In my 43 years as a priest, I’ve been privileged to be the Rector of three parishes and Interim Rector of two. In all of these parishes, it was the practice never to have weddings in the season of Lent. In the parish customaries, however, there was always a provision that the Rector could, for pastoral reasons, allow a wedding to take place in Lent.
Only one time in my ministry did I feel that I needed to allow a wedding during Lent, and that was when I was Rector of Grace Church in Monroe, Louisiana, in 1992 I believe. We had a couple from Nigeria, who wanted to be married in the month of March. Their families were going to be in the United States only for a couple of weeks in March and would not be able to be present for a wedding any other time. So, I said that they could be married that March, but I told them it would need to be low-key, not too large, and that the reception could not be elaborate, since, after all, we would be in the season of Lent. They agreed to my stipulations and said that they would restrict it to only family and close friends. The day of the wedding came, and both bride and groom wore traditional Nigerian wedding garb. The bride and the groom wore clothing that was made of the same material, so the bride’s dress, which was made of yards and yards of material, matched the groom’s caftan. The material was brilliant shades of red, gold, and blue. The bride wore a kind of turban to match, and the groom had on a hat that matched as well. Many of the guests had similarly elaborate dress, although none so exquisite as the bride and groom. It was spectacular. I took one look at this couple, and their guests (apparently they had a lot of close friends), and I said to myself, “There is no way that this wedding is going to be low-key! I might as well get used to that fact right up front and go with the flow.“ And it wasn’t low key. It was a very joyous, celebrative affair with a very Nigerian flair. It was quite an experience to be a part of that, one that was unlike any wedding I’ve ever been a part of since. Experiencing that wedding made me really realize why you can’t normally have weddings in Lent. Lent is penitential and there’s no way that any wedding can, or even should be, penitential. Why? Because, of all of the events that take place in this life, nothing is more joyous than a wedding. Our Lord Jesus was just beginning his earthly ministry. He and his disciples went to Cana in Galilee in order to attend a wedding. It’s a several day affair, and the wine gives out. The bride and groom will be disgraced for this breach of hospitality. Jesus’s mother tells him of the crisis and then tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. He directs six large jars to be filled with water and then changes it into the finest wine. And not just a little wine – between 120 and 180 gallons. The party will go on! St. John finishes his telling of this story by saying, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” Now remember, in his introduction to his account of the Gospel, St. John has painted a picture for us, showing us that the God who made all things, visible and invisible, the immortal, invisible, omnipotent, omniscient God at one point in time, took flesh and became a human being in Jesus of Nazareth. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.“ Now this Jesus, this Word made flesh, has come of age. He’s entering his earthly ministry. The first thing he does, after calling his disciples, is go to a wedding and it becomes clear that the wedding could not continue without him. It’s a sign of what has come upon the Earth, or better put, of Who has come upon the earth. St. John calls it a sign, but what’s it a sign of exactly? It was certainly an amazing fete, showing that Jesus, unlike any other human being, is able to alter the matter of nature. As important as that is, St. John sees it as a sign of something even more profound. This miracle is a sign that Jesus is here to usher in a whole new reality. This miracle at the very beginning of his ministry is symbolic of everything that is to follow, for Jesus is changing life at its core for all who will follow him. Just as he changed dull, tasteless water into the richest, most interesting wine, that’s the kind of revolutionary change he will make in a person’s life. This miracle of changing water to wine is a sign that the Messianic Age has begun. That doesn’t mean that life in Christ is one big party. You have to read on to know where the joy that characterizes life in Christ is to be found. To sum it up, it begins and ends in sacrifice, in knowing that Christ died for you and me, and that the way of the cross, the way of sacrifice, is the way to true life. Jesus spoke of his death on the cross as his glorification. When we learn that way of sacrifice, that way of glorification, we will experience water turned to wine. But what does that sacrifice look like? It’s related to what Saint Paul was talking about in his First Letter to the Corinthians. First of all, you discern what gifts God has given you and then you put those gifts to work for the common good. He talks about there being varieties of service and of working. He mentions some gifts specifically like the utterance of wisdom and the utterance of knowledge, the gift of healing, and the gift of working miracles. That’s not an exhaustive list. Whenever we offer our gifts to the glory of God for the common good, we’re living lives of sacrificial love. Look at the lives of the people you admire the most, who are most full of life. Are they the people who have devoted every ounce of their resources to fulfilling their own happiness? Or rather are they the people who give and give and give again of their time, talent, and resources to the glory of God and the benefit of his people? They have discovered how God figuratively turns water to the richest wine in their own lives. This parish is full of people through whom God turns water to wine. You may not have thought of it that way, but it’s true. Thanks be to God.
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