excerpt from "The Holy Toast"
John 2:1-11
So for all of you confirmation students taking notes I am finally to the main point of this sermon. Out of a multitude of topics I am now to the one I choose for us to focus on for today and hopefully in the days to come. Through Jesus Christ something ordinary – like water, can be made extraordinary – special – like good wine. It’s a simple toast “Through Jesus Christ, may we all be transformed from water into good wine.” In the tradition of the Jewish culture in which Jesus was raised, hospitality was an essential part of life. The host of this wedding had planned for a lengthy feast, complete with good wine and food, to acknowledge the marriage of his daughter. As the guests came in they might stop to wash their hands in the jars of water that were provided. These same jars filled with dirty water are the starting point for Jesus’ miracle. He has the servants clean them out and fill them with fresh water – which then through God’s amazing power is made into something of great value and shared with the guests.
Do you believe in miracles? I do and the same opportunity for a miracle is before us today.
We are the vessels of water – pretty ordinary people leading worthwhile but pretty mundane lives. Sometimes we feel as if we are full of our own dirty water and that others have used what we have to offer to wash their hands in it. Jesus offers us a way to turn our dirty water into fine wine…. It’s right here. Through the juice or wine and the bread, we are reminded that Jesus can change our lives – our dirty water - into something clean and fine and worthy. All we have to do is ask - and believe.
Sören Kierkegaard who lived in the 19th century said “Christ turned water into wine, but the church has succeeded in doing something even more difficult: it has turned wine into water.” In other words many have taken the church and made it into something ordinary. The church is not ordinary; those of us who believe in Jesus Christ are not ordinary. Because God loves us so much that he sent Jesus Christ to live as our teacher and die as our Savior – we have become “chosen” by God. Through God’s love we turn from water into wine.
And what happened at the wedding in Cana after the miracle of water into wine occurred? The wine was shared with the guests. Although the transformation was private, the outcome was public. When we are transformed by our faith – through the bread and the cup – what we become, what we believe must be shared.
Through the communion that we will share you are invited to hear, to taste, to touch, to receive and to feel the grace of God revealed in this unique way. At Tulare United Church we offer an open communion. The table is open to anyone who seeks to respond to Christ’s love and seeks to lead a new life of peace and love. Anyone who strives to have God turn their lives into something extraordinary.
When we break bread and share the cup, we share the peace of Christ one with another, and allow God to turn us from water into wine.
Pastor Lorah Houser Jankord 
January 17, 2010
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