Grace Congregational UCC

“The Business of God: Transformation”
I Corinthians 12:1-11
John 2:1-11

January 14, 2007 - Kim M. Henning

Driving along the Interstate, I have grown to enjoy those huge billboards that promote the Christian faith. They are sometimes referred to as “God’s Billboards.” They are attention-getters. They do not promote a particular church or a particular denomination. They simply put out there a one sentence thought and then are signed, ‘God.’

For example, one billboard with simple black letters reads, “What part of ‘Thou Shalt Not...’ didn’t you understand?” It is signed, ‘God.’

Another billboard along the Interstate reads, “I love you and you and you and you and.....” Signed, ‘God.’

And yet another, “That ‘love thy neighbor’ thing.....I meant it.” Signed, ‘God.’

Cruising down the highway can be rather monotonous, but then along comes one of those signs. I recently saw one of this billboards that to my recollection did not have any writing on it at all, it had only a photograph. This billboard showed one of those old fashioned water spigots with clear, refreshing water gushing out. Below the water spigot was a goblet. The goblet was three-quarters full, and inside was a bright-red fluid that appeared to be wine. And it was signed, “God.”

I almost drove by that billboard without noticing. In fact, I was right beside the sign when I caught one last glimpse and I said to myself, “oh....”

There was a wedding in Cana. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited. It must have been quite a celebration, quite a shindig as they would call them back home because the wine gave out.

For some that would have been an indication that its time to now to go home. But Mary said to her son, “Jesus, they’ve run out of wine.” Jesus responds, “What concern is that to you or to me. My hour has not yet come.” And then, as if not hearing Jesus at all, Mary said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

After an awkward moment....Jesus said to them, “Those jars.....(he was pointed at stone jars), fill them with water. And they did, to the brim. Then he said to those very same servants, ‘now, take some out and give a sample to the wedding steward.’ They did. And when the steward tasted what was given him—he tasted not water but wine, good wine, very good wine, in fact it was the best wine he had tasted that day.

I find it interesting that the first of Jesus’ miracles, the transformation of water into wine, happened at a wedding ceremony. I don’t believe this miracle accidently happened at a wedding. The two events spoke to each other. What better place for ‘water turning into wine’, than at a wedding!

We know that the most important part of the wedding celebration is the utterance of those wedding vows. We can do without the lavish ‘extras’ of any wedding, but we cannot do without the wedding vows. The banquet is ‘extra...’ The floral bouquets are ‘extra....’ The music to dance to ... ‘extra’. But the vows. “I....take you....to be my lawfully wedded...... to have and to hold from this day forward. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, ‘till death do us part.”

That is the vow. It is a promise that resonates with ‘stick-to-it” But I’ve sometimes wondered if we shouldn’t add something to the vow, something that said something like, “are you (Kim) willing to be transformed by this relationship?”

Now there would be reason to pause.... and think....

Are you willing to be transformed? How could it be otherwise? If anyone is to go into a marriage with a mind set, ‘I’m happy with me the way that I am, and I’m a finished product’– well that has failure written all over it. Marriage is a relationship of personal transformation. It is like water being transformed into wine.

Transformation is difficult, obviously enough. Each of us is rooted, each of us is grounded, each of us is stubborn, each of us is ‘set in our own ways’ obviously enough.

And ‘when the two become one’ there is that growing experience of shared stories, shared suffering, and shared responsibilities.

When the two become one, there is that humbling experience of “I’m sorry, I’ve erred, will you forgive me?”

When the two become one, there is that character-building experience of patience, listening, and waiting for the other to understand us better.

When the two become one, we have to get outside of ourselves enough, to wish for and to give unmistakable evidence that our love for the other desires the best for the other—and there, miraculous, water becomes wine.

You know there’s this long standing argument that says, ‘All that’s important is that I believe.’ I can believe all by myself. I don’t need the church. I can believe in God if I take a walk in the woods or if I’m out on a lake fishing. I don’t need the church to believe in God. I don’t need the politics. I don’t need the conflict. I don’t need the stress of being with people who don’t meet my expectations.

And yet.....how better to we grow, mature; how better might we be transformed from water into wine than through community? Paul will not compromise his argument regarding the essentialness of community. God has given a piece of God’s self to each individual, and the best way to experience the fullness of God’s presence is to experience the gifts that God has given (not to me) but to others. To one he has given knowledge, to another wisdom, to another faith, to anther the gift of healing, to another... to another.....

It is nothing short of arrogance (for myself included) to think that we’ve got it all inside us, and everyone else should think and act just like I do.

You and I live in a world of change. I can’t keep up. Computers. I-pods. DVD’s. Power point. Digital Cameras. Internet. New gizmos and gadgets are being introduced to us every day. And I, whether I like it or not, am being transformed by the world I live in so that I can stay connected with people I love.

Our culture is all about change. And yet, as much as I allow our culture to some extend to have its way with me, I have to admit that I am really reluctant, stubbornly reluctant to let another human being much less the Gospel of Jesus Christ to change me, from the inside-out. Why is that?

Why do I fight to give up control of my life?

Why do I not have time for another human being when I have hours of time to sit numbly in front of a television set?

And then, I wonder.....why is my life only water?

The Apostle Paul, in one of his writings to the church, says that people of faith are being transformed from one degree of glory to another..... Every time we let the word of God get to us, it is transforming. Every time we let our hearts feel the suffering of another, it is life-changing. Every time we consider that we are more than flesh and blood, but there is Holy Spirit inside us waiting to burst forth.....it is transforming.

Along the highway, there are these mysterious billboards that have anonymously been paid for in hope that some may come to faith. I have always thought that the best advertising is not signs along the highway or even ads in the newspaper. I have always thought that the best advertising is human lives?

How has your life been transformed from water into wine? How has Jesus, the life of the world, transformed you? What kind of advertising have you done with your life that would give evidence?

The #1 religious story of last year.....was the story of those Amish in Pennsylvania. How’s that for advertising? These Amish read scripture—like you do and I do.. They study their faith, like you do and I do. They worship God. They devote themselves to the business of God—water into wine.

A tragedy happens. A terrible tragedy. A gut-wrenching tragedy where a killer took the lives of some young girls.

And they know that the contrary way of God. Within the day, they offered their forgiveness. Within the day, they visited the family of the killer. They did not want any attention. They just wanted to practice their faith—water into wine—to the best of their ability.