Rectory Ramblings…

Now standing there were six stone water jars, […] each holding twenty or thirty gallons. And they filled them up to the brim. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine he called the bridegroom and said to him, “[…] You have kept the good wine until now.”  (John 2:6-10)

This story from Jesus’s first miracle at the Wedding in Cana is a reminder that when God blesses us he REALLY blesses us. This is a miracle of extravagant excess. But more of that in a moment. So far this winter has brought the UK some long grey draining days which have given way to widespread flooding and many of us will have family and friends who have been caught by it. Elsewhere we have watched the destruction of entire neighbourhoods in the Los Angeles wildfires. There is of course no easy answer to why these things happen and the only way to face these sorts of trials is pick ourselves back up, pick up the pieces, and carry, or if necessary begin again. Many will give themselves strength by reminding themselves that there are others far worse off than they, or counting what blessings they do have.

Recently, I have had the joy of talking to excited couples as they begin to plan their weddings, which has reminded me of a wedding from the much more distant past. The Wedding at Cana story begins “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana”, and at the time it would have been fairly normal for a wedding party to have been in full flow for three days! But then the big social faux pas happens and the wine runs out. So Jesus is persuaded by his mother to make some more. Probably the guests have already drunk enough, but Jesus makes about 900 bottles (give or take a hundred) of unusually good quality wine. It is a miracle and blessing of both excessive quantity and quality. I firmly believe that God is a God of blessing, I believe that no matter how bad things seem to be, however dark the future looks right now God will always find a way to bless us through or in our troubles, and that when he does bless us he does so in abundance. Sometimes though, the hard parts are trusting that He will always do so, and recognising it when it happens.

Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him (John 2:11)
Revd Eddie