“Miracles, Abundance, and Decisions” January 17, 2010

Rev. Sharon James Fazel

(John 2:1-11 and 1st Corinthians 12:4-11)

“A 4-year old boy was pulled to safety three days after he was buried alive in his two-story family home. He was exhausted and intensely dehydrated but miraculously unharmed. ..Strangers formed a large circle around the small boy and jostled each other out of the way to get a closer look, reaching their hands into the sky and exclaiming ‘God lives!’”   This story ran the other day on NY Daily News.com with the headline: “Miracle amid Haiti ruins: Boy, 4, buried alive for 3 days pulled to safety, reunited with mother.” And, this news from the British online Telegraph.co.uk, also about events in Haiti: “The dramatic rescue by firefighters of Mia, a toddler pinned beneath a concrete block with the dead bodies of her classmates, was greeted with cheers and applause after a five hour operation. She was upset and confused but – despite being confined by a concrete block for more than 72 hours – remarkably free from serious injury. Her mother wept with tears – for once not of grief – but of happiness.” And a Boston Globe headline declared: “Disaster is opportunity to do right in Haiti” (Derek Z. Jackson column, 1/16/10). Google the earthquake in Haiti, and what you will find in abundance is stories of hope and stories of miracles, amid accounts of devastation.

              When a joyful wedding celebration brought Jesus and his disciples, including his family, into the community of Cana, the wine flowed. The lack of it, after all an important element in a wedding celebration – was noticed specifically by his mother, who brought it to his attention. One would think she would report such a problem to the steward in charge of the festivities, but instead she went to Jesus. It seems she knew her son’s abilities, and his penchant for making things right! When the water jugs – meant for water used in purification ceremonies – were filled to the brim with water that then poured out as wine, all was well. But the miraculous change did not escape the steward. He acknowledged that the “good wine” was served late in the feast, even though it could easily have been used only at the beginning, when less might have been imbibed. He noted the wine’s  abundance, with joy. And miraculously, the party continued its merry-making, uninformed that it had almost gone belly-up for lack of libation!

              The author of the Gospel John tells us that this moment in Jesus’ story was the first time he “showed his glory” to his disciples. They may have been impressed with his talk, and even with his walk, beforehand -- but after the abundant wine incident, they were aware that he was capable of truly marvelous moments. And what was that first act? Not a move to over-indulge someone’s individual selfish desire for “more, more, more,” nor raising someone from the dead -- but rather a response to his own mother’s observation that the wedding was lacking a major means to continue its celebration! Mary didn’t plead with Jesus, either. She simply trusted that he would understand her observation. And then she trusted that his decision to do something would not only be forthcoming, but worthy of accomplishing. “Do whatever he tells you to do,” she told the servants. And they did.

              Community, family interaction, and a need to affirm joy and hope. That’s all it took. And Jesus’ “glory” was revealed. Wow. What a great way to launch a ministry!

              And now with the earthquake in Haiti – we hear stories of mothers rewarded by seeing their children alive and well again; even when so many are deprived of that joy.

              The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians speaks of gifts, spiritual gifts, that each of us may claim. They aren’t the types of gifts that advance someone on the tv show, American Idol, but they nonetheless make bigger headlines these days. The gifts offered by the firefighters and rescue workers and by ordinary citizens in Haiti are the very gifts of which Paul speaks: “gifts of healing” and “working of miracles.” For indeed, that’s what’s been happening there amid the rubble and destruction brought on by a natural disaster that has no more interplay with “the devil” than do the piles of snow we see in our parking lots, or the hurricane winds that blew through Louisiana in recent history. In the stories of Katrina, in the stories of  “9/11” – miracle after miracle was reported, in the middle of destruction that boggled the mind. Paul knew that the gifts of the Spirit are the kind of gifts that human beings use to help each other, not to destroy each other. Paul knew it, and Jesus knew it, and Mary knew it, too.

              It’s been a long first decade of the new millennium – one judged to be a difficult and disastrous one for many, worldwide. And yet, as we begin a new decade, it’s up to us to find the good stories amid the sadness, the hope amidst the despair, the wine in the water jugs. From recognizing the everyday joy of celebrating a new relationship in a wedding feast, to the heartbreaking joy of rescuing small children from underneath buried buildings in a country already devastated by poverty and neglect – the joy of new life is set before us by this Spirit whose bestowal of gifts we recognize in this Christian community here this morning. Jesus heard his mother’s simple statement at a wedding feast, telling him of the need for more wine.

What is the need for us, as a congregation, to recognize? Who needs the “new wine” of attention and rescue from disaster, whether global, or local, or personal? What opportunities have been put before us by this world, as it turns?

              Katherine Matthews Huey writes in her reflection for the UCC online resource called “sermon seeds:”  “What hidden abundance lies within our sacred traditions, ready to be transformed, in this hour, like the water in the great stone jars? Is your church looking, in its own day, for ways to share that abundance with generations yet to come?”  

Any tragedy is an opportunity to serve. Abundance is too often considered simply a just reward for either hard work, or cleverness. And yet the gifts of the Spirit encourage us to share from all the conditions that we experience. Last week we were treated to news that you shared in renewing this church’s financial life to a level of abundance. Now what? How will we proceed from here? The question remains for us all in the coming year. In the newness of this decade, all of these questions are worthy of examination. Take them into your hearts, and weigh them against your spiritual gifts, for you surely shall be called to an opportunity to share those gifts, as we build our future together here, at First Congregational UCC of Anoka. And I have no doubt that that future will be something to celebrate. Let us pray.

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