Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
January 16, 2022
2 Epiphany C
On my tour of English Cathedrals back in October, one of
our stops was at Coventry Cathedral in Coventry, England. Coventry was a great 14th century
Gothic Cathedral until it was bombed on November 14, 1940. The current cathedral
is a modern cathedral in both the architectural sense of the word as well as
the historic sense.
As my friend Anne and I walked up to the Cathedral, we saw
the ruins of the great Gothic structure on the left, the current modern cathedral
on the right, and the two are joined together by an outdoor entry way. We spent some time in the peaceful ruins,
then headed into the cathedral. The
cathedral dedicated itself to a ministry of reconciliation in the aftermath of
the bombing and that commitment is evident throughout the church with displays
that describe the various ministries of the congregation. The bombing of their cathedral was
transformational in their understanding of who and what they are called to be
as the church. My personal great
epiphany came as I looked at one of the stained-glass windows, made from the
shards of stained glass from the bombed-out building. Rather than try to recreate the original
windows, which were likely scenes from scripture, the new stained glass windows
were simply stunning, colorful, small bits of glass, in no particular
arrangement, that created immense beauty in their own way. This may seem like the revelation of the
obvious since I have been preaching this for almost two years, but somehow that
stained glass window sent a powerful reminder not just to my head but to my
heart that the way we are put back together is not the same as we were
before.
While Christ Church has certainly not been bombed out, and
we actually have beautiful new space now, the past nearly two years have brought
radical changes to life as we knew it in early 2020. As a church, we have had times where we could
gather only online and had to restrict access to the building. We have had to
find safe ways to connect with the community, opening our worship to those outside
the building through Facebook Live. I
had actually gone to a workshop on using a smartphone to livestream worship in
January 2020 and left the workshop thinking “We’ll never do that.” Proof that one should never say never! We have looked for new ways to help those in
need and found new partners for our outreach efforts. We have tried multiple different ways to
provide Christmas formation for all ages via Zoom or, more recently, in-person
and socially distanced. Over and over
again people have stepped up to help us connect with each other, the world
around us, and with God. But we still
have a ways to go and the landscape around us continues to shift with the
twists and turns of a pandemic. If the
way we are put back together is not the way we were before, how are we to
figure out the way forward?
Our readings today give us some solid footing for moving
forward. First, both the reading from
Isaiah and the Psalm remind us that God is always calling us forward to a new
future. Those readings also remind us of
our identity as God’s beloved people.
That identity is not meant to give us a sense of superiority in any way,
but to ground us as the people God calls us to be in the world. God’s delight in us and God’s rejoicing over
us calls us to be God’s people in the world.
God’s loving kindness and God’s refuge provide us not with a place to
hide, but a place from which to go out into the world. This is our starting point for moving into
the future.
Secondly, the reading from First Corinthians reminds us
that we do nothing alone. Whatever God
is calling us to do and be, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and equip
us. We have the gifts of each one of us
to draw on and we each have gifts that are essential to building up the body of
Christ. As we discern what God is
calling us to do and be in this new world, each and every one of us is
needed. Some things we know we want,
such as the excellent hospitality that comes from having ushers, greeters,
coffee hour, beautiful flowers, amazing music, and a space that is made ready
for us, our guests and for God on Sunday morning. Other ministries we look for new ways to do to
meet the new challenges of a new time such as Christian formation for all ages,
outreach that connects us with those in need, and new ways of connecting with
the community and sharing Good News. This
is Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend and as if we needed anything more to point
out the work that needs to be done to heal the sin of racism in our country,
Covid has certainly done that. There is
much gospel work yet to be done to make King’s dream a reality and we are
called to find our place in that work. God
will not call us to do anything we cannot make happen if we all work together
using the gifts God has given us.
Lastly, you might wonder where the story of the wedding at
Cana fits into the idea that the way we are put back together is not the way we
were before. The story of the wedding at
Cana, in which Jesus turns a huge amount of water into the best wine of the
party is often thought of as a miracle story and we wonder how to replicate the
miracle. However, in John’s gospel,
Jesus’ actions this morning, along with feeding of the multitudes, raising of
Lazarus from the dead, walking on water, and healing the sick, are not miracle
stories but signs that point to the glory of God. In the first chapter of John’s gospel, we
hear that Jesus is the Word made flesh who lived among us and showed us the
glory of God, full of grace and truth. In
John’s gospel, Jesus spends his earthly life showing us the glory of God. So this morning, we see Jesus change water
into wine, not as an end in itself, not to save the hosts of the party from the
embarrassment of running out of wine, but to point to the glory of God. Throughout the Hebrew scriptures, wine is a
symbol of God’s love and God’s abundance, and Jesus points us to those very
truths.
Our call as Jesus’ followers has always been to be a sign
to the world of God’s love and abundance.
No pandemic can change that call.
Christ Church has faithfully answered that call over the ages, through
thick and thin, because, guided by the Holy Spirit, people have stepped up time
and time again to offer their God-given gifts and talents. There is nothing new about what God is asking
us to do, only a new context in which God asks us to work. As we move forward, God reminds us that the
way we are put back together will be grounded in God’s love, guided by the Holy
Spirit, and enriched by the many gifts and talents we have been given, so that
at this time and in this place, we are an effective sign of God’s love and abundance.
Amen.
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