This Sunday is the first Sunday of February so we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion. If you are joining us on-line you are invited to have bread and juice available so we can all eat and drink together.
The Scripture Readings this week are:
- Song of Songs 4:9-15
- Psalm 45:6-10, 12-15
- John 2:1-11
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| Handfasting |
The Sermon title is Joined in Love
Early Thoughts: What binds us to each other and to God? How do we celebrate this being bound together?
This week we have a portion of a love song. We have verses from a psalm celebrating a royal wedding. And we have the story of a wedding where running out of wine turns into an incredible abundance of wine.
For ages, probably most of human history, marriage has been seen as that way we celebrate being bound together in love. Now if we are honest we know that throughout human history marriage has not always lived up to that ideal of being bound together in love, but still the image persists.
This is probably why Christians have long talked about the church as being the Bride of Christ. In Jewish Scripture we find similar imagery to talk about the bond between God and Israel. So what does it mean to see ourselves as bonded to God in such a way? For better or worse? In sickness and in health?
To me it is, in part, a reminder that we are not walking the road alone. To be joined in love with another, or with others plural, means that we are there to share the road, to support each other, to have someone with whom we can vent. Better or worse. Sickness and health. As the New Creed says "we are not alone".
ANd in part joined in love is about praise. It is about seeing the person(s) we love with eyes that highlight the gifts and the beauty of who they are. It does not mean we only see them as perfect. It does mean we highlight the blessings over the struggles, we see the beauty that overcomes the flaws.
Then there is that incredible abundance. Wine is often seen, in both ancient and modern times, as a sign of blessing, a piece of luxury and joy. "A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou" is what it takes to make one happy according to the aphorism. At the wedding in Cana the joy must have been amazing! One of the things we hope will happen when we are joined in love with another (or a group) is that the joy is present in abundance. Even when things are not going according to plan (remember they ran out of wine first) there is the possibility of joy in amazing abundance. That is part of the promise of being joined in love.
It would be easy to make these passages all about marriage. But Marriage is a symbol of what it means to be joined in love. It is a powerful symbol to be sure but it is a symbol that can be misused at times. Sometimes we make an idol of the status "married" or we set limits on who can be permitted to have that status and we miss the point of the symbol. In the end the point is the power and depth of the relationship. Joined in love is about the relationship, not the social or legal status of the relationship.
Scripture is clear that we are bound in love with God. Scripture is clear that we are meant to be bound in love with other humans. How has being joined in love with God and with others changed who you are?
--Gord
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