St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
January 16, 2022
Year C: The Second Sunday after the Epiphany
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 36:5-10
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
John 2:1-11
A Holy Refilling
Well, as some of you know by now, this week I finally had to face reality and postpone the events we had scheduled at the end of the month to honor Samuel Shoemaker.
We have rescheduled for the end of April when, hopefully, the pandemic will have eased and we can more safely gather together.
No surprise, at first I was very disappointed but I’ve also recognized that it would be much, much better to be able to attend an event about recovery and healing without worrying about catching a life-threatening illness!
The other day, just before I decided to postpone it, someone asked me why I am so excited about this program, why I’m so interested in Shoemaker.
Most of you have heard some of the reasons: I think it’s really cool that he grew up here and was baptized here and celebrated his first Holy Communion as a priest here.
And, it’s an honor that an Episcopal saint rests in our cemetery.
Although, like all of us, he was complex and imperfect, I’m in awe that his contributions to the Twelve Steps have saved countless lives – and I also think that many of his other insights about faith and the church have a lot to say to our own time and place.
But, there’s something else, too.
I have a very close friend and mentor, a priest, who is a recovering alcoholic.
I didn’t know him back in his drinking days but the bottom line was that eventually alcoholism took over his life. Eventually he lost his church and some of his family. He was out of the church for a number of years while he attended AA meetings and worked on his recovery.
By the time I met him that was all in the past, but of course it continued to shape him and his priesthood.
Because he had lost so much, and also because he knew God’s grace – because he had been refilled by Jesus - he was a humble person, willing to show us his scars, willing to say that he was just another guy on the road, willing to reach out his hand to me and many others and say, let’s walk together.
And the experience of meeting him and learning from him changed my life, and eventually led me here, to you.
And none of it would have happened without AA.
Which means none of it would have happened without Samuel Shoemaker.
So, you know, I kind of feel like I owe him a lot.
Over the past few Sundays we have been hearing about a series of epiphanies – manifestations of God’s presence and power.
First was the Epiphany itself, when the Magi followed the star to the newborn King – a sign that Jesus is King not just for Israel but for the whole world.
And then last week we heard the story of Jesus’ baptism. This time, at least the way Luke tells the story, the epiphany is at first just for Jesus.
The heavens open and the Spirit descends like a dove.
And Jesus hears the voice from heaven say, “You are my Son, the Beloved. With you I am well pleased.”
And now in today’s lesson from the Gospel of John, we heard our third epiphany – our third manifestation of God’s presence and power.
But, this time the epiphany flows directly from Jesus himself.
The setting is a wedding at a place called Cana – a wedding attended by Jesus, his mother, and his disciples.
Then, as now, weddings were very important events.
In this case, wedding celebrations would last for days, with lots of guests coming and going.
The wedding was a celebration for the couple, yes, but also a party for the whole community.
Many of us no longer value or practice hospitality as much as we used to, but in much of the world and certainly in ancient times, hospitality was very important.
So, for the horrified wedding hosts at Cana it would have required humility to admit that the wine had run out.
And, for the guests the last of the wine would have been a big disappointment.
It sure must have seemed like the party was over.
Jesus’ mother tells him this unfortunate news, but Jesus seems to dismiss her.
“Woman, what concern is that to you and me? My hour is not yet come.”
But, for whatever reason, Jesus’ mother trusts that her son is going to do something about this problem.
“Do whatever he tells you,” she says to the servants.
And what Jesus tells the servants must have sounded strange indeed: fill the six giant jars – each holding twenty or thirty gallons – fill them with water – fill them to the brim.
Well, you know the rest: the water is transformed into wine – and not just any wine but the best wine – the jars are overflowing – and the party is just getting started.
A holy refilling.
John never describes Jesus’ wonder works as “miracles.”
Instead, for John, turning the water into wine, and all of Jesus’ other wonder works are signs - signs pointing to a deeper truth.
The wine is not the point of this story.
No, the point is that when we’re feeling empty, when it feels like the party is over – Jesus offers us a holy refilling.
During a week when I’ve been thinking about a story in which wine plays a starring part, I also read an interesting and enlightening book called Why Can’t Church Be More Like an AA Meeting?
It’s a question that I’ve asked myself.
I’ve seen the commitment that AA members like my friend have to the program, how they just don’t miss meetings, no matter what.
And, let’s be honest, church does not seem to inspire that same kind of urgency in very many people.
Anyway, the author suggests that one of the reasons why church can’t be like an AA meeting, or at least why it usually isn’t, is because church people are not too keen on showing vulnerability and humility – that we like to present ourselves as having our act together – that we’re here not so much for ourselves but to pray for those poor “other” people who don’t have their act together like we do.
I confess that before I knew you, I wondered if that’s what you were like.
But then I started getting to know members of the Search Committee and I was touched by their willingness to admit that the church they love so much was facing many challenges – people drifting away to other churches or no church at all, the absence of children from our Sunday School – and a pandemic that just won’t quit.
There were unsettling doubts about the future of this old and holy place.
For some of you, maybe it seemed like the wine was beginning to run out, that the party was winding down.
So, really more than anything else, it was your humility that drew me here, convinced me to accept your invitation to walk the road together.
Now, while it is true that all of the challenges I mentioned remain, I see a holy refilling taking place here at St. Thomas’.
On Monday evening, an online Bible Study that used to attract just a handful of parishioners was bursting at the virtual seams with 21 participants, including a significant number of people new to our church.
And, an idea that started with one parishioner wondering if we might use an empty house on our property to offer hospitality to Afghan refugees has gathered momentum, attracting other parishioners who know what’s needed to fix an old building and others who are skilled at navigating bureaucracy.
And, some people who had drifted away have been returning home and others are discovering us for the first time – finding a place where all are welcome, a church where having your act together is definitely not a requirement.
I believe that all of this and more is happening because of humility.
It’s the same humility that led my friend to attend his first AA meeting – the same humility that led horrified hosts at a long ago wedding to face the fact that the wine was running out.
It’s the same humility that gives Jesus all the room he needs to get to work, giving us a holy refilling.
So, my friends, here’s the good news: the party that began in 1742 is just getting started.
Amen.
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