EPIPHANY 2C - Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 96:1-10; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; John 2:1-11 - 14 January 2007 - A sermon preached by The Rev. Peter Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

 

Grace, Gifts, and Community

 

A PROBLEM AT A WEDDING

 

Did you hear that they had a problem at a wedding in Cana, a village located in the Galilee region of Israel, a couple of thousand years ago? It seems that the hosts ran out of wine, and the guests weren’t ready to leave yet. They were pretty rocked, in fact, but they weren’t driving anywhere, so it wasn’t too big a deal, other than how terrible they were all going to feel the next morning. “Hey, where can I get another glass of wine?” And the waiters suddenly were stammering all over themselves. “Uh, hold on a minute. I’ll be right back.” Word starting spreading. “Hey, I think they may have run out of wine. How could they have let that happen? How embarrassing! Why didn’t they plan better? Good grief! I wonder what they’re going to do about it. They’ll never live this down. People will be talking about if for years!”

 

The word got to Mary, the mother of Jesus. She didn’t add to the murmuring. No. She thought of her son, who was also at the wedding, having a good time with all of the others from the community. She thought to herself, “That boy of mine... I don’t get everything about him. But he’s pretty special. I bet he could do something about this. Let’s see. Where did I see him last?” And she went off to find him, to tell Jesus about the problem.

 

She found him, and told Jesus, very simply, what the problem was. He gave her a strange response, a sort of curt answer. But she had a hunch he’d figure something out, and told the servants to do whatever he said. The next thing anyone knew, the guests were drinking the best wine anyone had tasted all night long. In fact, some said it was the best wine they had ever had.

 

RECOGNIZING THE GIFTS IN OTHERS

 

Did Jesus solve the problem at that wedding? In large part, yes. But before he solved the problem, a couple of things happened. First of all, God gave him a gift. Well, okay, in the case of Jesus you could say that God gave him a number of gifts. Healer, spell-binding preacher and teacher, worker of miracles, amazing capacities for faith and love - he had a few things going for him.

 

The second thing that happened, of course, was that Mary recognized the gifts in Jesus, and sought him out. She didn’t know exactly what he would do. But she had this understanding that, with his gifts, he could do something about the situation, something for the common good, something that would benefit the whole community. In this case, that was all the folks at the wedding - the bride, the groom, the two families, all the guests, and the hosts, too.

 

And then, of course, Jesus offered his gift. He did his thing, and instead of those hosts being talked about for years because they ran out of wine, there was a very different ending to the story.

 

“Remember that wedding that Daniel and Rachel hosted? When everyone was feeling no pain, they brought out the best wine of all! Remember that? Now that was a great party!”

 

A STORY ABOUT COMMUNITY; A PROBLEM IN CORINTH

 

This is a story of Jesus’ power, an early revelation of who he was - what John referred to as the “first of his signs”that “revealed his glory”, and led to some people believing that he was the Messiah. (John 2:11) But it’s also a story about what can happen in community.

 

Word came back to Paul that a certain Christian community in Corinth, one that he had helped to form, wasn’t doing too well. They were fighting among themselves. They had split into factions, and were holding up different early leaders in the church as the be-all and the end-all.

 

“Apollos was the man!”

“No way! It was Peter!”

“You both are crazy. Paul was definitely the man!” (See 1 Corinthians 12:11-13)

 

It would be sort of like if we starting fighting over who was the best priest that St. Ambrose ever had. “Father Jerry was the man!” “No way! It was Fr. Reg. He put us on the map!” “No, it was Mother Lou.” “Well, I liked Father John the best. I never understood what happened with him.” “Fr. Patton was definitely the best. Look what he did for us in only two short years!”

 

And they were also fighting among themselves, bragging about who had the best spiritual gifts.

 

“Well, I can speak in tongues!”

“Yeah, well I can interpret your tongue. What good is your tongue if no one can understand it?”

“Yeah, well I have been given the power to heal. Who can top that?”

 

They had forgotten about the common good, and about being a community of love and gratitude, where every gift was celebrated. They had forgotten that each person had been gifted, no matter who you were in the community - leader or not. They had forgotten that each gift originated in God, the God of love and grace, and that the gifts were to be used to create a community of love and faithfulness, and that no one gift was better than any other, and that no one person had all the gifts that were needed in the community.

 

Paul sent them a letter, reminding them of these things.

 

“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed... Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good...”

 

He then proceeds to rattle off a list of gifts, not intending it to be an exhaustive list. He continues, “All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.”

 

It’s the Spirit at work, he says. The Spirit of God. The Spirit of love and grace and generosity bestows these gifts upon you, and they are to be used in love, for the good of the community. Be grateful for the graciousness and generosity of God. Be thankful for your gifts. Don’t spend time envying the gifts that God has given to other people. Be thankful for your gift. Be thankful for the gift that each person has been given. Be thankful that, when all of you come together, you have all the gifts that you need.

 

OUR TENDENCY TO FOCUS ON WHAT IS MISSING

 

Sometimes we need reminders, just as the people of Corinth did.

 

I noticed that it didn’t take long after Bill Ritter was sworn in as the new Governor of Colorado for people to start proclaiming his shortcomings. A few hours, maybe, at most. I’m sure the same thing happened right after Bill Owens took the reigns. “Too weak on the details! Great ideas - where is the money going to come from? Not enough experience!”

 

Bill Ritter isn’t going to make Colorado a leader in health care coverage or in renewable energy, or make our economy stronger all by himself. Surely he’s got more influence now that he did a week ago, but it’s about more than just him. It’s about his staff, it’s about how the Governor and the state legislature will work together. It’s about the gifts of the various mayors, and those who sit on city councils and school boards. It’s about the gifts of our teachers and the leaders of Colorado companies and what each citizen and each church brings to the table, too.

 

It is our tendency as human beings to focus on the gifts that other people don’t have.

 

Julia and I were talking the other day about what each of us brings to our marriage, and what each of us doesn’t bring. She said to me, “You know, we’ve been married almost twenty years. Some things have been revealed. You’re probably never going to be a great cook, and I’m probably never going to oversee the maintenance of our cars, or stay on top of our finances. That’s just the way it is!”

 

It’s true. Julia and I bring different gifts to our marriage. The kids go to her for some things. They come to me when they need something else. They know which parent to come to for what, depending on what they need. Help with math homework? That would be me. Help with writing something? That would be both of us. Let out all your feelings about a bad day at school, and be listened to in such a way that afterward, you walk away thinking, “Wow! I feel a lot better!”? That would be Julia. Different gifts. One isn’t better than the other. All are needed.

 

THIS COMMUNITY

 

It’s no different in this community than it is in your family. It’s no different in this community than it was in that Christian community in Corinth. It’s no different than the Governor’s staff, or the place where you work. God has graced us all with different gifts. And if you don’t like the word “gifts”, Paul doesn’t let you off the hook. We offer different services, he says... or different activities. But it is one and the same Spirit activating all of them, one and the same God who blesses us all, one and the same Lord who teaches us how to serve, and how to use our gifts for the common good.

 

So I’m going to stop now. I’m going to ask you to take a moment, and think about the gifts or the services that you offer to this community. Or, if you’re new, perhaps we’re talking about the gifts you could offer, or will be offering.

 

Is it teaching? Music? Encouragement? Knowing how to fix things? Knowing how to take a plan and execute it until it is finished? Working with children? Overseeing the finances of this place? Organizing or facilitating worship? Serving the poor, and reminding us of our call to serve the poor? Putting on parties? Do you have a gift for prayer or healing? Generosity? A gift for appreciating others? A gift for showing up and doing whatever needs to be done in the moment?

 

There are a ton of gifts within this community. How can we each offer our gifts for the common good? That is the question.

 

Let’s take a few moments, write them down, and collect them. Then we will offer them up, as part of our worship today, as part of our offering to God. And we will give thanks for the way that God has gifted each one of us, and for the ways that God has gifted us as a community.