Blessed and Gifted

Please note: The following sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.

In planning for a wedding, one of the first things that we say is that this is a service of worship of God in which a wedding takes place.

And the first thing that was said as we began today was naming Father, Son and Holy Spirit as the ones in charge of this event.

What a relief; it is not all up to us!

God will provide enough for us;

God will provide enough for Rachel and Joe.

That's the way it is with the Lord God.

Perhaps you have been wondering what this framed piece is up front.

It is an icon, from the Orthodox tradition, to remind us of the truth of what is happening here today.

This icon is of the scene of the wedding at Cana in Galilee, the wedding which the gospel of John tells us that Jesus attended one day as a guest.

We can identify the people in the icon.

In the center, the wedding couple.

...the guests,

...the servants

...Mary

...Jesus

...the steward or host of the party.

The wine has run out and Mary asks Jesus to do something.

and at length Jesus does intervene and provide wine from the jars of water.

From being a guest, Jesus has become the host of the party.

He may be seated at the side,

but he turns out to be the one truly in charge of the event,

and he makes it to be an occasion of great joy, better than they could have ever expected on their own.

That's the way it is whenever Jesus is around:

whenever he is invited, he takes over.

We thought he would just be a guest here today, to make the wedding a little nicer with a religious background,

more dignified that just going to the Justice of the Peace.

But Jesus takes over and starts giving things:

--we'll start with life and breath and the whole creation around us.

--and the gifts of family and friends to come together today.

--as well as the encouragement of others already married.

--and his blessing on the marriage now being marked.

--then also as we pray, his continuing presence with us.

Rachel and Joe, success in marriage is not all up to you; God will give enough for you today and in the years to come!

He is truly the one in charge of this event.

You chose the reading from Colossians for us to hear this day also.

It comes at the same point from a different angle.

Married life is hard; we all know that.

Anyone can tell you to continue to work on your relationship, and no doubt, you will.

The problem is, that on our own, all that work will fail.

That pesky, no, worse than that, deadly thing called sin grabs hold of us and our thoughts, words, and actions.

It will take the forgiveness of God,

the continuing gifts of God,

and your forgiveness to each other modeled on that given by God,

in order to deal with those problems that would be delighted to destroy your marriage.

In order truly to grow in love,

you need to know first that you are beloved by God.

And as God's beloved, you are urged, invited, and encouraged to clothe yourselves with forbearance, forgiveness, thankfulness,

the ways in which God's love is shown forth in us.

And to sing...yes, to sing as we are doing today and many more days, songs of joy and songs of sorrow.

Let them fly...

Let God and each other hear the full range of thought and feeling,

and be reassured that at length they will all be transformed into the echoes of the hymns around the throne of heaven.

That is the kind of thing that can happen when Jesus is around, when Jesus is in charge of things:

blessing upon blessing, gift upon gift, transformed song, true life.

May you, and everyone else here today, receive these gifts with joy and thanksgiving.

Blessed be God. Amen.

Blessed and Gifted

St. Mark's Lutheran Church