Grace and peace to each of you!
Please pray with me: Prepare our hearts, O God, to accept your Word. Silence any voice but your own, that, hearing we may also obey your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Gospel Reading John 2:1-11 NIV
On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
“Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. “What is the Sign?” John 2:1-11, 01/17-10
I think the most intriguing phrase in this morning’s gospel is “the first of his miraculous signs.” Magicians change liquids from one to another all the time and someone said at Bible study, our response is usually is “How did you do that?” But the biblical witness says the event made the disciples believe in him. Perhaps the sign was not the miracle itself, the physical change of water into wine, perhaps it is something else.
For just a moment let’s contemplate the amount of wine. We know there were 6 jars that held between 20-30 gallons of water. Roughly 150 gallons of wine, that works out to 1600 glasses of wine. A wedding feast was a week long event and the biblical witness tells us we are half way through it, so that means that there are 457+ glasses of wine for each day. That is a lot of wine, a lot of very good wine, more wine than you need.
One hundred and fifty gallons of wine, jars filled to the brim. When Jesus comes on the scene we move from shortage, scarcity and lack to overflowing abundance.
When Jesus Christ set foot on earth, when he comes among us, there is an abundance of love; there is an abundance of hope, an abundance of joy and an abundance of courage.
But we have a problem understanding, accepting that truth and enjoying the life that God meant us to have.
It wasn’t just at the wedding at Cana that Jesus modeled the overflowing abundance that he would bring to our lives, the feeding of the five thousand- five loaves and two fishes and twelve baskets of left over food.
And it is not because we are too educated, too smart. It is not because we are too sophisticated and scientific. I believe that it is because we are o so careful, o so restrained and o so cautious.
Right now Nancy is leading a Bible study about stepping out in faith. And in our very first lesson we talked about Peter going to walk water to Christ, you remember the story; the disciples are out in a boat and a storm comes up. In fourth watch at the darkest time of night Jesus shows up walking on water towards them. “When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” Jesus said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” And Peter did. The thought never crossed the minds of the other disciples in the boat.
We just don’t make big moves in life. We don’t ask big things of God. We keep our faith to ourselves, safely tucked away in the confines of our church. We keep our prayers subdued, cautious and careful.
And it might be because we think of our relationship with God in the context of what we feel, what we believe, or what we do. And we all know how frail, how limited, how finite our resources are.
How many times has someone come to me and confessed; “I fear I am losing my faith.” Usually it is when they are going through a tough time. They feel their faith is being tested by their circumstances, and they fear they will lose what little faith they have. In that fear, they ask, “What can I do to hold on to my faith?” “How can I have more faith?”
But what if, what if our faith, our belief, our love of God is truly a gift of God and not our personal achievement? What if God is there waiting, wanting to give us more faith, while our fists are clenched trying so hard to hold on to our faith he wants us to open hands and hearts and receive from him, more love, more energy, more hope and more joy.
In short, what if this morning’s gospel is true? Jesus comes to a party in Cana, out in Galilee. When the wine gives out, he tells them to fill up the large stone jars with water, not just fill them, but fill them to the brim. When they do, the water is turned into wine, lots and lots of wine, more wine and better wine than anybody could possibly need to have a good party! When he fed the five thousand, there were twelve baskets left over. Five thousand people five loaves, two fish, everyone had their fill twelve baskets left over.
The good news this morning is that we have a God who is gracious and generous beyond measure. If we open hands and our hearts and our spirits to receive the gifts of faith and hope and joy God will give us more faith, more hope, more joy, more than we could possibly need.
Let us pray: Lord give us a bold love for you. In our prayer, give us a willingness to ask you for big gifts, not small ones. Gifts like peace, love and justice. In our lives inflame our desires for more abundant life. Life lived in your light. In our discipleship tempt us to try large tasks, great ventures and remarkable feats. Change our insipid water downed faith into the bubbling joyful wine of faithful discipleship. To your glory we ask these things in Jesus name, amen.
May your week be filled with God's mercy, may his mercy you move you closer to Christ, and may the Holy Spirit fill you with the courage to answer God's call on your Life!
Blessings, Pastor Dottie

I pray your New Year is filled with God's grace and mercy.

Let us center ourselves with prayer. God of mercy, grant that the Word you speak this day may take root in our hearts, and bear fruit to your honor and glory, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Reading Colossians 3:12-17
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe your selves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Sermon “Be-Attitudes for the New Year!”
Happy New Year!
Every year we make New Year’s resolutions. We want to improve our health, so we create a diet and try to follow it. Or we promise to quit smoking and make an action plan. Or we join a gym and promise to work out at least three times a week. We promise not to waste money and to save or to tithe, or to be on a schedule so we can be more productive. We decide we will work on our relationships by setting aside a date-night for our spouse or a game night for our children.
This can be called a program approach. You set up a program and you are doomed to failure. How many diets have you started, only to find yourself going back to your same old habits. You get busy, you get distracted and your commitment begins to waver and your program begins to fall apart, usually around the 24th or 25th of January.
So maybe what we need for real change is an attitude adjustment. We cannot change our behavior without changing our attitudes, because our attitudes are basis for our behavior. So let’s look at some real change we can make in lives.
1 Be positive.
Paul uses a clothing analogy and you know if you think about it, if your clothes or your shoes are uncomfortable, if they are too tight you can’t move freely. You know yourself when you’re mindset is fearful you feel all tight and tense, and it is hard to be compassionate and you can’t possibly be kind. You can’t be open to hearing others and when you can’t hear others you get focused on yourself you lose your humility and without humility you can neither be patient nor gentle. It is like having ill-fitting clothes, we can’t move around freely if we live in fear. Paul in II Timothy tells us; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
2 Be perfect.
I don’t mean perfect in the sense of never making a mistake. It is Christ’s love expressed through us that makes us perfect in God’s eyes.
The difference between a nice clothes and a stylish look is the way all the pieces come together. In God’s closet we find love. Love is the attitude that brings all the parts of our character into a single whole. Love, in the words of one writer is “not an emotion, but a policy.” Just as wood putty fills cracks and defects in wood, so that the wood might be useful, so love covers the individual defects and idiosyncrasies in our faith so that we can be useful to God and to one another. The Message paraphrase of the Bible calls love “Our basic all purpose garment,” some might call it the little black dress of faith. Without love our compassion, humility all of those wonderful qualities are but a clanging symbol.
3 Be peaceful and thankful.
Living at peace with our families, friends, co-workers and fellow Christians is not always easy. Noah had as much to fear from the woodpecker inside the ark as he did the storm raging round him. Our “umpire of conduct,” paraphrasing the Greek, is the rule of peace.
There is a question we might ask ourselves before we take an action. “Will my action promote peace?” Has anyone here ever improved a relationship by being confrontational? Another way to consider the same question would be simply, “Will I, will God, be thankful for how I acted?” Holding those questions in the back of your mind will contribute in a positive manner to all your relationships
4 Be praiseful.
Whatever you do, do it as praise to God. This maybe the most helpful attitude change you can make. Look at why you do things; do you separate out your reasons for doing things? Are there churchy things you do to praise God and then other things you do for other reasons? Just as a little experiment, tonight when you place your head on the pillow go through your day, what did you do that was to praise God and then what were the reasons that you did everything else. I had a friend and he was in constant conversation with God everything he did was prayer of praise. As result his life became a prayer of praise to his creator. Now did he live a perfect life, was he ideal Christian no, but he was grounded in God.
5 Be purposeful.
The name of Jesus Christ is the center of our Christian living. His name provides our identity [I am a Christian].
It provides something else, something perhaps we don’t think about. The name of Jesus Christ provides us authority for our conduct [I do all I do in Jesus name]. As a Christian I need not cower not bully, neither whine nor despair.
If we begin the year not by making a list of all that is wrong with us and trying to white knuckle change by creating a program, a schedule but by looking at our attitudes. Going into God’s closet taking out what he offers us and remember whose we are and who we are. Seek first the kingdom of God and all else will be added to you. All those resolutions that we make and break before the month out will be unnecessary, because the change that you seek will happen as a natural outgrowth of being clothed in Christ.
Be positive, Be perfect [in God’s eyes], Be peaceful and thankful, Be praiseful,
And Be purposeful. And have a blessed New Year!
The grace and peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Pastor D