All You Need is Love.

Text: John 2, 1-11

Ok, so Jesus is at a wedding, and the wine runs out, and he turns a load of water to wine. Well known story. Big deal. Clever, but so what? We've seen Dynamo apparently walk on water on the Thames and David Blane stay in a box for I don't know how long. It takes a lot to impress us now.
Well what is it that weddings celebrate? (ask Anthony and Maria)
Love.

LEARNING

“The local church needs to know the needs of the community in which it is set, and what resources it can mobilise to meet those needs”

Jesus was someone who knew how to be at the right place at the right time. He had this uncanny knack of being able to see a need and meet a need wherever he went.

One of the things anyone getting married needs is a venue. And we’ve got one.

But what else might they need that could happen in this venue? How do we develop a plan for using this building? What might need to change to allow us to meet an identified need? (mention change of furniture-maybe it will be different every time?)

As a new vicar I am well aware that finding out what people need could take time as I get to know people and allow them to get to know me, and I’m hoping to come round and meet with you lot-(appointments list) but what about the needs of the others who aren’t here? Our friends and neighbours, and their friends and neighbours? What other needs might people have, and what resources might we have to meet them?

OUTREACH

“the church needs to be a visible and active presence in the community, sharing gospel values and building relationships”

Did you ever wonder what Jesus was doing at a wedding party? Wouldn't he be too busy being holy, playing God somewhere else, to mix with ordinary people like you and me at a social event?
Actually, no. Jesus learned how to be holy precisely by mixing with ordinary people - and he taught ordinary people how to be holy by hanging around with them. No-one was too bad, or sad, or strange, or old, or young, or rich, or poor, or dull, or anything for Jesus to want to be with.
Jesus went and hung out where the people were at, bringing transformation by being there. He didn’t wait for them to come to him. (Blue coat neighbourhood forum etc.) As church we must expect to do more than that which can happen in this building. Jesus didn’t have a base for his ministry-he moved around to where people already were. This reading teaches us that although it is great what we do in here, we also need to focus on what we do out there.

VOLUNTARY SERVICE

“The church needs to offer itself for the benefit of those who are not members”

So Jesus was where the people were, and it became apparent that there was a problem. Something was ruining the party, something was stopping people from really relaxing, letting go and experiencing the good things. The wine ran out, and Jesus did what needed to be done. He made a difference.

Well there’s something ruining the party for all of us, stopping us from really relaxing and experiencing the good things. It is a separation from each other and from God that the Bible calls sin and it causes all sorts of problems and difficulties. And something needs to be done.

Someone once said that, ‘Church should not be a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners.’ When you think of a museum everything is carefully categorised and laid out, with 'do not touch' signs and roped off areas and repeated admonishments to keep a reverent silence. When you think of a hospital you think of confusion as you enter, seeking the signpost to the ward you are heading to, and all around you see broken damaged people, some of whom you see being fixed, and some you see deteriorate or even die despite the best efforts of the staff. It’s a place where people try to do what needs to be done, facing the realities of how difficult that can often be.

All too often churches are a too like museums and not enough like hospitals. How might we learn from Jesus and do what needs to be done here? Someone else said “the church is the only organization that exists for the benefit of non-members.” As well as building on the relationships we already have those groups already using this building we need to form a plan, a vision, for what could be possible here. If you have ideas, share them with each other.

I see this building potentially becoming a Christian centre offering all sorts of things that could facilitate the transformation of the community through the ministry of the church: (church isn’t building-it’s the people) we could link with refugee centre, offer language courses, CAP Money, help with forms, support university chaplaincy if issues with withdrawn or struggling students in the area, link with the food bank, provide a contact space for disintegrating families, build links with Murray Lodge, run a youth group or a children’s after school club. I could go on and on and on. There is so much that could be done. But the reality is that it is only really useful to suggest the things not that we can do or they should do but that I can do. So together we need to hear what God is calling us to do together, here and now, so we can do what is needed in order to see His kingdom in this place, this locality.

At the wedding Jesus needed to do the whole water/wine thing, but as we share communion together we’ll focus on his ultimate self-giving for the good of all humanity, his death on the cross that we might live, and part of our response to receiving communion is that we emulate that self-giving by living as changed people. What might that look like specifically?

EVANGELISM

“The church aims to facilitate transformation through enabling people to come to Christ”

But there was another problem for the people in Jesus day because of the whole ‘sin’ thing. At that time it was hard to live a life that seemed pleasing to God. There were so many rules and regulations. Do this. Don’t do that. Wait this long. Do it so many times. Only the real experts even stood a chance of knowing anything about being in God’s presence. One of the things they did was to try to get clean of all the things they’d done wrong by washing using these enormous jars of water. And it was these jars of water, the ones used to try and get close to God, that Jesus turned into something that would help the party be more fun.

He showed us that being close to God is for everyone, for the ordinary people like you and me, not just the holy experts and that being close to God is now something to celebrate. We don’t need to worry now about getting clean of all the bad things we’ve done because Jesus has done that for us. The old way of experiencing God was replaced by a new way.

Jesus chose to offer everyone, whoever they were and whatever they were up to, the same sort of new life as he'd injected into that party with that new wine. We are offered it, too, a life that makes sense and has purpose.
You know, God loves a wedding. Because he loves people, loves to spread joy. Think of the deep love of a couple embracing on their wedding day. That's the sort of love God longs to share with you. And that’s worth celebrating. And it’s worth sharing. How can we effectively facilitate others coming to know that God accepts them and loves them?

So in summary,

Weddings are about love, and this particular event that happened at a wedding was about that love including everyone, whether they were ritually pure or not, whether they belonged or not.

The challenge for us as church, for us here today, for those who are part of this family but unable to be with us today, is how we, too can be agents of LOVE who offer new wine to liven up the party, and who bring God’s transformation to everyone whether they belong here or not.