Turning Water into Wine

Turning Water into Wine

The wedding in Cana of Galilee was the wedding of the decade, with fabulous catering! But John 2:11 explains that the point of the story is to reveal Christ’s glory so that we may have faith in him. This sermon unpacks these two related points:

  • We see that Christ is the one, full of love, who is concerned for the ordinary events of our lives and who desires to bless us with abundance;
  • And we see that when there are troubles in life, we can turn to Jesus and act in faith, even when we don’t understand or feel faith.

This is what it means to have faith in Jesus: to entrust ourselves to Jesus.

John 2:1-11

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 (75-115 litres). 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.

Painting by Romaya Puchman

Meeting our Deepest Needs

Meeting our Deepest Needs

This is based on the well-known passage in John 6, where Jesus says that he is the bread of life. The sermon is called ‘Meeting our deepest needs’. I hope you find that God speaks to you through this message, as it did to me. John 6:24-35. 5 August 2012.

Experiencing God’s Spirit

Experiencing God’s Spirit

This is not a proper ‘sermon’ – rather, it is my testimony of my experience of God’s Spirit in my life, interwoven with some theology about the work of the Holy Spirit. I hope it will encourage you in your faith. John 15:26-27, 16:4-15. 27 May 2012.

On Being Loved

On Being Loved

I preached from the flipchart, so also attach a photo of the final flipchart image, which you’ll need to make sense of the sermon. If you in need of reminding that you are God’s beloved, then this might be what you need. John 15:9-17. 13 May 2012.

Here is a link to the photo of the final flipchart image:

The Nearness of God

The Nearness of God

God is transcendent (far away and different), but is also immanent (close and related to us). Exodus 3. Sermon 24 July 2011.

Relating to God

Relating to God

A talk given on “Who is the Holy Spirit”. I focus in particular on the love of God and the idea of the vine and the branches. I tell the story of God. Message 23 July 2011.

Where You’re At

Where You’re At

Drawing on John 20:19-31, we affirm that Jesus loves and meets us right where we are at. 1 May 2011.

Being God’s Light

Here is my sermon for today. I’ve called it “Being God’s Light” even though the notion of light only comes in towards the end. Today is The Epiphany, when we remember the visit of the Magi (aka ‘the Wise Men’ or ‘the Three Kings’) to the infant Jesus and when we reflect in particular on the universal reach of the Gospel. In this sermon I try to draw aside the mythology that has built up around the Magi and uncover what kind of people they really were, and in light of that to ask why Matthew included this narrative in his Gospel of Jesus. Ultimately, I am calling for us all to take up the challenge to be God’s light in the world.

The sermon is based mostly on Matthew 2:1-12, but also on Isaiah 60:1-6 and Ephesians 3:1-12.