[Propertalk] Fw: SermonWriter: Jan. 17 (Epiphany 2C) John 2:1-11

[Joe Parrish]

The following are SermonWriter materials for Jan. 17 (Epiphany 2C). They 
focus on John 2:1-11, where Jesus turns water into wine at Cana of Galilee.


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Dick Donovan


A THOUGHT ON PREACHING: Because I am a Christian, every day in which I do 
not penetrate more deeply into the knowledge of God's Word in Holy Scripture 
is a lost day for me. I can only move forward with certainty upon the firm 
ground of the Word of God. And, as a Christian, I learn to know the Holy 
Scriptures in no other way than by hearing the Word preached and by 
prayerful meditation (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).


TITLE:  Turning Wine into Water


SERMON IN A SENTENCE:  Jesus enables us to turn water (something ordinary) 
into wine (something special or holy), but we must resist the temptation to 
turn wine (something holy) into water (something not holy).
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 I found a wonderful quotation about C.S. Lewis that I want to share with 
you.  Lewis, as many of you know, did not believe in God as a young man. 
But through the influence of Tolkien and other friends, he finally kneeled 
and gave himself to God -- he was 32 years old at the time.

Then Lewis began to write books that have become classics of Christian 
literature-- Narnia -- The Screwtape Letters -- Surprised by Joy -- and many 
others.  His books have opened the doors to faith for millions of people.

Now to the quotation that I mentioned.  It was not a quote BY Lewis, but a 
quote ABOUT Lewis by Ralph Wood.  Wood said:

"Lewis may have become the chief Christian tutor to the twentieth century
because he refuses the perennial temptation
to turn the wine back into water."

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FOR MORE SERMONS ON THIS TEXT, GO TO:

http://www.lectionary.org/SermLinks/NT/NT04john.htm

Scroll down to John 2.  There are four sermons on this text posted there.


TRUE STORY:

See this story of Tammie and the Dream Team coaches: As I started work on 
this sermon, I had just finished a story in the latest issue of Guideposts 
magazine (Tammie Temple, "A Better Me!" Guideposts, Jan. 2010).  Guideposts 
had sponsored a contest called "New Year, New You!"  They invited people to 
enter the contest by sharing their story -- and their need to become a new 
person.  Guideposts would fly their Dream Team of four lifestyle coaches to 
help the winner get started on a completely new path in live.

Tammie Temple of Start, Louisiana won that contest last year.  She was a 42 
year old wife and mother who had much for which to be thankful -- but her 
health was something else.  She had gained lots of weight, and found herself 
unable to do many of the things that she wanted to do with her family.

When her coaches visited her in Louisiana, they taught her about nutrition 
and a whole new way of cooking.  They taught her about exercise.  But 
mostly, they taught her a whole new way of thinking about herself.

When a photographer came to take pictures, Tammy said, "I hope you have your 
wide-angle lens."  But Julie, one of her coaches, jumped on her.  She said,

"Do you realize what you do to your mindset
when you say things like that, Tammie?
You've got to cut that out.
Now I want you to say,
'I am worthy of this opportunity!'"

Tammie opened her mouth, but the words wouldn't come out.  She could not 
say, "I am worthy," because she felt so unworthy.  She couldn't say, "I am 
worthy," because she had become used to turning wine into water -- taking 
the special gifts that God had given her and making them into something 
ordinary -- something less than ordinary.

But Tammie struggled until she finally said, "I am worthy."  She didn't 
really believe that, but she made herself say it.  Over the next few months, 
she worked with her coaches until she came to the place where she could 
believe it.  At that point, she was on her way to losing weight -- she lost 
60 pounds.  She was on her way to a new kind of life.  She was able finally 
to take walks with her family and to do things with her children.  She was 
on her way to turning water, the ordinariness of her life -- back into wine. 
She was becoming once again the special person that God had created her to 
be.


But Tammie is not the only one with that problem -- the problem of being 
less than God created her to be.  We all have that problem to one degree or 
another.


THOUGHT PROVOKERS:

The world is not lacking in wonders,
but in a sense of wonder.

G. K. Chesterton

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Too many times we miss so much
because we live on the low level of the natural,
the ordinary, the explainable.
We leave no room for God to do the exceeding abundant thing
above all that we can ask or think.

Vance Havner

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Do not pray for easy lives;
pray to be stronger people.
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers;
pray for powers equal to your tasks.
Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle,
but you shall be a miracle.

Phillips Brooks

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

A number of materialistic thinkers
have ascribed to blind evolution
more miracles, more improbable coincidences and wonders,
than all the teleologists could ever devise.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The worst enemies of vital Christianity
are those who have tried to regularize it,
to take out its fantastic, peculiar qualities
and leave it no different from anything else.

Halford E. Luccock

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

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HYMN STORY:  The Church's One Foundation

If you had known Samuel Stone, chances are that you might have admired him 
on one hand and been distressed by his behavior on the other.  A priest of 
the Church of England, he devoted himself to serving the poor and 
vulnerable, but his athletic build and intense passion sometimes led him 
afar.  It is said that, on one occasion, he gave a thorough beating to a man 
whom he found mistreating a little girl.

Or you might have admired Stone for whipping a bully! Some would and some 
wouldn't.

Stone served as a passionate defender, not only of the poor and vulnerable, 
but also of the faith.  He was inspired to write "The Church's One 
Foundation" in response to a church controversy nearly half a world away. 
In South Africa, Bishop John Colenso had begun to question whether Moses 
wrote the first five books of the Bible.  Bishop Robert Gray moved to 
discipline Colenso, and the resulting controversy reverberated throughout 
the denomination.

Stone wrote "The Church's One Foundation" as one of twelve hymns based on 
the Twelve Articles of the Apostles Creed.  He hoped that these hymns would 
help people to better comprehend the creed that they oft recited but seldom 
understood.  He also hoped that they would support the conservative side of 
the controversy that was rocking the church.  "The Church's One Foundation" 
is the only one of those hymns that is still widely sung today -- and widely 
sung it is!  But most hymnals leave out some of Stone's more polemical 
verses.

Samuel Wesley, the grandson of Charles Wesley, wrote the music for this 
hymn.

NOTE:  See other hymn stories at http://www.lectionary.org/hymnstories.htm


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