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<DIV><FONT size=4>The Bible says that wine is the oil of gladness; that wine
brings further joy to the party. Wine helps people smile. Wine helps people to
be happy, and people want to be happy at weddings, so they often drink wine. Of
course, not at Baptist weddings. Of course, not at Norwegian Lutheran weddings.
But with those exceptions and a few others, people often drink wine at weddings,
and this happens throughout the whole world. Wine is part of the
celebration.<O:P> </O:P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><O:P><></O:P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><O:P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4>What is the message of this sign of water into
wine? The message is not so much the water into wine. The message of the sign is
that Jesus took 180 gallons of Jewish laws, the rituals of purification, and
transformed them. Jesus took 180 gallons of guilt, 180 gallons of laws, laws and
more laws, 180 gallons of don’t do this and don’t do that, 180 gallons of laws
that then numbered more than 600 regulations, and he transformed them into a new
religion, new meaning, new wine that would burst old wine skins. Jesus
transformed the old religion into the new religion. The miracle was a sign. The
miracle had a message and you <I>have</I> to get the message. You stop at the
intersection outside of church and see red and white paint painted on metal, you
better get the message. Stop. It is the message that is important. And there is
a grand message to Jesus’ first sign. 180 gallons of guilt are transformed into
180 gallons of grace.<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O:P>
</O:P></FONT></P></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><O:P><A
href="http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_180gallons.htm">http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_180gallons.htm</A></O:P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><O:P></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>Edward F. Markquart<BR>- - - - -</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>To know Jesus Christ is to taste new wine, to be free
from the wineskins of Jewish legalism. </FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4><></FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>As a footnote, I had to admit that I when I was<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>brought up in childhood, I was not
reared on Jewish legalism but Norwegian legalism. These two legalisms are
country cousins. What was it to be a Christian back then? I can tell you. A
bunch of don’ts. My pastor and church told me, “Don’t dance. Don’t drink. Don’t
smoke. Don’t play cards unless it is Rook. Rook was permissible. Don’t go to
movies. Don’t marry a Roman Catholic. Don’t get a divorce. Divorce seemed to be
the unforgivable sin.” Somehow, I got hung up on all the wrong issues. Then, I
read my Bible and I read the Apostle Paul and discovered that I was free from
all these cultural and legalistic hang-ups. I found out that I was free to love,
free to die that others might live. I found out that being a Christian was not a
series of rules to obey; the New Testament was not a series of new rules in a
new rule book. Rather, Christianity is like tasting new wine.
</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4></FONT></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_tastewine.htm">http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_tastewine.htm</A></FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>Edward F. Markquart<BR>- - - - -</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV></FONT></O:P><O:P><FONT size=4>Recently I revisited an old movie, Babette's
Feast. It is an intriguing story placed in a desolate and tiny village on the
Jutland Peninsula in Denmark. The drama revolves around two sisters, the
daughters of the local Lutheran pastor, who carry on after his death the
pastoral care of the elderly and call together the community weekly in prayer
and Bible study.</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT size=4>Into their lives comes Babette, who had to leave her home in
Paris for political reasons. She comes to live with them as their cook. Now
being such did not demand much, since they ate the same meal every day-boiled
dried fish and ale bread. For a Parisian woman, this was not haute cuisine. She
would spice it up in small ways and seek to make the food more
palatable.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Another facet of the story comes in our learning that in the
day-to-day routine of life personal relationships can become strained. One of
the sisters has already been sought after by two men and rejected by her father
and sent packing. Two old friends tell each other what they really think about
one another. A husband and wife become engaged in angry conversation. This all
happens at the table gatherings for prayer and Bible study. Babette from the
kitchen hears this.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>She becomes the winner of the lottery and receives 10,000
francs. The sisters feel sure she will now be leaving them. Her response is
quite different. She tells them she will be offering a banquet-a feast. The food
comes from abroad. The delivery is quite uncommon for the community. The table
is laid with linen, china, crystal, and silver. It is a veritable and incredible
meal, the likes of which most of the diners have never had before. Only a
visiting general who has lived abroad is cognizant of just what is being offered
them. The wines, the soup, the quail, the roasted suckling pig, the cheeses and
fruits, the dessert give to each person a new lease on life. The argument
between the two men is resolved. The married couple are reunited in their love
for one another. Babette's feast offers them something they have never had
before. Food which satisfied and at the same time offers faith that life can
have more substance to it than they have known before.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>The outcome is that Babette's 10,000 francs were literally eaten
up and she continued to live with the sisters, but life is changed for all of
them.</FONT></P>
<P><A
href="http://day1.org/647-sermon_for_the_2nd_sunday_in_ordinary_time"><FONT
size=4>http://day1.org/647-sermon_for_the_2nd_sunday_in_ordinary_time</FONT></A></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Robert Gould Tharp, 2001</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - - </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Perhaps the most obvious meaning is that Jesus by his
attendance at the feast (while the bride and groom were consummating their union
in another room or merely behind a curtain while the drinking and singing and
dancing went on) endorsed human sexual love. </FONT></DIV></O:P>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4></FONT></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.agreeley.com/hom10/jan10.htm">http://www.agreeley.com/hom10/jan10.htm</A></FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4></FONT></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>Andrew M. Greeley [</FONT><FONT size=4>Fr. Greeley
survived a horrendous accident last November and nearly died. With the continued
effort of his family, friends, therapists and physicians he continues to recover
and improve.] <BR></FONT></O:P><O:P><FONT size=4>- - - -
-</FONT></O:P></DIV>
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