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Jesus at a wedding

Weddings are intended to be a happy social occasion where two people pledge their love for each other, with family and friends present to both witness the vows made and to bless the couple. What follows is usually some sort of party with music and dancing, sometimes tasty food and often too much alcohol. Weddings have been celebrated in this fashion for thousands of years.

Then someone thought it would make a fun reality TV show to bring couples together to be married – who’ve never seen each other before and who don’t come from a culture of arranged marriages – and do all this in front of TV cameras and a national TV audience. And so we get the horror show Married at First Sight – what could possibly go wrong?!

As in this TV show, weddings don’t always go to plan. When Jesus and his friends attend a wedding in Cana, the host runs out of wine. We think that’s no big deal, but in a culture where wedding celebrations might last a week it was a serious faux pas and could damage the social standing of the family. No problem thinks Mary, the mother of Jesus – just ask my son to fix things and do what he says. And so we have the story of Jesus turning water into wine.

At one level it’s a simple story of Jesus showing kindness and compassion and meeting people where they’re at. According to the Gospel writer John, however, there’s more going on here. He calls it a sign – that points to Jesus’ connection with God and a demonstration of God’s power and authority working through Jesus. The provision of wine is associated in Jewish thought with blessing and is a symbol of the life to come (see Isaiah 25:6-8 and also the wedding imagery in the book of Revelation). So for those with eyes to see, Jesus’ actions point to something deeper – the inbreaking of God’s life into the here and now.

May our eyes be open this week to where we see God at work in our lives.

From the Minister

Learning to listen

This Sunday is celebrated as Aboriginal Sunday in our Uniting Church. It falls each year on the Sunday before 26th January, the date in our calendars marked ‘Australia Day’. For aboriginal people, however, it is known as Invasion Day or Survival Day and is a day of grief and mourning for what has been lost – people, land, culture, language, respect.

This year there is an extra dimension to this day since later in the year all Australians will be invited to participate in a referendum to change our nation’s Constitution to include an enshrined indigenous voice to Parliament. This is the first of three measures outlined and sought in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, representing the voice and wishes of indigenous people across the country.

Psalm 19 begins by suggesting that creation speaks of God’s glory and God’s handiwork. This message is proclaimed night and day in every part of the earth, yet is spoken without words or speech. This unspoken voice of God inspires wonder and awe in some people and is ignored by others who don’t hear and don’t pay attention.

So it is with the Uluru Statement from the Heart. It is the heartfelt cry of indigenous people wanting to be heard. Some Australians are listening and are inspired by this voice from the heart of our country. But other Australians are either not listening or are actively opposed to giving indigenous people a voice. The attitudes of this second group illustrate why such a voice is needed. Ever since that fateful day on 26th January 1788, colonisers, settlers, immigrants and all other Second peoples have tended to ignore or silence the voice of indigenous people.

This year we have a chance to right this wrong and give indigenous people their rightful voice.

From the Minister