CalvaryEpiscopal Church |
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Calvary Episcopal Church |
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GOD'S MESSAGE THIS WEEK Scripture Readings: The Second Sunday after the Epiphany Isaiah 62.1-5 Psalm 96 1 Corinthians 12.1-11 John 2.1-11 In the prophetic reading from Isaiah we hear of God providing hope to the hopeless Israelites who have long been exiled from their homeland, Jerusalem. They themselves cannot see things getting better any time soon, but God does see it better and has the power to make it better and most importantly, does make it better. The same holds true at the wedding in Cana of Galiliee. Jesus and his mother are guests at the wedding when the wine runs out. This is no minor offense in that culture. The wedding couple would be disgraced and snickered at for the rest of their lives by such a breach of hospitality. The situation looks hopeless for them, until Jesus steps in and performs his first miracle of changing the water into wine. What is impossible for us is possible for God. When there is no hope, God provides the hope. When there is no solution, God’s provides one. In our personal lives there are times when things seem hopeless. Likewise in institutions, organizations and churches, including Calvary, there are times when things seem hopeless. For some reason there are times in our lives when we just cannot change the way things are going. We try but the situation remains the same or the same pattern simply repeats itself. It could be any situation but as an example let’s discuss alcoholism. Perhaps the situation is alcoholism within a family and the alcoholic tries to quit but cannot or the spouse or partner tries to change his or her response to the alcoholic but cannot. These are the times when we need to reach beyond ourselves for help and turn to God through AA for the alcoholic or Al-Anon for the spouse. Otherwise, a year from now when we look at our lives, they will be exactly as they were the year before, except we may be more depressed and frustrated a year later. At Calvary, the same thing applies. Calvary has a history of growing to a certain point, typically 60-70 on an average Sunday and then there is too much anxiety about growing more so the church creates a conflict. The conflict varies, it can involve lay people or the vicar, but the result is the same: the church stops growing and the anxiety over growth is gone. So here we are at that point of 60-70 on a Sunday. How do we move forward? Well, we certainly cannot do the same thing as in the past. How can we change our normal behavior and our normal pattern? It takes God. It also takes accepting others into leadership and being different, if that is what God leads us to. Perhaps you have heard of the definition of insanity? I have also seen the same definition applied to ignorance. It is this: The definition of insanity or ignorance is “doing the same thing over again and expecting the results to be different.” In both our personal lives and in institutions, including our church, if we truly want change, then we have to take the risk of turning it over to God and, with God’s help, we have to accept that we cannot do the same thing we’ve always done. We must do it differently to get different results. God can do that. God is willing to help us. We need to ask for that help and follow through with it. Otherwise it will be status quo, year after year after year, until we are on our death bed and say, “I wish I had done it differently.” Then it is too late. Let’s ask God now. Let’s change. With God’s help all things are possible. Sources and references : (note that the above is the approximate verbal text of a sermon spoken without notes and does not include quotations or footnotes (except as noted in footnote 1, below) that a formal publication, speech, or written report would include) The New Oxford Annotated Bible (NRSV)
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Calvary Episcopal Church Welcomes You 158 Broad St., Pascoag, RI 02859 |
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