Sunday 17 January 2010 Luke 2:1-11 Melanie (There was no post last week due to snow!)

We pray that God would meet us where we are and move us on to where he would have us be
Amen

The gospel reading today of turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana is often described as the first of Jesus’ signs.
We all know the story well – of the wedding feast where the wine ran out, and Jesus told the servants to fill the barrels with water, and the master when tasting it, said it was the finest wine.
But I wonder what we mean when we describe the story as a sign?
The nearest equivalent for us today when we think of a sign is a road sign.
But this might not be a bad analogy.
Most road signs are clear, marked out. They stand by the side of the road as an indication of a different direction.
Turning water into wine was definitely a clear signal. It pointed the way to a new kingdom – the kingdom of God.
A kingdom that would come in the future, but that also was here with Christ in his ministry on earth.
It was a sign of the mystery of God, revealed in one person.
Road signs also offer a choice.
We can follow them, or not.
Just as the servants at the wedding feast had a choice about filling the barrels with water.
I often think that the real miracle here is that they did fill those barrels – I’m not sure that I would have done the same thing.
Road signs command our attention.
In the same way Jesus arrives at the wedding feast and immediately people respond to his request.
There must have been something about him that made people stop and want to obey.
Finally road signs point beyond ourselves to a different place – to a place that is new, and that demands exploration.
Just as Jesus used that miracle to point away from himself toward the kingdom of heaven –
as if saying to those around,
look at what is to come, and the new age that has dawned.
Today though, what signs are there around us that do the same things?
That are clear
Point the way
Offer choice
Command attention
Point beyond ourselves to a different place.

Increasingly I find that signs for me come not through words, but through simple actions.
I remember once at theological college, sitting in the chapel, waiting for a service to begin.
A young lecturer came in, and immediately bent her head in prayer.
There was something about that simple action that touched me – and I still look back on it as a key moment.
Perhaps it was the passion, or perhaps it was an acknowledgement that we are nothing without God – whatever it was, that one moment had an impact on me.
I’m sure that she would never have seen herself as a sign – and she almost certainly has no idea of the impact of her action – but it was nevertheless a sign for me.
Then there was the lady at the cross – I was so touched by this that I wrote a poem about the scene :

The woman and the cross

She placed the flowers so carefully
I saw and felt the love
that she felt within her heart
as she knelt in silence there.

The London streets were busy
Traffic everywhere.
People hurrying to beat the rush
of the Friday commuter train.

No one stopped to look
or wonder at the woman knelt there.
No one bothered to pause
or take the time to care.

She didn’t seem to worry
or be distracted by those around.
Her thoughts were firmly focussed
on those flowers on the ground.

They lay there on the steps
surrounded by a blaze of red.
The poppies seemed to hold the hands
of the flowers in their midst.

She only stopped a minute
but it seemed to me an age.
As I watched her from the window
- the sadness in her face.

I wondered who they were for,
the flowers that she laid.
Perhaps a long lost son
or a husband long since dead.

And then I began to envy
the woman in her grief.
At least she had time to stop and mourn
to be still in a London street.

I envied her the time she spent
engaging with her thoughts.
I even envied her sadness
as she stopped there to pause.

But her stillness made me think
I too needed time to stop.
To dwell on what was happening
to kneel before my God.

I slowly came to realise
that I spent my time in rush.
Answering so many questions,
working for my crust.

Work had kept me going
Please don’t get me wrong
I wouldn’t be without it
or the love of everyone.

But somehow the balance had shifted
I no longer made the time
to stop, be still, reflect
on things within my life.

I know that looking back
Each day had brought fresh trials.
That living alongside cancer
had been hard at times.

Four long rounds of chemo,
three more major ops.
Endless hospital visits
would leave anyone bruised.

But up till now I’d barely stopped
and taken time to rest.
All the time my motto
had been to do my best.

I’d forgotten that at times
my best was not enough.
I needed times of stillness
when things were especially tough

I knew the God I believed in
would forgive my human ways.
I hoped I’d now find time
for stillness and for space.

The woman with the flowers
had taught me much that day
I’d seen that precious moment
when she too had stopped to pray.

I wish I could remind others
how important it is to stop.
To find a place of stillness ;
to be alone with God.

But it seems to be a message
that no one wants to hear.
Least of all myself
or anyone struggling with prayer.

Perhaps we all need flowers
to lay down at the cross.
Allow ourselves some stillness,
time and space to stop.


Yes, turning the water into wine at Cana was a miracle, but it was also a sign of things to come.
New directions, new horizons, as we turn away from Bethlehem and move on to Jerusalem.
Our challenge today is to find those signs in our own lives that point towards new horizons,
and to see God at work in them.


Questions
Are there people/places that are signs for you of God at work today

How would you have responded to Jesus request to fill the barrels with water?