September 11, 2024

In 2024, we will strive to become more like Jesus by rediscovering the ancient practices of prayer, study, sabbath, celebration, and many more. Our knowledge of scripture, coupled with studying how Jesus lived his life while on earth, will help us become people that overflow with the goodness of God. Wednesday email devotionals will highlight the practices that have been discussed on the previous Sunday.

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.”

 

“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour 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.

 

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.”

 

John 2:1-10

Devotional

A number of years ago, I had to make the decision that unless I was especially close to a couple whose wedding I was officiating, I would need to forgo attending the reception. The decision wasn’t because I don’t like wedding receptions, because I do. I realized that my part of the celebration of a wedding needed to end with the worship service itself so I could try to maintain my work-life balance. It was a hard decision to reach, because when we combine a wedding service and a wedding reception, we have two of my favorite things together: a time of worship and a time of celebration.

 

About a year after making this decision I had the big realization that should have been a “no-duh” one for me, especially as a pastor, that the wedding ceremony itself was the best celebration and time of worship that I could ask for. In that time when the couple stands before their family and friends in the presence of God, we are having a party that is greater than any wedding reception that I have ever attended—for at its heart every worship service is a celebration.

 

In worship, we celebrate God’s work of creation, we recognize the amazing grace that He has bestowed upon us in the redemptive love of Christ Jesus, and we look toward the day when we all celebrate the wedding feast of the Lamb. (Read Revelation 19:6-10 if you’re not familiar with this passage.)

 

Jesus’ presence at the wedding in Cana and his first public miracle there remind us of the celebration to which we are called, of the worship to which we are called, and of the fact that God desires us to be joyful (and yes, having a glass of wine is more than acceptable).

For Discussion

When have you most celebrated during a time of worship?

 

What is about a wedding that sparks your celebratory spirit?

 

How might you bring a heart of celebration to worship each week?

Prayer

God beyond all praising, you call us to be joyful in our worship, to enter into your presence like guests attending a wedding feast. We often forget that this is your intention. Help us to worship you with the same spirit in which we arrive at a party, thankful for you and the good works that you are doing in all of Creation. In Jesus’ name we pray; amen.

Rev. Scott Tucker
Pastor for Grand Adults