| New Book now Available Here is an anthology of over 1100 brief prayers and thought-starters, for each day of the year, with almost 400 original prayers by Bruce Prewer. Included is both a subject index and an index of authors-- an ecumenical collection of about 300 different sources. |
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| Title: Brief Prayers for Busy People. Author: Bruce D Prewer ISBN 978-1-62880-090-6 Available from Australian Church Resources, web site www.acresources.com.au email service@acresources.com.au or by order from your local book shop or online on amazon. |
YEAR C, EPIPHANY 2
Sunday
2, Jan 14-20
John 2: 1-11
(Sermon
1: “The Man who Wined up Water?”)
(Sermon
2: “Overdoing It”)
1 Corinthians 12: 1-11
Isaiah 62: 1-5
Psalm 36: 5-10
PREPARATION
In the name of the generous Christ Jesus, I greet
you.
In the name of the bountiful
Creator, we greet you.
In the name of the extravagant Spirit, I greet you.
In the name of the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit,
we greet
one another.
OR—
Welcome to the house of our bountiful God.
Your steadfast love, O lord, extends
to the heavens,
Your faithfulness stretches beyond
the clouds.
Welcome in the name of the Christ who does nothing
by half measures.
The children of earth take refuge in
the shade of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your
house
and drink
from the rivers of your delight.
PRAYER OF APPROACH
Loving God, though most of us come here from
comfortable homes, surrounded with many possessions, we still yearn for that
holy wealth which nothing can buy. We seek the wealth of your abundant light
and love. We need your inflowing Spirit if this time of worship is to rise
higher than our shoe laces. Grant us that Spirit we pray, that with rekindled
love and awe we may praise and adore you, and so doing, find ourselves
wonderfully satisfied
Through Christ Jesus our
Saviour.
Amen!
CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE
Let us confess our sins, repudiating those things
that rob us, and those around us, of generosity and joy. Let us pray.
Whenever we have turned our Christianity into dull
routines and platitudes, without zest and laughter;
Lord have mercy.
Whenever we have resented the enthusiasm of the new
convert or the excitement of the idealistic person;
Christ have mercy.
Whenever we have traded the new wine of the Gospel
for the old beverage of religious laws, anxiety; and self-belittling;
Lord have mercy.
O dearest Christ, Brother and Saviour, your
super-abundant forgiveness is ready ages before we seek it; your love is
enfolding us long before we become aware of it. Fill us, we pray, with the
peace that the secular world cannot give us, and with the joy that no doubt,
failure or fear can steal from us.
Amen!
FORGIVENESS
Our God does not deal in half measures. Out of God’s
fullness we have received saving grace heaped upon saving grace.
It is Christ
who sets us free, therefore we stand free indeed.
Thanks be to God!
PRAYER FOR CHILDREN
Selfishness
Dear God, please help us to change.
There is a selfishness in
our hearts that we don’t like.
It sneaks up and grabs us, even when we want to be
generous.
Can you fix that, please?
Make us more like Jesus, until we also find the fun
in sharing and giving, helping
and forgiving.
Please?
Amen!
PSALM 36:5-10
Holy Friend, your justice towers above the
mountains,
your judgements are deeper than ocean trenches.
Your fidelity reaches far beyond the clouds,
your love extends throughout the galaxies.
Loving God, you save all living things,
ever precious is your mothering love.
In you the children of earth take shelter,
under the warmth of your wings they rest.
They feast on the hospitality of your home,
they drink from the rivers of your happiness.
From you flow the fountains of abundant life,
and in your light we find our light.
Hold tightly in your love those who know you,
and give your healing liberation to the sincere.
B D Prewer Ó 2000
NEW WINE
When hopes seem dry as bulldust,
old visions on the wane,
look for that wedding feast
where water is changed into wine.
If you cannot keep faith’s pace,
despair seems it might win,
attend the house at Cana,
where water is turned into wine.
When loves appears to shrink
and joy sags frail and wan,
join the amazed disciples
as water becomes new wine.
If the new age seems late,
your patience tired and worn,
follow the young Nazarene
to water that is the best wine.
© B.D. Prewer 1995
COLLECT
God our prodigal Friend, you have called us to live
generously in an era of miserliness, when budget cut backs, diminishing
services, yet increased profits to the greedy, dominate the commerce of our
nation. In the clear sanity of this house of prayer, so infect us with the
Spirit of Christ, that we may go against the national
trend and live abundantly, to your glory.
Amen!.
SERMON 1: THE MAN WHO “WINED UP” WATER
John 2: 11
This first
great sign of Jesus, was done at Cana in Galilee,
displaying his glory; and his disciples put their trust in him. John 2:11
You have heard of the old custom of watering down
wine with water, but what about a man who “wined up” water into wine?
INTRODUCTION
1.
How about that? Water into wine. Wow! Unless you know
something I don’t know, turning water into wine is not
a very common miracle. And that must be
a one mighty relief to the vine growers of the Barossa and Hunter valleys, and
those at Margaret and Piper rivers.
2.
But John records such a miracle. In fact , between
500-600 litres of water became wine. What extravagance! Not just ordinary wine
either! We are told it is a splendid wine that flowed from the touch of Jesus.
3.
This story is unusual, most odd to the post-modern mind, unlike any other in the
New Testament. What is more, John has Jesus commencing his public ministry with
it. It is a pivotal moment in his Gospel story.
4.
Of course, it may not have sounded so odd around the Mediterranean at that
time. For the Greeks the god Dionysius turned water into wine. Also the Jewish
philosopher Philo wrote of the obscure (Old Testament) priest Melchizedek
changing water into wine.
WHY DOES JOHN RECORD THIS STORY?
Important
question: Why did John give us this miracle story?
1/. The disciples believed. As a result
of this miracle they put their trust in Jesus.
Correction! I have used the word “miracle”. Actually John does not use that word here (in
Greek “thauma”) but chooses “sign” (in Greek “semein”) Signs have no intrinsic
value, no self importance. They point to something that is very important.
(When travelling in the outback and we see a sign: Uluru: 1250 klm, we don’t
stop and camp at the sign as if we have arrived; it points to something much
greater.)
2/ The “signs”
of Jesus point towards the unique power of God breaking in through his words
and deeds.
Something
new is happening. An old order is being superseded with a radical new order.
3/ Water in stone jars?
The old Jewish law and its appropriate ceremonial is
superseded by new wine.
Thus
the first wine (referred to by the toastmaster)was
ordinary, nothing to rave about. The second wine is exciting stuff.
In
Christ they encountered something never experienced before. Something
that radically altered the old, common stuff of their existence.
IT STILL HAPPENS
Christ
is still at it. He “wines up” common (and often stagnant) water into something
extra special. Human lives are changed by his Presence. A radical
transformation takes place. Today Jesus continues to give startling “signs” that point to
the unique power of God at work.
1/ In
our denomination of the church, we do not tend to talk up this aspect. We
exhibit a far greater modesty than some Christian groups who publish “signs and
wonders.”
(Whether this is a healthy
or sick modesty in another question!)
But
be assured radical transformations are happening among us and within us. The
new wine is here, and it is wonderfully more tasty
than the old stuff!
2/ Sometimes it happens
dramatically, rather like a Northern European
springtime, with the ice cracking and the waters flowing, the flowers bursting
into life and flocks of birds arriving.
Sometimes it happens slowly and almost
imperceptibly, more like seasonal change in Adelaide, some of the first
wildflowers blossoming in late June and the last finishing in early November.
Either
way, springtime has come! Likewise, the new wine is gloriously among us,
pointing to the intimate, beautiful power of God in Christ Jesus
3/Examples:
A woman ,
a stranger to me until that moment, comes to me after public worship and says:
“Heh! Something remarkable happened in that church this morning; my whole life
which has been a mess, seems to have been turned upside down and I’m filled
with happiness like you wouldn’t believe! I want to become a Christian.”
A
man, who has been among us for a couple of years, rather hesitantly seeks me
out and says: “Look, I don’t know how it happened. But as I was driving home
from church last Sunday, I suddenly realised that I was now a Christian. There’s
been no big zap from the sky or anything; but my whole life has been changed,
almost without me noticing when it happened.”
AND WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF
US?
Has water been turned into wine in your lives?
The danger of giving examples, as I have just done,
is that some of you will be wondering: “How did I miss out?” Well maybe you
have been drinking the new wine for so long that you have forgotten what the
old stuff was like. Maybe you have not missed out; merely suffering from a long
familiarity that has bred.………maybe not contempt but at
least complacency.
The longer a minister lives amongst a congregation
as friend and pastor, the more that minister comes to know the achievements and
heartbreaks, the virtues and sins, the vulnerability or the resilience, the
confusion or the pain, that the people of a congregation experience. My
observations lead me to say this
My friends, in your ups and downs I have witnessed how the
touch of Christ has created some remarkable wine out of what could have become
stagnant, polluted water.
Some of you have known tragedies that could have
made you sour or angry characters. But you are not.
Some of you have achieved so much that you might
have become stuffed up with self importance. But you are not at all like that.
Some of you have been so bruised or injured by other
people, that you could have become cynical and hard as nails. But you have not.
Some could have ended up defeated types, afraid of
new challenges, knocking the enthusiasm of others..
But it is not so.
Some might easily have collapsed into faithlessness,
mocking the very idea of a loving God.
But that is not how it is with you.,
My friends, maybe we take each other for granted in
this congregation and miss out on the glory of the new wine that flows freely.
What is more, perhaps we take the wine of our personal , individual lives for granted and severely
discount the wondrous sign of God in Christ Jesus is constantly at work in us.
I tell it as it is: From common, stone jars (or clay
ones like me) I see with my own eyes the new wine of Christ - that wined up water - overflowing in this congregation.
A WORD TO THE THIRSTY
However, that may not include all of you? Perhaps
there are some here today who are still drinking stale water rather than
Christ’s new wine. Old fears, old guilt, old values, old
pride, old sins, are maybe holding you back?
Have you ever stopped, taken stock and asked the
question: “What could I now be if I allowed the hand of Christ to touch my
stagnant life and transform it?” Do you dare to imagine it? Be sure of this, my
friend: for Christ Jesus, it is never too early or too late for the production
of the new wine. Today may be the time to commence, as your trust your life entirely
to Christ Jesus.
Do not lose the context of joy. The water-into-wine sign, given at Cana in
Galilee, happened at a marriage feast. It was a joyful occasion, a time for
celebration. The way of Christ is a way of happiness. Sometimes like a
champagne bottle full and bubbling over, or sometimes like a welcome cup of tea
to be quietly savoured, in deep trust and gratitude.
Praise God for this deathless man who “wines up”
water into the best vintage available.
This first
great sign of Jesus, was done at Cana in Galilee, displaying his glory; and his
disciples put their trust in him
SERMON 2: OVERDOING IT?
John 2:6-11
Now 6 stone
jars where standing there, each holding 80 to 120 litres. Jesus said to them,
“Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them to the brim. He said to them:
“Now draw some out and take it to the MC.” So they took it. When the MC tasted
the wine........ he said: “Usually they serve the best
wine first, and when men are a little drunk they then serve poor wine; but you
have kept the best wine until now.”
Was Jesus overdoing it?
What else you think of someone who near the end of a
wedding feast produces another 500-600 litres of wine?
Maybe, this strange happening is a kind of
parable-in-action?
I believe it is. John does call it a sign .This story of turning water into
wine points us to a God who is an extravagant Creator and Redeemer. The God of
Jesus Christ holds nothing back. This God “goes over the
top,” repeatedly over doing it. We see this pre-eminently displayed in the life
and teaching of Jesus. But it is also present in the Old Testament.
Psalm 104 exults in a God who is remarkably generous
in creation. And in the much-loved Psalm 23, we have that enduring picture of
“my cup overflows.” We see God as the generous host who not only fills our cup
but fills it to overflowing.
You may think 500-600 litres of wine is excessive?
But that is the kind of God in whom we place our
trust. This story is a parable, a sign post pointing us to a remarkable, holy
Friend.
THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF CREATION
Think with me now for a while about the extravagant
abundance of creation.
These days we view on TV some excellent films
featuring the wonders of the life forms that inhabit this planet. We often see
the over-supply in terms of numbers and variety. For example, the truly
prodigal, annual spawning of the corals of the Great Barrier Reef
For myself, in the Aussie outback, I have stood on
the inland plains south of Akaroola, not far from the salt expanses of lake Frome, and marvelled at the vast carpet of little
daisies stretching to the Flinders Ranges in the far distance.
In Kakadu National Park the prolific bird life has
left me “gob smacked.” Thousands, no millions of water birds!
I thought the dancing native crane, the Brolga, was
relatively scarce until early one morning in North Queensland I saw over a
thousand of them taking to the air at once.
As a child in Tasmania I liked to fish in small
streams for the tiny mountain trout, and used to marvel at the oversupply;
thick schools of them attacking my bait.
The excesses of the Creator are around us
everywhere!
If we look out at night from this planet at the
skies around us, we witness the same pattern of over-supply! What an
extravagant Mind is must be that produced such prodigal billions of stars in
our one galaxy, and trillions upon trillions more throughout the millions of
other galaxies.
We can share the enthusiasm of Anne Dillard when she
writes:
The
extravagant gesture is the very stuff of creation. After that one
extravagant gesture of creation itself
in the first place, flinging intricacies and colossi down aeons of emptiness,
heaping profusion on profligacies with ever fresh vigour, the whole show has
been on fire from the word go!”
I for one, recognise who this profligate Creator
must be! It is characteristic of the One who in Christ Jesus confounds people
towards the end of a wedding feast by producing about 600 litres of choice
wine. The God who excels at overdoing generosity!
THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF THE KINGDOM
What is true about physical things is also true
about spiritual things.
Jesus spoke often about that kingdom of heaven
(Matthew) and the kingdom of God (Mark and Luke) which his presence and
ministry were inaugurating on earth. In this new realm the bonanza of God’s
goodness is everywhere. Grace abounds.
The water into wine incident is just one example
among many.
Remember that this happened at a wedding feast. Many
of the parables are built around the picture of a great feast. Festivity,
celebrations are typical of the Kingdom of God. The saving grace of God is like
an on-going, never-flagging, festival!
Take for example one surprised woman. You find her
in that mini parable (Luke6:38) which implies that a women went to the market
to purchase her supply of barely for bread making purposes. The grain merchant keeps
filling up the measuring bowl, pressing the grain down tight, shaking it to
maximise the quantity, and then with it still overflowing he pours the grain into her apron, which she holds out to
receive the precious abundance.
And what about the parable
of the over-enthusiastic cook? That story about the woman who takes what amounts
to 128 cups ( three sater) of flour and makes bread for her household. That amount of
flour will make about 60 of our ordinary loaves of bread! How’s that for going
over the top! It matches the water-into-wine episode! Such extravagance! In the
kingdom, God is like that, says Jesus.
There are many more examples.
The more readily remembered being those of the
prodigal son, or the surprising wages paid to the workers in a vineyard. Time
does not permit me to expound on them. It is enough to recognise that in Jesus’
parables of the kingdom we have the same prodigal grace that is reflected in
600 litres of wine.
Dutch theologian Edward Schillebeeckx writes that
God is luxury ; “for
believers, God is the luxury of the life.....sheer, superfluous luxury.”
As John’s Gospel has it: “Out of his full store we have received grace upon grace.”
SURPRISE YOURSELF
Have you ever surprised yourself by exhibiting a
similar generous spirit?
If you have,. then you have not trusted Christ in vain. We are called by
Jesus to share in this extravagant mission of God.
We are called live the generosity of the kingdom of
God here and now.
To are to surprise ourselves by lending without expecting
return, giving with no thought of reward, cheerfully going the second mile,
extending hospitality to those who cannot repay us, forgiving seventy time
seven those who offend us, and even praying for our persecutors.
That ridiculous gift of 600 litres of wine, is not ridiculous in the kingdom of God and his
Messiah Jesus. It is par for the course. It is not an onerous duty on God’s
part; for God is fun—fun is an essential part of God’s nature.
This week, I invite you to take extra delight in
God’s abundant generosity, and to surprise yourself by doing likewise to
others. Share God’s fun! Even one such deed of extravagant grace will bring it’s own, blessed delight.
THANKSGIVING
We thank you, loving God, for the abundant, and even
extravagant, blessings we enjoy in this land we gladly call our home.
For the clouds of
budgerigars on inland plains and the flocks of magpie geese in Kakadu.
For the vineyards and orchards of the Riverland, the
mango trees and tomato crops around Bowen, and the
bananas plantations of Coffs Harbour.
For the mines of WA, the salmon farms of Tassie and
the tuna of S.A, the sheep flocks of NSW and the multitudinous treasures of the
Barrier Reef.
For large mobs of kangaroos,
flocks of emus, and for the kindly dolphins that play around our long
coastline.
For the spirituality of the
indigenous people of the land, and their unshakeable conviction that all good
gifts are meant to be shared.
For the laughter of children in ten thousand
playgrounds, the cheering crowds at sports stadiums, and the new generation of
babies who are born each day.
For the multiplicity of
cultures and races, and for the varieties of foods, music and folklore that
have enlarged our understanding and enriched our common days.
For the presence of numerous
churches large and small, where people gather for the Gospel of peace and the
Bread of life.
For the Southern Cross in our night skies reminding
us that Christ has loved this world with a love exceeding all expectation or
deserving.
Most
generous God, for these gifts and a host more, we give you thanks.We pray for
the good grace to treat our land and its creatures with the respect that is
born from worship of you. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen!
INTERCESSIONS
* for 2 voices
God of wedding parties and new wine, of love and
laughter, dancing and singing, we pause to pray for those among your worldwide family who today
may be feeling left out in the cold.
Bless the many
people who must toil for such long hours that there is no time or energy to
laugh or sing.
Bless your children who feel so demeaned and
exploited that they view even angels of mercy with suspicion and fear.
Bless the many
folk who are caught in vicious circles of evil and can see no way to escape.
Bless those among your children whose every waking
hour is spent in pain, and whose sleep is at the best fitful.
Bless those
people who are drawn to Christ and new life, yet who fear the scorn of family, friends or
workmates.
Bless your children who once tasted the new wine of
Christ but have now slipped away into indifference, or maybe despair.
Bless those folk who with
much trembling, hand their lives over to
you this day. May they find faith and courage for the days to come.
Bless the people of your church, that abundant love
may flow in our prayers and our prayers flow into generous words and deeds.
In the name of
the Christ who makes all things new. Amen!
SENDING OUT
Take the wedding sign out into the world with you
today:
The sign of the stone jars of cold water that can be
turned into new wine,
is a sign of hope for the strong and weak,
the middle aged, old and young,
the downcast and the buoyant,
and for those with largish faith , or very diminutive faith.
By the grace of Messiah Jesus, go out from this place
with more than you brought in.
The blessing of. the
one generous God, sustaining., liberating and fulfilling all things, will be
with you now and always.
Amen!
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