whose ministry has not started, so there haven’t been any wonders associated with him yet—tells you to fill jars with water and draw from the jar to give to the chief steward, what is going through your mind at that moment? I invite the viewer to focus on this servant and all his curiosity and expectation, and think of a time when you were surprised by something God did. What actions preceded the miracle? Did it make sense? What did you know, and what was hidden from you? What “secrets” might God be keeping from you now as God works clandestinely on your behalf?
—Rev. T. Denise Anderson
One Comment
Delilah/The Table on Tap
Interestingly, we talked mostly about Nicodemus and being “born again” not about John 3:16. For some, being “born again” had a negative connotation. For others, it was a reminder that to live fully, we almost have to die everyday and be born again each morning – letting go of the unnecessary, of yesterday. We also decided that being “born again” is not a one time “aha” moment, but a process that acknowledges our capability of messing up and letting us start again. I am thankful for that.
We also talked about the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues. Can we pray for that gift? If we don’t have that gift, are we praying hard enough?
Join us on Monday nights at Old Soul on Broadway, 8:00 to 9:30 pm for coffee, drinks, discussion and friends. =)